Best shortcrust pastry recipe!

ElecKtrA

Hi guys,

I'm looking for a really good shortcurst pastry recipe!


I've tried so many pastry recipes and they have never really satisfied me!
Some of them have been too tough others too buttery! I just can't seem to find a nice shortcrust pastry recipe!


If anyone has one that they have tried and tested and use it to make anything from pies/tarts/quiches etc. i would very much appreciate you sharing it with me.

Thanks in advance

oscarBravo

Tough pastry is usually a result of over-working the dough. Rubbing in by hand is hard to do well; it can be easier to blend the flour and fat in a food processor or with a pastry blender (which I use), then gently work in the liquid.

huskerdu

I agree fully with Oscar.

Here is Nigel Slaters recipe. It has never failed me.

180g flour
100g butter
ICE COLD water.

Rub in the butter and add barely enough water to hold the mixture together. To quote Nigel "You are looking for dough that is firm enough to roll but soft enough to demand careful lifting). Wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.

I have always found that too much water ruins pastry and as Oscar says above, you can judge this properly with a food processor.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

B0jangles

I've always believed the old-fashioned rule that if you have warm hands you will make bad pastry.

I'm a decent cook but my hand-made pastry sucks and I have toasty-warm hands. I really do think machines make better pastry - so if you have warm hands either buy ready-made or assemble your home-made in a food processor - those chilly metal blades will mix in the fat cleanly without melting it and thus making the pastry leathery.

Dizzyblonde

I use a pastry masher, it's a cheap little gadget but great for 'rubbing in' without warming it with my hands.

oscarBravo

Yeah, that's what I meant by "pastry blender":

Jellybaby1

Many years ago I did an evening course in the college in Cathal Brugha Street - now known as DIT. They used to teach that you should use half the amount of fat as flour, so if you used 8ozs flour, then you rubbed in 4ozs of fat. But of course, that was light years ago and machines have now taken over the world. Its true that warm hands are a pastry's enemy, likewise warm water. I tend to put a jug of water in the fridge to make sure the water is really cold for making pastry.

Dizzyblonde

oscarBravo wrote: »

Yeah, that's what I meant by "pastry blender":

Oops, I missed that

Dubl07

butter
white fat (cookeen/lard)
flour
salt
water

All cold. The combined fats should equal half the weight of the flour. White fat makes the pastry lighter than all butter.

wmpdd3

I love butter and hate marg, but as I was making a tart for my father and I don't want him in a cardiac unit anytime soon, I used half marg and the pastry was a better consistency,it was much easier to roll out of the fridge too. The next time I made it I used all marg and a tiny pinch of salt. Pastry was lovely.

I dont have a processor, but I have a mini thing for blending baby food. It only holds 75g of flour at a time, so I do 3 batches and then add a dribble of cold water and cut it with a knife until it comes together into a ball.

Dizzyblonde

Eons ago when I was in home Economics in school, the recipe for shortcrust pastry was two parts flour to one part margarine, a pinch of salt and enough cold water to bind. It never fails and everyone compliments me on my pastry. When I'm making a sweet tart I add a small amount of icing sugar to the mix.
The most important part of the process is resting the pastry in the fridge for at least 20 minutes - it's impossible to roll out otherwise.