crunchy pastry

Kewreeuss

Calling a patissier/e, pardon my french or someone who knows their pastry.

I am looking for some help with getting a crunchy pastry. It's mainly for a robust jam tart. I want to be able to roll it out so that when it is cooked it is at least a cm thick and cruncy, but not as buttery like shortbread.
The normal short pastry , ie 250 flour, 125 fat and a drop of water is not good because it is to dry and flakey and more suitable to being rolled out thinly-it doesn't cook all the way through and tastes very doughy.
If I make it with a higher fat content, some sugar and a yolk, it makes a beautiful crumbly pastry but far too delicate for a jam filling.
I think perhaps I should increase the sugar content to get the crunch but then would it be too sweet and would it burn in the oven? I could add lemon zest to distract from the sweetness, and I had thought of maybe starting from a scone base but I dont know enough of the underpinning physics to understand the effect of changing the egg and sugar ratios.
Therefore, I would appreciate if anyone can give me some pointers before I start wasting ingredients trying to find this elusive pastry. Thank you

Magic Monkey

For a thick and crunchy unsweetened pastry, try pate croustade. You can roll it thick and it'll still be crunchy. Another paste that would work here is pate brisée. Here's a recipe:

300g unsalted butter, chilled
400g plain flour
1 Tbsp icing sugar
110g water, ice-cold
10g white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp table salt

Method:
1. Sift flour and icing sugar together.
2. Cut butter into cubes. Beat slowly using paddle attachment in mixer until a little smooth.
3. Add the dry ingredients and mix at slowest speed for 2-3 mins.
4. Combine the water, vinegar and salt and add to the mixer. Increase speed to medium, and mix until the paste just comes together.
5. Deposit paste onto the countertop. Using the palm of your hand in a forward pushing motion, smooth the paste in a few movements until it's completely smooth.
6. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours before using.

By hand, simply rub the fat into the dry ingredients, make a well in the centre on the countertop, similar to making pasta, add the wet ingredients and mix together.

Kewreeuss

Thank you Magic Monkey. This sounds good.
I'll have a go by the next weekend and let you know how I got on.
Why is the vinegar included - what effect does it have?

Magic Monkey

Prevents excessive oxidation of the paste and also weakens the gluten to prevent shrinkage during rolling out and during baking.

Eviledna

Dying to try this too, thanks MM!

Kewreeuss

I tried the pastry yesterday for a cherry jam tart.
Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention and followed the recipe using butter, which I would never use.
Because of this my household all said "yuck" and the tart is sitting abandoned on the worktop. Apart from that, the texture was a bit doughy, not as crunchy as I wanted.
I found the dough quite wet, inclining towards bread dough. Should it have been drier, I wonder?
I will try again, increase the sugar a bit and see what happens. Not immediately though. Today I might make a tiramisu or chocolate ice-cream.

Magic Monkey

Did you blind-bake the tart first? It should be baked @ 190c, 10 mins blind for an 8" tart, 5 mins with the baking weights removed, or until lightly brown.

The paste shouldn't be as wet as bread dough. Especially once refrigerated for 2 hours, as the flour will hydrate more and the fat chills and firms up, so the paste is easier to work with. It sounds like it should have been drier than the paste you describe.

The only other pastes I can think of that are crunchy are pate sablée and breton biscuit paste, but crunchyness is more a function of how the paste is made rather than specific to a certain type of paste. Rubbing the fat into the flour will create that short, crunchy texture, as well as blind-baking the shell. Pie dough, on the other hand, is flaky, due to larger pieces of fat in the paste.