Sweet Pie Or Biscuit Pastry Recipes

SWEET SHORT PASTRY

Steps:

• Place flour in a bowl with the sugar and salt. Cut the butter and shortening into pieces, and cut into the flour until crumbly. Mix in vanilla. Add just enough water to form a ball: it should not be sticky. Knead quickly into a smooth ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 1 hour.
• When ready to make pie, roll dough out as you would any crust. Do not let sit out, or handle excessively allowing to soften. Easiest to work with if firm.

PâTE SUCRéE - FRENCH SWEET TART CRUST (PASTRY DOUGH)

Steps:

• Mix Dy Ingredients: Whisk together flour, icing sugar, salt and almond meal in a bowl.
• Add butter: Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles breadcrumbs. (Note 4).
• Add egg: Mix with a rubber spatula until it becomes too hard to stir anymore, then use your hands to bring it together into a dough.
• Bring dough together: Turn dough out onto a work surface, then knead to bring together into a smooth ball. Flatten into a 2cm / 0.8" thick disc. Wrap with cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Unwrap chilled dough. Place on a lightly floured work surface.
• Roll out into a 32cm / 13" round (3mm / 1/8" thick).
• Line tart tin: Roll pastry lightly on to a rolling pin (ie. so it wraps around itself). Then unroll it gently over the tart tin.
• Fit pastry: Adjust the pastry to fit into the tart tin, fitting into the corner, taking care not to stretch it (causes shrinkage during bake).
• Trim excess dough: Roll the rolling pin over tart tin to trim excess dough. Pictured tart tin is 24 x 3 cm / 9.5 x 1.2" - you can use any up to this size.
• Prick the base of the pastry 30 times with a fork. Not all the way through - just make a light prick on the surface.
• Chill pastry in tart tin for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 200°C / 390°F (180°C fan).
• Baking beads: Cover pastry with 2 sheets of baking paper (parchment paper), in a "X" arrangement. Fill with baking beads (or 2 cups dry raw rice or beans).
• Baking times for a Par Baked Tart to be used for tarts that are baked for > 30 minutes once the filling is added into the cooked tart shell.
• Bake 15 minutes the remove from oven. Use excess paper to remove baking beads.
• Bake uncovered 5 minutes: Return tart crust to oven for 5 minutes. Pastry should be light golden, crispy on surface, but slighty undercooked inside (will finish cooking once filled and baked again).
• Use these baking times if the tart shell is to be used for raw fillings (ie tart not baked once crust is filled) OR fillings that are baked for < 25 minutes.
• Bake 15 minutes the remove from oven. Use excess paper to remove baking beads.
• Bake uncovered 10 minutes: This will fully cook the pastry through and give it nice colour which we need as the pastry won't cook through in less than 25 minutes once filled.
• Cool: Remove then cool in tart tin before filling (this ensures crust stays crispy once filled), then baking again if filling needs to be cooked (like this Pistachio Frangipane Pear Tart).
• Make ahead up to 3 days, suitable for baking once filled.

SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY

Steps:

• Put 150g plain flour and 75g unsalted butter in a bowl and rub together with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs.
• Mix in 50g icing sugar and a pinch of salt followed by 1 egg yolk. If the pastry feels too dry to form a dough, add 1 tbsp water. Shape the dough into a ball, flatten it out into a disc, wrap it in cling film, then chill for at least 30 mins before using in your recipes. You could try using it to make our apple & blackberry pies.

PâTE SUCRéE (SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY)

Steps:

• Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until well combined, then beat in the egg yolks, one at a time until fully incorporated into the mixture.
• Mix in the flour until the mixture comes together as a ball of dough.
• Tip the pastry out onto a floured work surface and knead briefly until smooth.
• Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill for 30 minutes. Alternatively, it can be frozen for use at a later date.

NEVER, NEVER FAIL PIE PASTRY

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in lard until mixture resembles coarse meal.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together water, egg yolk, vanilla extract, and vinegar. Stir into flour mixture and knead dough briefly, just until smooth. Allow to rest 15 minutes before rolling out. Pastry is easier to work with when chilled. Can be stored in refrigerator for up to 1 week.

BISCUIT PASTRY

Steps:

• Sift all dry ingredients. Place in the bowl of processor.
• Add chopped butter and whizz until it resembles breadcrumbs.
• Add the egg yolk and whizz until mixture comes together to form a dough.
• If needed add 1 tbsp iced water. This will depend on how dry your flour is, the weather (if it is humid and hot you probably won't need the extra water).
• Turn out onto a lightly floured bench and form into a smooth ball. Don't knead the pastry too much or it will produce a tough pastry.
• Wrap in cling wrap or place in a sealed container and rest in fridge for 1 hour.
• Divide into a 1/3 and 2/3 balls, the larger for the base. Roll out the larger ball to fit your dish fill and then roll out the smaller ball, cut out a small circle from centre of pastry to allow steam to escape and place gently over you pie filling. Crimp pie edge to seal.
• Brush the pastry with egg white and sprinkle with sugar just before baking. This gives a crunchy crust to the pie. Alternatively you can brush with a milk wash.
• With a fruit filling bake at 350C for 45-50 minutes.
• If you use the pastry for a slice base you can cover 2 slice tins.

SWEET PIE OR BISCUIT PASTRY

Steps:

• Combine flour and sugar.
• Rub in butter.
• Add eggs and mix.
• Use as desired.

BASIC SWEET PASTRY

Steps:

• Crumb together by hand the butter in to the flour
• Add the sugar
• Mix in the egg and enough milk to form a soft dough - add flavour (opt)