I seldom cook with pastry. I very much enjoy eating it, especially on savoury pies, but we generally try to keep such high-fat foods as treats. Without regular consumption I have never really bothered to get into the art of pastry making and I freely admit this is a product I usually buy. After all, with so many good products out there, why not languish in the realms of ignorance?
Past experience with shortcrust pastry makes me blush and cringe a little and used to make me think I should just let it lie. In a home economics lesson many moons ago, I managed to end up with was a sheet of pastry from which bits seemed to crumble if I so much as looked at it. Of course, any attempt to rectify the mess made everything worse. My humiliation was compounded by the teacher’s appraisal of my efforts in front of the whole class, and I didn’t attempt to make shortcrust pastry again for nearly 20 years. The two occasions I have tried since I suppose what I managed was passable, but I think I made it too thick and the ‘short’ was somewhat lacking.
Flaky pastry faired better at school, but I haven’t made it from scratch since because it has always seemed too time-consuming, and if I don’t make it myself I can pretend that the fat content is lower than it really is. When it comes to filo and choux, I have never cooked with them and have only bought complete products, such as strudels or eclairs. I doubt that I will bother ever attempt the former; to create something that delicate is probably best left to the experts. Choux pastry is something I’d like to explore for savoury dishes, but if I want to, I guess I’ll have to learn to make it, as I don’t think you can buy the raw paste (or if you can I would be suspicious about what was being used to stabilise it!).
All the articles I have read about handmade dry pastries essentially say the same things: cool hands, cool kitchen, don’t mess up the fat to flour ratio and don’t stretch the dough when rolling it out. I think, though, that nothing is foolproof. Some people just get pastry, some people just don’t and some will get there if they persevere. Starting this blog has driven me to push myself a bit more now I have time to spend in the kitchen and to try new things and things that scare me (well, I have to have something to write about). My recent success with bread rolls was an extra spur. On Sunday, therefore, when my husband expressed an interest in pie for dinner, I grabbed the bull by the horns and decided to make my own.
The use of the food processor helped enormously. The dough was made quickly and easily, which helped to avoid overworking and kept it cool. Some cooks say that you can’t tell when enough water has been added and that you need to feel it by hand to be sure. It’s probably true, but I didn’t know what I was feeling for so I went with it anyway and figured the delectable Mr M would be kind enough to eat it no matter how it turned out. In the processor, there is a sudden change when the dough clumps and starts to bump around the bowl. Once that has started, it’s probably OK. You have to take it out of the bowl and give it a quick knead into a ball before resting anyway, so you can add a little more then if necessary. And bish, bash, bosh, the hard bit is done.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I ended up with the rather tasty double crust minced beef plate pie below.
I was very, very proud. The pastry was crisp, not too thick, didn’t shrink overly much and came out a lovely golden colour. In amongst high praise, the only niggle my husband had was that the pastry was too buttery. Indeed, it was an all-butter pastry as I that was all I had in. I didn’t mind it myself, but I can see that all butter might be better for a sweeter filling than minced beef. Next time I’ll try half butter, half lard, as in the recipe below.
With this success, I would certainly consider making shortcrust pastry again rather than buying it. Flaky and filo, though, will stay firmly on the shopping list.
Shortcrust pastry
Makes enough for double crust pie in a 9.5 inch pie plate.
280 g plain flour
Half tsp salt
70 g butter
70 g lard
Cold water (ice cold if possible) to mix or 1 egg yolk and water to mix, for a richer pastry
To make the pastry dough by hand, ensure the fat is at room temperature before starting. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl then cut the fat into small pieces and add it to the flour. Use a round-bladed knife to start cutting it into the flour then, when the pieces are tool small to cut any more, lightly rub in the fat in the flour with the fingertips until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. If using an egg yolk, make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the egg and use the knife begin to combine before adding the water. Add the water 1 tbsp at a time and incorporate with the knife. Once the mixture starts to bind work it by hand until the dough forms a ball.
To make the pastry in the food processor, keep the fat chilled. Sift the flour and salt into the processor bowl then cut the fat into small cubes and add to the flour. Pulse the mix in the processor until it resembles breadcrumbs. If using an egg yolk, add it at this point through the tube in the lid and pulse the mix. Add the water a little at a time until the mix begins to clump. Remove the dough and knead it very quickly into a smooth ball.
Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for 30 min.
No comments:
Post a Comment