Old Fashioned Sweet Shortcrust Pastry Recipes

HOW TO MAKE SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY

Steps:

• Place the flour, sugar and butter into a food processor and process it until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Slowly adding the iced water until a smooth dough forms.
• Knead the dough into a ball on a lightly floured surface.
• Wrap in plastic wrap and place it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
• When you're ready to use your dough, roll it out on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin until it is 3mm thick.
• If you're making a pie or dessert that has both a pastry bottom and top, it's best to divide your dough into 2 and roll them out separately.
• Bake the pastry in an oven preheated to 180 degrees celsius for approximately 20 minutes or until lightly golden and crispy.
• Please note that if you're not adding the pie/dessert filling immediately, place a sheet of baking paper over the bottom of the pastry and fill with baking weights or rice (uncooked) before placing into the oven. Remove the weights halfway through the baking time.
• Place the flour, sugar and butter into the TM bowl and mix on Speed 6 for 10 seconds (or until it resembles fine breadcrumbs).
• Add the iced water and knead for 1 minute on interval speed.
• Knead the dough into a ball on a lightly floured surface.
• Wrap in plastic wrap and place it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
• When you're ready to use your dough, roll it out on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin until it is 3mm thick.
• If you're making a pie or dessert that has both a pastry bottom and top, it's best to divide your dough into 2 and roll them out separately.
• Bake the pastry in an oven preheated to 180 degrees celsius for approximately 20 minutes or until lightly golden and crispy.
• Please note that if you're not adding the pie/dessert filling immediately, place a sheet of baking paper over the bottom of the pastry and fill with baking weights or rice (uncooked) before placing into the oven. Remove the weights halfway through the baking time.

SHORTCRUST SWEET PASTRY

Steps:

• You can make this pastry by hand or in a food processor. Cream together the butter, sugar and a pinch of sea salt, then rub or pulse in the flour and egg yolks.
• When this mixture has come together, looking like coarse breadcrumbs, add the cold milk or water.
• Pat and gently work together to form a ball of dough. Lightly flour and push, pat and squeeze into shape. The idea is to get your ingredients to a dough form with the minimum amount of movement, i.e. keeping your pastry flaky and short (the more you work it, the more elastic it will get, causing it to shrink in the oven and be chewy - ooooh no, matron).
• I normally roll the pastry into a really large, short and fat sausage-shape, wrap it in clingfilm and place it in the fridge to rest for at least 1 hour.
• Carefully slice off thin slivers of your pastry (don't try to slice frozen pastry) lengthways, around 5mm thick. (I personally like it around that thickness as it's delicate, but you can make it thicker if you want, it just takes longer to cook.)
• Place the slivers in and around the bottom and sides of your tart mould, just fitting them together like a sort of jigsaw. Then simply push the pieces together, level out, then tidy up the sides by pushing with your thumb and either cleaning off the excess pastry from the rim of the mould, or allowing it to hang over the edge - which is quite rough but I like it.
• Once you've finished lining your tart mould you must again allow it to rest for at least 1 hour, preferably in a freezer (I always store my pastry in the freezer because it keeps so well).
• I always line two tart moulds and freeze one for another day (or you could make more if you want, just double the recipe, as it takes no extra time).
• It's so easy to grab a tart out of the freezer, bake it in minutes and fill it with something simple or elaborate, and if guests turn up or you just want to make a nice dessert, it makes pudding a piece of cake!
• To start with, I always bake tart shells for around 15 minutes at 180°C/350°F/gas 4, which will cook the tart all the way through, colouring it slightly.
• Once completely cooled it can be filled with any of the uncooked fillings, such as Fruit-filled Mascarpone Tart and Simple chocolate tart, which will hopefully provide a basis for you to make up and vary your own.
• With baked fillings such as Almond Tart or Lemon & Lime Cream Tart you'll have to bake the tart blind first, which means cooking the shell at 180°C/350°F/gas 4 but only for about 12 minutes, so that it's only lightly coloured but just cooked through.
• Another way, commonly used, is to fill the tart shell with clingfilm or greaseproof paper and fill it with beans (you can use rice, lentils, peas, whatever), the idea being that you pack the beans in so tightly that they will stop the sides of the pastry from dropping.
• Cook for 10 minutes, then carefully remove the beans and cook for a further 5 to 10 minutes. Yes, this is a bit of a performance and I only ever do it when I'm having bad luck, quite honestly if you take your tart shell straight out of the freezer and place it in a preheated oven you shouldn't have any problems.
• After baking blind, you add your filling and bake further until the filling is cooked (see recipes for cooking times).

OLD-FASHIONED SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY

Steps:

• This pastry is perfect for making apple and other sweet pies. Even if you've never made pastry before, as long as you stick to the correct measurements for the ingredients and you follow the method exactly, you'll be laughing. The one place where you can experiment is with flavouring. If you don't fancy using lemon zest, try another dry ingredient like orange zest instead. Or a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg or cocoa powder. Vanilla seeds are great too. Just remember to be subtle and don't go overboard with any of these flavours!
• Try to be confident and bring the pastry together as quickly as you can - don't knead it too much or the heat from your hands will melt the butter. A good tip is to hold your hands under cold running water beforehand to make them as cold as possible. That way you'll end up with a delicate, flaky pastry every time.
• Sieve the flour from a height on to a clean work surface and sieve the icing sugar over the top. Using your hands, work the cubes of butter into the flour and sugar by rubbing your thumbs against your fingers until you end up with a fine, crumbly mixture. This is the point where you can spike the mixture with interesting flavours, so mix in your lemon zest.
• Add the eggs and milk to the mixture and gently work it together till you have a ball of dough. Flour it lightly. Don't work the pastry too much at this stage or it will become elastic and chewy, not crumbly and short. Flour your work surface and place the dough on top. Pat it into a flat round, flour it lightly, wrap it in clingfilm and put it into the fridge to rest for at least half an hour.

SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY

Steps:

• Put 150g plain flour and 75g unsalted butter in a bowl and rub together with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs.
• Mix in 50g icing sugar and a pinch of salt followed by 1 egg yolk. If the pastry feels too dry to form a dough, add 1 tbsp water. Shape the dough into a ball, flatten it out into a disc, wrap it in cling film, then chill for at least 30 mins before using in your recipes. You could try using it to make our apple & blackberry pies.

OLD-FASHIONED SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY

Steps:

• Sift the flour from a height onto a clean work surface and sift the icing sugar over the top. Using your hands, work the cubes of butter into the flour and sugar by rubbing your thumbs against your fingers until you end up with a fine, crumbly mixture. This is the point where you can spike the mixture with interesting flavors, so mix in your lemon zest. Add the eggs and milk to the mixture and gently work it together until you have a ball of dough. Flour it lightly. Don't work the pastry too much at this stage or it will become elastic and chewy, not crumbly and short. Flour your work surface and place the dough on top. Pat it into a flat round, flour it lightly, wrap it in plastic wrap and put it into the refrigerator to rest for at least half an hour.

SHORTCRUST PASTRY

Steps:

• Sift flour into a bowl and rub in butter. Add egg yolk and enough water to make ingredients cling together.
• Press dough into a ball and knead gently on a floured surface until smooth. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Use pastry for tarts, pastries, quiches, or other savory goodies.

RICH SHORTCRUST PASTRY

Steps:

• Mix flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut butter into the flour mixture until it is the consistency of breadcrumbs.
• Lightly beat eggs together in a separate bowl; stir into butter-flour mixture. Add water and mix just until incorporated, using your hands to bring dough together.
• Turn dough onto a floured work surface and cut into 4 portions. Refrigerate dough for 15 to 30 minutes before using.