How to Make Shortcrust Pastry Easily

Shortcrust pastry is versatile, easy to make and one of the most popular pastries in recipes. It can be used make both savoury pies and sweet tarts and pastries. My favourite recipes which use it are Chicken and Mushroom Pie and Mince Pies at Christmas.

Recipes will usually ask for a set quantity of pastry, such as 5 ounces or 400 grams. The amount listed is usually dependent on the size or the number of pies required. If based on the recipe you are working from you need to make more or less than listed, use the following guide and you should be able to make the correct amount of pastry every time.

Here's the maths bit!

This recipe makes 8 ounces of short crust pastry (approximately 1/2 pound), using 8 ounces of plain flour (1 cup). The fat content used to construct the pastry must be half the amount of flour used. This therefore in this recipe is 4 ounces of fat total. However, it is best to use a mixture of fat for a good shortcrust, so half lard and half butter, so in this recipe, 2 ounces of each.

If the recipe you were following asked for 400g of shortcrust pastry, that would mean using 400g of flour and 200g of fat. This would be 100g of lard and 100g of butter.

If a sweet pastry is required, for example a sweet tart, then caster sugar can be added in addition to the flour. The amount is usually one eighth (1/8) of the total flour, so in this recipe that is 1 ounce (1/8 cup).

Below are a few tips to follow to ensure that the recipe works well and ensures stress free pastry making

1. Weigh out all ingredients before you start. Have them all in separate containers within arms reach

2. The water used must be cold tap water and not too warm, the coolness of the water helps bind the pastry together quicker

3. When rolling out, ensure the surface you use is well floured, your rolling pin must be well floured too. Don't be afraid to add more if the pastry starts to stick at any time

4. Mix your dry ingredients together before rubbing in the fat. The fat must be cold and diced before use to make sure the pastry comes together well

5. You can use an electric mixer to make the pastry, however this runs a risk of overworking the pastry so care should be taken if using a mixer. Mixing should be stopped as soon as the ingredients have combined and the pastry is starting to form

Hope that you have enjoyed making this pastry. It can be adjusted to suit your requirements. Cocoa powder (in the above around 1 tablespoon) can be added with the flour to make chocolate pastry perhaps for a chocolate tart for example.

If adding any additional flavourings, you need to think about when to add these. If they a dry, such as dried herbs, these can be mixed with the flour beforehand. If you have wet flavourings, such as colourings, these can be added either at the fat stage or the water stage dependent on how wet they are. If using something like crushed garlic this can be added with the butter. If your flavour is very watery add as you would instead of the water until all your additional ingredient is added then top up with water until pastry is combined.