Short Crust pastry - sweet

This delicious short crust pastry is ideal for any sweet pies or tarts.
There are some basic steps one HAVE to follow in order to make a perfect pastry.

•  The amount of fat in shortcrust pastry is half the amount of flour:for 4 oz (110 g) of flour you use 2 oz (50 g) of fat
• The flour should always be plain and made from soft wheat (ie not strong bread flour) 
• The water should be ice cold 
• The butter should be cold

250g of plain flour *
150g cubed butter
40g cold water
2 tbs sugar
1 egg yolk


Start by sifting  the flour, holding the sieve high above the bowl, so that as much air as possible is incorporated.


Add the butter to the flour. Gently rub the butter using the tip of your fingers until it resembles a crust with small bits of butter.
Then add the yolk and the water 1 tbs first  as you can't gauge how much water is needed without feeling the pastry, just long enough to make the mixture crumbly with just a few odd lumps here and there.

Place it in a cling wrap and leave it in the fridge for about 30 minutes. 
Making pastry in advance is perfectly all right – it will keep for up to three days in a polythene bag in the fridge, let it come back to room temperature before rolling it out. Unbaked pastry also freezes extremely well for up to three months.


Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead it a bit.  
Lightly dust it with flour and roll enough to cover your pie dish. Leave the pastry shell in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Pierce base with fork and blind bake.

When you bake blind a pie dough it produces a dry and crisp shell ready to be filled with wet ingredients.

Simply line tart tin with a piece of non-stick baking paper that extends past the edge of the tin.

Fill with pastry weights or uncooked rice or beans. Place on a baking tray and bake in a preheated 180°C (350°F) oven for 10 minutes. 

Remove the weights and paper and bake for a further 5 minutes or until the pastry is golden. 

*I sometimes make whole wheat short crust pastry. Simply remove half the amount of plain flour and replace it  with  whole meal flour.

Jue