Buttery Shortcrust Pastry
This is the foundation for almost every fruit tart or savory pie. Focus on the temperature of your ingredients; if the butter softens too much, the pastry loses its characteristic snap.
Temperature is the only variable that matters.
Keep your butter in the fridge until the very last second. If the kitchen is warm, chill your mixing bowl before you begin.
- large mixing bowl
- pastry cutter or table knife
- plastic wrap
- rolling pin
What goes in.
- 250gall-purpose flour
- 150gcold unsalted butter, cubed
- 1pinch of salt
- 2-4 tbspice water
The thumb-and-finger rub
Use your fingertips rather than your palms to avoid transferring body heat to the butter. Rub until you have a mixture of pea-sized chunks and fine crumbs.
The method.
Combine dry ingredients
Sift the flour and salt into a chilled bowl. Add the cubed butter.
Incorporate the fat
Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour. Stop when the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs with some visible, marble-sized pieces of butter remaining.
Add water
Drizzle two tablespoons of ice water over the mixture. Use a dull knife to cut the water into the flour. Add more water, one tablespoon at a time, only until the dough starts to clump together.
Form the disc
Turn the mixture onto a clean surface. Press it together gently with your hands into a disc. Do not knead it. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour.
Roll out
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough from the center outwards, turning it a quarter-turn between strokes to ensure an even thickness.
Other turns to take.
Sweet Shortcrust
Add 50g of fine caster sugar to the dry ingredients for desserts like lemon tart.
Herb-Infused
Add one tablespoon of finely minced fresh thyme or rosemary to the flour for savory quiches.
When it doesn't go to plan.
If the dough cracks while rolling, patch it with a small scrap of dough and continue.
Always rest the dough in the fridge after rolling it into the tin to prevent shrinkage in the oven.
If the butter starts to smear or look greasy, stop and put the bowl in the fridge for ten minutes.
The ones that keep coming up.
Why is my pastry tough?
You likely added too much water or handled the dough too much, which develops the gluten in the flour.
Can I use a food processor?
Yes, but use the pulse setting sparingly. You want to keep those large butter chunks intact to ensure a flaky final result.