Old Fashioned Sweet Shortcrust Pastry Food

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:

• 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.

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 plain flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl (or in the bowl of the food processor).
• Rub in the butter with finger tips (or use pulse button on the food processor) until mixture resembles course breadcrumbs.
• Gradually add water until dough becomes a ball.
• Remove and wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes before using.

BASIC SWEET PASTRY

Steps:

• Crumb together by hand the butter in to the flour
• Add the sugar
• Mix in the egg and enough milk to form a soft dough - add flavour (opt)