| Shortcrust Pastry Recipe |
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KEY POINTS
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Preparation Time: |
30 minutes | Cooking Time: | 55 minutes |
| How Difficult | Medium | Freeze? | No |
| Servings |
Pastry for 1 pie |
INGREDIENTS
The basic ingredients fare twice the amount of flour to fat. The recipe below will be enough to line and top a normal sized pie. If just topping a pie, use half the amounts.
| Metric | Imperial |
| 55g Cooking margarine (e.g. Stork) | 2oz Cooking margarine (e.g. Stork) |
| 55g refined cooking fat / lard (e.g. Cookeen) | 2oz refined cooking fat (e.g. Cookeen) |
| 220g Plain flour | 8oz Plain flour |
NOTES
In our recipe we have used Cooking margarine and cooking fat / lard. It
is quite possible to simply use Cooking margarine or a mix of butter and
fat / lard. We have found our mixture produces the best shortcrust
pastry. Whatever is used the proportions of fat to flour should be
maintained - twice the weight of flour to that of the fat.
The recipe below has lots of pictures, but you can also view our video on making perfect shortcrust pastry by clicking here.
CLICK ANY PICTURE BELOW TO ENLARGE IT
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It's important for shortcrust pastry that
the margarine and cooking fat are at room temperature. This will enable it
to combine with flour as quickly as possible and make rolling out the
pastry much easier. Add the margarine and cooking fat to a large bowl (cut into lumps) and sieve in the the flour. Do this from as high as possible to incorporate air into the flour as it falls. |
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Gently rub the flour, and
margarine / lard together with your hands lifting them and letting the mix
drop back into the bowl. This will help more air into the mixture.
The mixture should end up as small crumbs although some larger bits may be present. Don't overdo this stage, it should only take two or three minutes. |
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Add 3 tablespoons of water
to the mix and 'cut' the mixture together for a minute or so. Then use
your hands to gently blend the mix together even further. If it won't hold
together add another half tablespoon of water. The mix is of the correct consistency when it is in a ball and can collect all the odd bits around the bowl into one single ball. |
Wrap the mix in cling film and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes to 'rest'. After it has rested for 30 minutes it is ready to rolled out into the shape required. We have assumed for this page that you want to line the bottom and top of a fruit pie.
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Separate two thirds of the pastry (for the pie base). Dust the surface with flour where you want to roll out the pastry. Most flat surfaces are fine for this. Move the rolling pin back and forwards turning the pastry round frequently to get a round shape. keep dusting the surface with more flour if the pastry starts to stick. Use the base of the dish to be lined as a guide to size. |
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When the pastry has been
rolled to approximately the correct size, transfer it to over the top of
the pie dish. Click both pictures on the left for an enlarged view. First, roll about half of the pastry over the rolling pin (top picture). Then support the remaining pastry with your hand and transfer the pastry to the top of the pie dish. Gently firm the pastry into the bottom of the pie dish. It's not a disaster if the pastry tears slightly because when the pie is filled the base will not be very visible. |
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Firm the pastry to the base
and sides of the pie dish with your fingers.
Use the blunt side of a normal knife to trim off any pastry which is higher than the sides of the pie dish. |
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Fill the pastry lined dish with whatever is
your choice of fruit. Roll out the remaining third of the pastry with the
rolling pin to just larger than the top of the pie dish. Transfer the
pastry to the top of the pie dish using the rolling pin as before. Gently firm down the pastry over the top of the fruit and trim the excess pastry off with the blunt side of a knife. |
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Turn on the oven now to 220C
/ 425F / Gas Mark 7. It will make the pie look more attractive if you 'crimp' the pastry round the edge of the pie. Click the picture on the left for a better idea of how to do this. |
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Finally, make a couple of
holes in the top of the pastry. This will allow steam to come out whilst the pie is being baked and keep the shortcrust pastry crisp. |
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Place the pie in the
pre-heated oven and leave at that temperature for ten minutes. Then turn
the temperature down to 190C / 375F / Gas Mark 5. If you are cooking a fruit pie, cook for a further 45 minutes. |
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