Basic Short Crust Pastry Recipe

Back to basics

Short-crust Pastry

Photography By Ctrlaltdelete Design Solutions (copyright 2016)

 Buttery, moreish, crunchy, flavoursome…

The one thing I feel is most important to be able to make is a really good pie, and to make a really good pie, you need to make a knock out pastry!

If you’re anything like me, the bog standard just won’t do! Here I share a  few basic pastry recipes to get you started.

What will I need?

1 x Large mixing bowl

Palette knife

Clingfilm OR Greaseproof paper

Measuring scales

Measuring spoons

30cm Pie/Tart dish

Ingredients

For a basic plain pastry

250g organic plain white flour (OR regular Plain Flour)

125g dairy free butter (Soya, Olive Oil)

1 tsp. Himalayan Rock Salt OR Sea Salt

Generous splash cold water

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (160 degrees fan assisted)

1. Place your flour into a large mixing bowl along with the butter and rub with your fingertips to form fine breadcrumbs; then add the salt and a generous splash of water.

                          

1. With a pallet knife, mix all the ingredients together in a clockwise motion, moving the bowl as you go until a soft dough is formed. If the mixture is too dry, add a little more water but not too much as you don't want a sticky mess!                      
2. Roughly bring the dough together with your hands,, place on top of your cling film/greaseproof paper, flatten a little into a disk shape then chill in the fridge to firm up for 30 minutes. The chilling stage is VERY IMPORTANT as it will make it much more manageable and will prevent it from sticking to everything.

TIP! You can make a gluten free version of this pastry using gluten free flour, I recommend Doves Farm which is available in all good supermarkets and health food stores.

For a Wholemeal and Buckwheat pastry

Ingredients

180g wholemeal flour

70g Buckwheat flour

125 Dairy-free Butter

1tsp. Himalayan Rock Salt OR Sea Salt

Generous splash cold Water

Follow the above method to create your pastry

For a sweet short-crust pastry

Simply add 100g unrefined Icing Sugar (or regular Icing Sugar) and follow the method 

as shown. I also like to add a little lemon juice, it adds an extra depth of flavour that 

will not disappoint!

Coming soon!

Check back soon where I will be showing you how to tart up (no pun intended) your 

pastry with amazing flavours to give them that extra KAPOW! I’ll also be showing how

you go about constructing your pies with a couple of simple yet effective techniques 

in a delicious recipe i have specially devised so watch this space!