Basic Shortcrust Pie Crust Recipes

SHORTBREAD PIE CRUST

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Using your hands, mix butter, brown sugar, white sugar and flour together in a large bowl. Squeeze and work dough until it holds together. Press into three 9 inch pie pans and chill for 2 hours.
• Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly brown around the edges.

PIE CRUST (SHORTCRUST PASTRY)

Steps:

• Pulse Dry: Place flour, sugar and salt in food processor. Pulse twice to combine.
• Cut in butter: Scatter butter across surface. Pulse 5 times until the largest pieces are the size of chickpeas.
• Add chilled water: With the motor running on low, pour 2.5 tbsp of water into the tube feeder.
• Form crumbs: Keep blitzing for 10 seconds until crumbs form (also see video). Pinch between fingers - they should stick and form a dough.
• HAND option: Whisk flour, sugar and salt in large bowl. Rub butter into flour with tips of fingers until it resembles crumbs - it should look the same as using a food processor. Then mix in cold water with rubber spatula, then proceed with steps below.
• Form disc: Tip crumbs out onto work surface, bring together into dome (don't knead), pat into 2cm/ 4/5" thick disc.
• Chill: Wrap in clingwrap then refrigerate 1 hour (up to 2 days, otherwise freeze).
• Dust with flour: Sprinkle work surface with flour, unwrap dough and place on the flour. Sprinkle top with flour, dust rolling pin with flour.
• Roll out: Roll out into round that's 10cm/4" larger than 22.5cm/9" pie tin. Patch up and roll over cracks as necessary
• Transfer to pie dish: Gently roll the pastry so it wraps around the rolling pin. Unroll it over the pie dish.
• Drape pastry into pie tin (do not stretch/pull, causes shrinkage).
• Trim: If making a pie with NO LID (like Pumpkin Pie), then trim edges with scissors leaving a 1 cm / 2/5" overhang. If making a pie with a lid (like a Meat Pie) then trim edges so they align with the edge of the pie tin (ie no excess overhang).
• Tuck excess under, if appliable (ie per step above, if making a no lid pie). Then crimp or decorate edge as desired.
• Refrigerate: Put pie crust in the freezer for 15 - 30 minutes (while oven heats up). This helps prevent shrinkage, firms up the butter again (flakiness!) and helps to ensure decorative crimped edges remain in tact.
• Baking options (Note 4) - Blind bake the pie crust if it will be baked once filled (eg Meat Pie, Pumpkin Pie). Fully bake the pie crust if it will not be baked once filled.
• Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan).
• Line & weigh down: Place 2 large pieces of parchment/baking paper crosswise over the pastry, then fill with baking beads or lots of rice or dried beans to weigh it down. (Note 2)
• Bake 1 covered: Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from oven.
• Bake 2 uncovered: Use excess paper to CAREFULLY remove hot beads, then return to oven for 5 minutes or until base is light golden (doesn't need to be 100% cooked though).
• Cool: Remove from oven. Cool 15 minutes in the pie tin before filling (another measure to avoid soggy base).
• Follow directions per Blind Baking steps above BUT bake at 190°C/375°F (170°C fan) covered with baking beads for 25 minutes, then 15 minutes uncovered until golden. Fully cool before filling.
• Fill and bake per directions of chosen pie filling - such as Pumpkin Pie, Pecan Pie, Meat Pie. The par baked pastry will not be 100% cooked, it finishes cooking with the filling. It's cooked enough so the crust will not go soggy.

BRITISH SHORTCRUST PIE PASTRY

Steps:

• Combine flour, butter, and shortening using a food processor until crumbly. Mix in water 1 tablespoon at at time until dough is soft and pliable.
• Wrap dough in plastic wrap; let rest in a refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before using.

BASIC SHORTCRUST PASTRY (GORDON RAMSAY) RECIPE - (4.6/5)

Steps:

• 1. Place flour and salt in a food processor. Add the butter and mix for about 10 seconds, or until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Tip into a mixing bowl. 2. Add 4 TBS of water and stir the mixture with a butter knife until the dough just comes together. If it seems too dry, add another 1-2 TBS of water. Try not to make the dough too wet, as it results in a crumbly pastry. 3. Lightly knead the dough into a smooth ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes before using. Makes 2 cups (16 oz) of dough. Entire recipe = 36 Weight Watchers points.

BASIC SHORTCRUST PASTRY

Steps:

• Sift 225g plain flour into a large bowl, add 100g diced butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Stir in a pinch of salt, then add 2-3 tbsp water and mix to a firm dough.
• Knead the dough briefly and gently on a floured surface.
• Wrap in cling film and chill while preparing the filling.

