Homemade pastry takes less than 10 minutes to make and is so worth it.
The taste and texture is better than the bought stuff, and you can easily make a double batch
to put in the freezer so you always have some on hand.
Use it to make pies, tarts, and quiches, savoury or sweet.
In a large sized mixing bowl measure out the all purpose flour, 1 and 2/3 of a cup.
The basic recipe for shortcrust is 2 parts flour to 1 part fat.
This recipe will make enough to cover a 9 inch pie or quiche dish so if you’re wanting
more or planning to put some in the freezer the ingredients are easily doubled.
If you would like the full recipe for this short crust pastry it will be on my website
as well as the full measurements listed below.
Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on any recipes I post a new video each
week.
This is a savoury pastry, but it works well with both savoury and sweet fillings.
Enriched sweet pastry is quite different to this one and uses sugar and egg but if you
do want to give this pastry a little sweetness just add about 2-3 tablespoons of sugar, icing
or powdered sugar works well as it dissolves easily.
Add a pinch of salt to the flour and finally the butter.
As I said before this pastry calls for 1 part fat, this could be butter, shortening or even
lard.
Use whichever you would like, or have on hand.
I find butter has the best flavour but sometimes shortening can have a better texture to the
pastry.
Make sure your butter is cold, straight out of the fridge and use a knife to cut it up
into small cubes so it is easier to manage.
Add the butter to the mixing bowl, breaking the cubes up.
The easiest and most effective thing to do here is to use clean and dry hands to work
the butter into the flour.
You can use a pastry cutter if you have one but I usually find using your hands is much
faster and easier.
Start to work the butter into the flour, sort of pressing it between your fingers, rubbing
it in.
The heat from your hands helps to soften the butter making it easier but you don’t want
it to melt at all.
A more non-traditional way of doing this is by using a food processor.
I don’t think you need to, doing it by hand doesn’t take long at all, but sometimes
the easy way nice.
Add the flour, salt and butter to the food processor and process until it forms a sandy
texture.
Once your pastry has a sandy texture it’s ready to be formed into a dough.
Make sure there are no longer any large lumps of butter, little small ones are good as this
helps with the shortcrust texture.
Add a couple of ice cubes to a small amount of water and let it sit for a few minutes
so it is extra cold.
Using ice water helps to stop the butter from melting.
One thing to keep in mind is don’t try to make pastry on a hot day unless you have some
good air conditioning.
If you feel like the butter in the pastry is getting too warm place it into the fridge
for 20 minutes before trying to work with it again.
Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of ice water to the bowl and start to mix the dough through with
a knife.
Using a knife to mix works well as it cuts through the pastry as you mix.
Clump together a small amount of pastry and if it hold without breaking apart it doesn’t
need any more water.
Let me know what your favourite dishes for using shortcrust pastry are.
I love making homemade pies or quiches for weekend lunches.
Make sure to take a look at my spinach and bacon quiche recipe that uses this kind of
pastry.
Work the dough into a ball, sprinkle the work surface with flour and knead the pastry for
about 30 seconds until it becomes smooth.
You don’t want to work it for too long or the heat from your hands can start to melt
the butter.
Wrap the ball of dough in plastic wrap and place into the fridge for at least 30 minutes
to rest.
Resting the dough allows the gluten in the flour to relax, making it easier and quicker
to roll out and shape the dough while also stopping it from shrinking while baking.
At this point the dough can be left in the fridge for up to a week or freeze it for the
next time you may need some pastry.
When you are ready to use your dough remove it from the fridge and give it 5-10 minutes
to warm up so it can be rolled out.
Roll it out using a rolling pin, using flour to stop anything from sticking.
If the pastry starts sticking it may need to go back into the fridge to stop the butter
melting.
Before baking your pastry leave it again to rest for at least 20 minutes in the fridge
or freezer.
Thank you for watching, I hope you enjoyed this recipe and I will see you in my next
video.