Perfect Pastry!

[JulieSherris]

Well you know, I'm a year off being 50 & I only cracked the perfect yorkshire puddings 2 years ago, but still struggled with pastry..... I tried rinsing my hands under icy water, putting everything in the fridge for an hour first - flour, utensils, bowls, etc - yep, everything!
Still I ended up with cracky hard un-rollable 'stuff'...... And while hubby has never been critical, I just knew it wasn't right.

So, a couple of days ago, I was chatting to a lady in the shop - she was buying aunt bossy's ready yorkies & I told her the secret of those... then said that my nemesis in the kitchen was pastry... so she disclosed HER secret.....

So today, I had frozen some butter which I cut lengthwise first, then sieved the flour & salt, & fed the butter through my grating attachment on the mixer.... I stirred the grated butter into the flour mix, didn't rub it in.... added the icy water, stirred it with a knife, pulled it together & popped it in the fridge for 20 mins - voila!!!!

Light, crumbly, lovely pastry - finally!! And no bloody rubbing to make the pastry mix look like 'fine breadcrumbs' - nothing! She also said that before she got a mixer, she just used to cut the butter into tiny pieces about the size of half an oxo cube then froze it for an hour & STILL didn't rub it in!
After all these years, I feel like such a clutz!

Success at last - yay!

[Bonniegirl]

I buy frozen ready rolled! Perfick!

[Millymollymandy]

I can do that bit no probs, but what is the secret to cooking it?

Mine is always soggy at the bottom. (Actually it isn't for mince pies, but is for things like quiche and pumpkin pie)

I can't blind bake because pastry cooks in no time so it would be already cooked before I put the filling in - so it would be black by the time it was cooked again.

What's the secret? Is it my oven because I never used to have a problem!!!

Oh and I've tried all 3 types of French ready rolled stuff (French pastry is really naff at the best of times) and it is always soggy cardboard and burnt around the edges, including what is supposed to be flaky pastry!

[pelmetman]

My Nana taught me to make pastry and it always comes out light and crumbly. Half lard half margarine, I know that Lard is probably not good for you these days but hey don't use it that often and I think the powers that be have now decided that animal fats aren't that bad. Besides if we listened to all the things we shouldn't eat we'd have a very boring diet.

[JulieSherris]

Yep, I've tried every combination of fats - cookeen, stork, even real butter & lard - full measures, half & half - but I've realised now that it's the 'rub the fat into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs - don't overwork it at this stage'......

When that lady said just get the fats to the size of an almond & leave it there, it sort all made sense!

As for blind baking, well, I've never had soggy pastry either but always understood that you're not cooking the pastry, just 'drying' it... so into a hot oven that gets turned down for about 10 mins & then leave it to cool before the filling is added... but then, what do I know, I've only just learnt how to make the stuff!!

[fran]

I always get hubby to make it. Perfect every time with no effort on my part!!! All I have to do is pander to the ego every so often!!!!!

[Millymollymandy]

But pumpkin pie gets cooked at 190 so when you are cooking something eggy you can't put it in at the same temps as doing mince pies or jam tarts (as I said, no probs with the base for mini tarts like that, but then they are only in the oven for 15 mins). After 15 mins my pastry is cooked so whilst waiting 50 mins for what's in the pastry base to cook, the pastry get burnt.

What kind of dish are you guys using? I used to have a metal flan dish with a removable base with little holes in it and that worked really well (not here with this oven), but I haven't been able to find one like it. I usually use a glass flan dish but bought a metal one in England. Only tried it with French pastry but same cardboard. However most French pastry even from the shops/bakeries is cardboard anyway. It's just that making pastry is a faff and I have to clear my kitchen table to roll it out as I have tiled work surfaces.

No lard here, I use 100% butter. Have tried cooking marge but the pastry isn't as nice and is much paler in colour.

[indy]

I AM going to try that, pastry has always been my nemisis also. My gran used to despair of me, I despair of me

[Silver Ether]

Congratulations Julie ... I can't make pastry either ... so I buy it ready done including a gluten free one for myself and I can still mess that up

[Millymollymandy]

No I haven't, but I don't think I can get semolina here. I am going to have to have a pastry session at some point and do some testing of different dishes e.g. metal based ones and try pumpkin pie mix in small individual pies rather than one big one so they'll cook quicker and not burn or have the time to get soggy! I'm sure half my problem is my wierd oven, which isn't a fan oven but has a fan blowing across it and out into the kitchen - all my cakes get very dark on top before they are cooked and I can't cover anything over because it blows around in the wind from the fan! It also has a huge temp difference between top and bottom so I can't bake on two shelves at once.

I also really miss having a Magimix because that made perfect pastry all for me. Cut the butter in and mixed it up with water perfectly and all I had to do was roll it out! I do think that it might just make it on my birthday wishlist.......or even a new proper fan oven! God I do wish this oven would blow up - well it did once but unfortunately it was fixable!

[Sky]

I make sure my butter is really cold and then grate it into the flour mix, saves all that rubbing in, all you do is toss it around in the flour with a fork and then add the water.

[Martina]

Pastry is really difficult. But once you get it, you feel so proud. For me, the secret is stone. I roll it on a cold slap of granite, or marble or even tile will work; Anything that can be rinsed with a cool cloth or put in the fridge to be cooled. As for the baking itself, I find nothing beats stoneware; pyrex is a good second choice. Metal heats too quickly, and sometimes metal tins only have heat conduction at the bottom. So that is where the heat stays or is the only part that retains the heat. If you need to blind bake your pastry (like a pumpkin pie), best stick to stone or pyrex, IMHO.

Martina