Pastry Recipes

There are a few Golden Rules when making Pastry

1. Keep the pastry cool
2. Always handle the pastry lightly and as little as possible.
3. Always bake at the correct temperature.
4. Always chill the pastry after it’s made and before you bake it.

Basic Short Pastry 

For Sweet or Savoury Items such as Pies, tarts, etc.

See my recipe by clicking HERE

Savoury Short Crust Pie Pastry

Use for all kinds of savoury pies, tarts, flans and quiche, etc.

See my recipe by clicking HERE

Hot Pastry (Pork Pies, etc.)  (350g)

For sweet tray-bake type items

200g Plain Flour

½ Teaspoon Baking Powder

50g Shortening (Trex, White Vegetable fat, Crisco, Cookeen, etc.)

50g Margarine or Butter

25g Fine Castor Sugar

25g Water

Use Method as Short Pastry above

Sweet Pastry  (300g)

For Flans, etc.

200g Plain Flour

½ Teaspoon Baking Powder

125g Margarine or Butter

50g Fine Castor Sugar

40g Whole Egg (1 medium size egg will be near enough)

Best results Blend fat with half the flour to a paste, then add the sugar and egg and finally blend in the rest of the flour and baking powder to form a soft pliable dough. Chill for 30 minutes before use.

My Mince Pie Pastry

375 g plain flour

250 g unsalted butter softened

125 g sugar caster

1 medium egg

Rub all ingredients together until they come into a soft pastry then refrigerate for 30 mins.

Suet Pastry

For baked or steamed items and dumplings, etc.

120g Plain Flour

¼ Teaspoon Baking Powder

60g Beef Suet

Gradually add very small amounts of Cold Water until the dough comes together.

Pinch Salt

Mix Flour, Baking Powder, Salt and Suet together then add the water mixing with a knife or spatula, do not knead, mix only until the ingredients have come together. This pastry can be use right away unlike the other kinds which are best rested in the fridge for about 30 minutes before use.

Puff Pastry

This is the most difficult of the pastries and if you’re only using a small amount or not often then I suggest you purchase this readymade, it’s available fresh but the frozen variety is very useful to have in the freezer.

240g Plain Flour

120 – 135g Cold Water

30g Lard, butter, or margarine

150g – 210g Butter or Margarine

2 Teaspoons Lemon Juice (Optional)

First:   Rub 30g Lard into the flour then add the water and make a well formed dough.

Now the tricky bit!

1.  Roll out the dough into a rectangle approximately 20cm x 30cm.
2.  Soften the butter or margarine to about the same consistency as the dough, don’t melt it. Spread over  left 2/3 of the dough surface. In the bakery we used to roll it between two sheets of silicone parchment to the correct size.
3.  Now fold the remaining 1/3 of the dough on your right to cover half the buttered portion and then over again to cover the rest of the buttered dough. You should now have 2 layers of fat and three layer of dough.
4.  Roll this out to about the same size you started with and fold into three exactly as you just did. Now repeat this another 5 times resting in the fridge for 15 minutes between each rolling, this is important otherwise the butter will become too soft and just get mixed in the dough which will defeat what you’re trying to achieve. The idea is to keep a thin layer of fat in between each layer of dough so when it’s in the oven the moisture in the butter creates steam and pushed the layers of dough apart giving you a beautiful light, flaky pastry.

Category: Baking, Breads & Doughs, Recipes