BASIC SHORT-CRUST PASTRY

Steps:

• Put flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer or food processor. Add butter and quickly cut it into flour until mixture resembles coarse meal.
• Add ice water and mix briefly, about 30 seconds, to form a soft dough. Remove dough, shape into a thick disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. Bring to cool room temperature before rolling.
• To roll, lightly flour dough and counter. Roll out gradually, periodically letting dough rest for a moment before continuing. This makes rolling easier and will keep dough from shrinking back during baking.
• Roll dough to a thin round approximately 13 inches in diameter, then trim to make a 12-inch circle (refrigerate and save trimmings for patching). Lay dough loosely into a 9 1/2-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom, letting it relax a bit. Fold overlap back inside to make a double thickness, then press firmly against the pan so the finished edge is slightly higher than the pan. Refrigerate or freeze for an hour before pre-baking.

SHORTCUT PIE CRUST

Steps:

• Combine the flour, confectioners' sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Add the cubed butter and blitz until the flour mixture has a sandy texture with some pea-size butter bits.
• Add the egg yolks and blitz then pulse just until the pastry begins to come together.
• Tip the pastry out onto a rectangle of plastic wrap. Using your hands, form it into a 6-inch log. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days, or wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. If using frozen dough, allow to soften slightly in the fridge for an hour before using.
• Using the large holes on a box grater, grate 3/4 of the chilled pastry directly into your pie dish or tart pan. Working quickly by hand, press the grated pastry into the dish, starting with the sides then covering the bottom, grating more of the chilled pastry into the dish as needed to cover evenly. Pay attention to the seam between the sides and the base, making sure it is the same thickness as the rest of the pastry: The crust should form an even layer that is about 1/4-inch thick. (Save any leftover pastry for another use.) Chill, at least 30 minutes or up to 2 days. (This can be done ahead.)
• The crust can take various routes from here; refer to whichever pie or tart recipe you're using for guidance. If blind-baking this crust, it cooks best at 350 degrees.

BASIC SHORTCRUST PIE CRUST

Steps:

• In a large bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Blend in the butter and shortening until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
• In a cup, combine the water and vinegar or lemon juice. Sprinkle the liquid over the flour mixture. Using your fingers, work the liquid in and gather the dough into a ball. Divide the dough into two equal pieces.
• Roll out as needed or wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill.
• To partially bake the pastry, preheat the oven to 425°F Cut a piece of parchment, foil or waxed paper to fit inside the pie plate. Fill the paper with dried beans and bake for 15 minutes. Lift out the paper and beans and proceed with the rest of the recipe. Or use unbaked as required in your recipe.
• Makes enough pastry for one 9-or 10 inch double crust pie.
• Lucy Waverman's Cooking School Cookbook.

BASIC SHORT-CRUST PASTRY

Steps:

• Sift together the flour and the salt. Slice the cold butter rapidly and drop the slices into the flour. With a pastry blender or two sharp knives, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse corn meal.
• Sprinkle the ice water of the flour-butter mixture and stir it very quickly with a fork, until the dough gathers together. Form the dough into a ball, wrap it in wax paper or foil, and chill for about 2 hours.
• A note here that Canadian wheat is 'harder' than wheat from the USA, and you may need to add a little more water to make it gather.
• Makes enough dough for 1 large, 11 or 12 inch quiche shell.
• PREPARING A QUICHE OR TART SHELL.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough out into a circle about 2 1/2 inches larger than your quiche pan. Roll the circle of dough loosely around your rolling pin and unroll it over the quiche pan, centering it as well as possible. Press the sides against the rim of the pan, pushing the extra dough down a bit to make and edge that is slightly thicker than the bottom. Trim the dough off with a sharp knife about 1/4 inch above the rim of the pan (it shrinks down a bit while baking).
• Using a pastry crimper of the blunt end of a kitchen knife, crimp the ridge of the dough neatly just above the rim of the pan. Prick the bottom of the shell all over with a fork (VERY IMPORTANT!) and chill it for 1/2 hour.
• PREBAKING A QUICHE OR TART SHELL.
• Line the inside of the pastry shell with a piece of aluminum foil. and fill it with dried beans or rice (which can be kept in a jar and reused for this purpose forever). Bake the shell in a preheated 450 degree oven for about 8 minutes, then remove the beans and foil, prick again with a fork (VERY IMPORTANT!), and return to the hot oven for another 4 to 5 minutes, or until the bottom of the shell begins to colour. Allow the shell to cool slightly on a rack, then fill and finish baking according to recipe.