One of the simplest and quickest types of pastry to make is shortcrust; that’s the crumbly, buttery one. It is made easily by hand or using a food processor, requires no specialist equipment and the basic recipe is a really easily remembered equation. It can be made plain, sweet or savoury.
Does it get any easier than that?
The Ingredients
Butter / vegetable shortening / margarine
Flour
Beaten egg (at least one for every 100-150g of flour)
Optional: Seasoning (mixed dried herbs or salt for savoury, a little icing sugar for sweet)
The Equation
It’s very simple. However much fat you use, use twice that weight in flour. So for 100g of butter, use 200g of flour.
The Method
1. If you’re using a food processor, just put in the fat and flour and pulse until it resembles damp sand. Doing it by hand is a little more time consuming as you need to rub the fat in by hand. It helps if it’s cold and diced to begin with.
2. Add the seasoning. A good rule is a teaspoon of salt / mixed herbs per 200g of flour for savoury or a tablespoon of icing sugar per 200g of flour for sweet.
If you don’t add any seasoning it will still turn out just fine; it’ll just be a plainer taste. Perhaps that’s better if you’re going for a very strong-tasting filling; it’s up to you
3. Add the beaten egg a little at a time until it’s <em>just</em> combined, be it by hand or pulsing in the processor. You don’t want it sticky and damp, just wet enough to come together in a big ball. You might only need half the egg to do this.
If you’re using vegetable shortening it’s likely you’ll need less egg than if you’re using butter, because it’s a damper kind of fat (the things you learn, eh?).
4. Squish the pastry dough up into a ball, wrap it in cling film, and stick it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (the freezer for 15 will do in dire straights).
5. Roll out between two sheets of cling film – you don’t want to roll directly as you’d need to dust on extra flour and it will change the texture. Cut into relevant shape / drape into a tin.
For little rounds filled with jam, I bake at 150 degrees (fairly cool) for ten minutes. The baking temperature and length will of course depend on the filling.
image via L Marie's Flickr