How To Make Perfect Shortcrust Pastry for Your Pies
This is How To Make Perfect Shortcrust Pastry for Your Pies.
Short Crust Pastry is by far the most popular and versatile pastry, in fact we used it in most of our items in the bakery, sometime with a little tweak for certain items.
I do realise there are many of you out there who are a little apprehensive about making pastry. Well don’t let that put you off baking, simply use shop bought pastry if you want. These days there is nothing wrong with the commercially made pastry. In the past 10 years it’s improved no end and you can even buy All Butter Pastry too if you wish. I would much rather you try the recipe with shop pastry than not give it a go.
On the other hand, if you feel confident enough to have a go at making your own `pastry then here is my Perfect Shortcrust Pastry recipe for most pies. As most of you know Pies are my passion and I’ve been making them in my own bakeries in the UK and also here in Spain for the past 60 years prior to my retirement.
Every pie I’ve ever made has needed pastry so as well as pies, pastry is also something I’m passionate about. If the pastry is not good the pie will not be good however tasty the filling is. Baking is an art but with practice you can produce outstanding baked goods.
Pastry isn’t all about the recipe, the thickness of the pastry is also an important factor to making an outstanding pie. Different pie fillings require different ratios of pastry to filling and this something we spent much time and effort perfecting for our range of pies. So it may take you a few tests bakes with different thickness of pastry until you get it to you personal liking.
Off we go, this is my method and recipe below for making the perfect pastry for your pie crusts. The question I get asked the most is regarding the fat content of the pastry and I always give the same answer, the very best way is to use some butter for the flavour and either margarine or a white shortening (things like, Trex, Spry, Cookeen, Crisco, etc), for the shortening of the pastry.
The fat in shortcrust pastry should always be half the amount of flour (200g Flour to 100g Fat). In my long baking career I always used a 50/50 mix of Butter and Lard, however, if you don’t wish to use lard for various reasons you can use any of the white shortening fats mentioned above.
You can make your pastry either by hand or by machine, just be careful if using an electric mixer you don’t over mix the dough otherwise it will make your pie crust a little tough.
See Full Recipe below
Method:
Place the flour and the fat into you mixing bowl, if you’re using an electric mixer then mix together on a slow speed using the paddle beater for about a couple of minutes or just until the fat and flour look a little like damp sand.
Next, add the salt to the water and allow to dissolve, this will make sure the salt is distributed evenly throughout the dough. Now add the water to the bowl gently until the dough clears, that means when it leaves the sides of the mixing bowl and forms a nice clump. Once you reach this stage DO NOT mix any further ot your pastry could become rather tough when baked.
If you’re making the pastry by hand, rub the flour and fat between you thumbs and finger until both are well incorporated and staring to look like damp sand, then slowly add the salt and water as above until you get a nice clump of pastry, DO NOT kneed it like you would bread, this will make your pastry tough.
Now wrap you pastry in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, this will allow the gluten in the flour to relax after all the jiggling about during the mixing process.
Remove it from the fridge and allow to stand on your work surface for around 20 minutes or so, this will make it easier to roll out.
If you have any question regarding your pastry you can always contact me via my Contact page on the website at www.Mr-Pauls-Pantry.com
Please remember, there are many pastry recipes out there, the ones I’m giving you are the recipes I’ve used in my bakeries for 60+ years, if you have a different one you’re happy with, stick with.
Short Crust Pastry
Adjust Serving Size
PLEASE NOTE: You can now adjust the number of servings on the recipe below. or on the Print Menu option.
Ingredients
- 500 g Plain Flour Plus Extra for Rolling Out. Do Not use Bread Flour
- ½ tsp Baking Powder Half level teaspoon (2g)
- ½ Tsp Salt fine, Half level teaspoon (2g)
- 125 g Unsalted Butter
- 125 g Lard or white shortening
- 95 g Cold Water It's more accurate to weigh the water
DISCLAIMER
I recommend using the Metric measurements (instead of cups & spoons) for more accuracy and better results.
Instructions
- Now add the butter, lard and baking powder (if using) to the flour, using you thumb and fingers of each hand, gently rub the fat and the flour together. Do this for a few minutes until the mixture changes from a white to a creamy colour and is looking similar to rough breadcrumbs.
- Next dissolve the salt in the water, then pour in about two third of the water/salt into the flour. Now open your finger with your hand pointing down and keeping your finger open move your hand round and round the bowl pushing the mixture together until the water is absorbed. You DO NOT KEAD this like you would when making bread, gently does it.
- Add the rest of the water and push the mixture together (don’t knead it) once it’s all stuck together, empty it onto your lightly floured work top and continue pushing it together, NO kneading remember, until it becomes a ball of nice pastry.
- Wrap with cling film and chill it for 30 minutes before using.
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