Final answer:
The instrument used in a bake shop to cut and separate dough is a pastry blender. This tool, with its blades or wires, is essential for mixing fat into flour without overworking it, preserving the quality of the pastry.
Step-by-step explanation:
A pastry blender is used in the bake shop to cut and separate dough. The correct answer to the question is c) Pastry blender. This kitchen tool is designed with multiple wires or blades attached to a handle. It is primarily used to mix solid fat into flour to create a crumbly texture, which is ideal for making pastries like pie crusts and biscuits. Professional bakers and home cooks alike utilize the pastry blender to ensure that dough has the right consistency without overworking it, which could result in a tough pastry.
Although other options such as a whisk, rolling pin, and ladle are also used in baking and cooking, they have different functions. A whisk is mainly for mixing and aerating liquids, a rolling pin is used to flatten dough, and a ladle is for serving liquids. Each implement plays a critical role in the kitchen, but the pastry blender is the specific tool for cutting and blending fat into flour when preparing dough.