shrinking pastry

[Rosendula]

Can someone tell me how to stop my pastry shrinking please? I've done a Google, and all the advice says to work it as little as possible and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to let it rest. This isn't helpful, because I always work it as little as possible. Also, last time I made pastry, I made too much and left the extra in the fridge for a couple of days. When I came to use it, it still shrunk when I cooked it. I was making a quiche and left a big excess over the edge of the tin just in case it shrunk, but it shrunk so much it only went half way up the side of my tin. What am I doing wrong? Did I refrigerate it too long? Should I have left it to warm up a bit before I used it? Would it be better to leave it to rest a bit after I've rolled it out and before I move it to the tin?

[Rosendula]

Thanks SusieGee.
I simply do half fat to flour and add cold water. The 'fat' I use is butter, straight from the fridge. The flour I use is usually a mix of plain white and wholemeal, depending on what I have in. I put these in the food processor to work into fine breadcrumbs, then I add tap water, mixing it by 'stirring' it lightly with my finger tips, then I gather it together. I don't squeeze it or knead it.

[StripyPixieSocks]

You need both butter and the likes of a white fat (I use Trex) using both fats makes the pastry rise just that little bit more and overcomes the shrinkage a little.

Also, when you're baking a quiche (or anything else in a tin like that) just roll it out, flop it into the tin and don't cut off the excess just squish down the inside sides a little and leave the excess hanging over the edge of the tin. Bake THEN cut the excess off with a sharp knife, stops it shrinking and if it does it just pulls in the extra from the outside :)

Also, do you roll in just one direction like just out from the centre? if you roll back and forth it works the dough too much and will make it shrink as well... you're also supposed to let it chill AFTER you've rolled it out in the tin.

Hope that ramble helped some

[snapdragon]

nod nod mixture of butter and trex, leaving it in the fridge - with pastry cold is good (except for fancy ones like hot water paste) so if you can make it and keep it cold it should be fine.
hmm thinks----
1. have you tried rolling it out first and Then leaving in the fridge to rest?
2. the thinner you roll it the more likely it is to shrink

[Rosendula]

Thanks everyone. I'll try it with a butter/Trex mix. That will make it cheaper as well I'll also try rolling just in one direction and leaving it to rest after I've rolled it out, as well as before. If it still shrinks I suppose I'll try giving up the food processor and rubbing the fat in with my fingers, but only as a last resort because I really hate that bit. In fact, that's the bit that put me off making pastry at all for about 15 years!

[StripyPixieSocks]

I do it in a food processor too, never had a problem.

[craig.r]

What i do is just bung the lot in a food processer and whizz for a few seconds, stop as soon as it reaches the breadcrumb stage. scrape out onto a big piece of cling film, lightly firming the pastry into a ball and refridgerate for at least 30 mins. get another piece of clingfilm and put the pastry between the 2 pieces. press the pastry flattish but work it as little as you can. when rolling out try to only roll one direction in between the 2 pieces of clingfilm. you will have to keep lifting the top piece to re position it while rolling out. The main points are to mix and handle as little as possible and to keep the pastry cold.

[becks77]

Hi Rosie,
As a child in good old home ec class we were always told after rolling the pastry, to drape the pastry over a rolling pin and lay in the tin to be lined and carefully place the pastry in the correct place with no stretching as the stretching would in the oven shrink back. Have always used this technique and thus far no problems
HTH
Becks