Hi, pre 17th century English food history buff here. I've baked a lot of pastries based on the historical recipes.

We can learn a lot from the ingredients used in pastry recipes.

For example, here is one of the oldest English coffin (pastry baking dish) recipe I've seen is this one:

"thenne take blank suger & ayroun & flour & make a past with a rollere" Fourme of Curye, Daniel Myers, transcription. Manchester: John Rylands University Library, English MS 7, 1390

When I made this one it was tender and almost cookie like. It was also, for the 14th century, a bit pricey. So the first question is: would you bake something expensive, and tasty, and then throw it away? But one recipe pribes nothing. Plus, with recipes from royal kitchens the "why throw away good food" question has multiple answers.

Moving a lot later history and, more importantly, to a cookery book written for gentry rather than nobility.

"To make fine paste. Take faire flower and wheat, & the yolkes of egges with sweet Butter, melted, mixing all these together with your hands, til it be brought dowe paste, & then make your coffins whether it be for pyes or tartes, then you may put Saffron and suger if you will have it a sweet paste, hauing respect to the true seasoning some vse to put to their paste Beefe or Mutton broth, and some Creame."

Thomas Dawson, The Second part of the good Hus-wiues Jewell (London, 1597), 16.

Here we have options put forward for a very expensive pastry. This is very much a pastry to be eaten.

The coffins were generally baked in the same place as bread (Fourme of Curye) and so blackening or scorching aren't usually a concern.

So, to sum up, we know that by the 16th century at least the gentry class, and we can assume those of lower classes than that, were eating the pastry.

Now, to push it back a little, here are some 15th century recipes.

Harleian MS. 279 (1420):

.iv. Chawettys Fryidde Take & make fayre past of flowre & water, Sugre, & Safroun, & Salt .xiiij. Pety Pernollys. Take fayre Floure, Safroun, Sugre, & Salt, & make þer-of past .xx. Pety Pernauntes.—Take fayre Flowre, Sugre, Safroun, an Salt, & make þer-offe fayre past & fayre cofynges;

Harleian MS. 4016 (1450):

Pety pernantes. Take faire floure, Sugur, Saffron̄, and salt, and make paast þer-of; then̄ make small Coffyns Chewettes Take and make faire paste of floure, water, saffron̄, and salt; And make rownde cofyns þere-of

Essentially the 15th century coffin is made of:

flour

water

sugar

safron

salt

Though some recipes omit the sugar they never omit the saffron or salt. Water doesn’t show up in all of the recipes but as egg is never mentioned in these recipes it must be present in all of them or there would be no way of binding it.

So again, were looking at recipes for pastry with the taste of the pastry in mind.

Now this isn't to say that everyone ate the pastry crust. But I think we can say that at least those not of the highest class did, and they cared about what their pastry tastes like.