Sweet Rich Shortcrust Pastry Recipes

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).

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.

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.

RICH SHORTCRUST PASTRY

Steps:

• Place the flour with a pinch of salt in a food processor, add the sugar, butter, egg yolk and vanilla and pulse for 30 seconds, or until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Continue processing until the mixture comes together, adding 1-2 tablespoons iced water (a bit at a time) if necessary.
• Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead lightly to form a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 15-20 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 190°C, roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface.
• Wrap the pastry around a rolling pin, then unroll it carefully over the pan you are going to use for cooking your tart, press it firmly into the pan, trim off any excess and lightly prick the base with a fork.
• Cover the pastry with greaseproof paper and half fill the pan with pastry weights or dried beans and blind bake for 12 minutes, or until the pastry is lightly browned; OR follow the directions given in a particular recipe. This pastry is used in my recently posted Onion and Olive Tart Recipe #140798, where there is NO pre-cooking of the pastry. The pastry is simply chilled before the filling is added.

SWEET RICH SHORTCRUST PASTRY

Steps:

• Sift the flour and salt into a bowl.
• Add the butter and lard and rub into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. This can be done in a mixer or use a special pastry tool or your fingers.
• Stir in the icing sugar and orange rind.
• Add the egg and the orange juice gradually until you can bring it together to form a smooth dough. Its essential that the pastry isn't overworked, too much handling makes it tough.
• Put in a plastic bag and refridgerate for half an hour.
• Remove from fridge and roll out using to make the mince pies with the mincemeat. Bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes.

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.