Some pastry questions

jobbingmusician

Hi all, and hope you can help.

DH recently had his gallbladder out, and has taken a resolution to cut his saturated fat intake. Very sadly he has decided that I shouldn't cook with butter any more.

He is allergic to most margarines, so I tried making pastry with Waitrose Olive Oil spread and it was really horrible. So I have 2 questions

1. Should I be doing anything special when using olive oil marg? I am just using the normal 2:1 ratio and an oven temp of 150 deg C. Do I need a hotter oven, for example? I found the blind baked case, which used to take 12 mins with butter, still looked (and tasted) raw after 22 mins!!!!!!!!

2. Does anyone have a good pastry recipe which uses olive oil instead of solid fat?

Zazen999

http://www.fabulousfoods.com/index.php?option=com_resource&controller=article&category_id=138&article=18440

Found the above - not sure if it would work - I've never tried it but perhaps I should!

horsechestnut

You can use a solid vegetable product, such as Trex (other brands are available).
There is no dairy in these products and are designed for pastry making. You can also use them in things like ginger bread.

wogglemaker

I've used lard or Trex for most pastry, only using part butter for rich sweet pastry

jennyjelly

In the August BBC Good Food mag there was a 'healthy makeover' of Quiche Lorraine and the pastry they used is 6oz plain flour, 6 tbsp Greek yoghurt and 4 tbsp olive oil. They also add a crushed garlic clove and s&p but this probably wouldn't taste too good in a lemon meringue pie.

I haven't tried it yet, but their recipes are usually ok and it's certainly a lot healthier than the real thing!

HTH, JJ.

jobbingmusician

I should have mentioned - there is no way he will eat lard, in any form

Keep 'em coming! - and thanks to contributors so far.

sunflower76

being naive and not knowing what Suet is made of... but would this be an option?

Zazen999

sunflower76 wrote: »

being naive and not knowing what Suet is made of... but would this be an option?

Not really, it's pretty much the same as lard, it's raw beef or lamb fat. I think Trex might be a good way to go; or trying out those olive oil recipes.

jennyjelly

I'm probably wrong here, but I thought that solid fats (eg Trex) were saturated? If OP is trying to steer clear of saturates I would think oil would be a healthier way to go.

Of course I might have got hold of the wrong end of the stick re Trex, sorry if so.

Zazen999

Well, I believe most oils have some saturated fats, it's just a question of keeping them low or not eating oils at all. TREX is veg oils and some solid veg fat.

savingforarainyday

I remembered my mum has made pastry with cooking oil. I searched and found this link


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=64465&page=5

I think a lot of time it is trial and error. I make gluten free pastry for ds and it only works if I sneak up on it after it has been in the fridge.

good luck

Meant to say look for poster fannyadams