shortcrust pastry question

melie3

hello all,
sorry this is gonna be a bit of a vague question but hoping someone might help me.
i made some mince pies, my hubby thought they were spot on when they were warm. they cooled down, and i shared some to my parents, who said that it was missing 'something'. my hub agreed that they werent as nice cold. i made my pastry with 4oz trex, 4oz butter, and 6oz plain 2 oz cornflour, and cold water to bind. any ideas what the something could be??? they are comparing to shopbought i guess which i guess im not gonna get what they taste like, dont want them to anyway lol. do you think its sugar whats missing from the pastry??
thanks in advance

melie

garden-lover

melie3 wrote: »

hello all,
sorry this is gonna be a bit of a vague question but hoping someone might help me.
i made some mince pies, my hubby thought they were spot on when they were warm. they cooled down, and i shared some to my parents, who said that it was missing 'something'. my hub agreed that they werent as nice cold. i made my pastry with 4oz trex, 4oz butter, and 6oz plain 2 oz cornflour, and cold water to bind. any ideas what the something could be??? they are comparing to shopbought i guess which i guess im not gonna get what they taste like, dont want them to anyway lol. do you think its sugar whats missing from the pastry??
thanks in advance

melie

Sounds like a high proportion of fat to flour. I make mine half fat to flour.

Pink.

Hi melie,

This thread may help:

The best mince pie pastry ever?

I'll add your thread to that one later to keep the replies together.

Pink

JulieM

As above, it should be half fat to flour (ie 8oz flour, 4 oz fat). It also helps to add a pinch of salt to the mix, I know it's no good for us but a tiny pinch really does make a difference to the taste.

tiddly_widdly

I use a pate sablee recipe. A sweet pastry. rich and delicious. you wont use anything else. will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer

250g plain flour
200g butter - softened
100g icing sugar
2 egg yolks.

yummy yummy. must go and make some!

1sttimer_2

melie3 wrote: »

hello all,
sorry this is gonna be a bit of a vague question but hoping someone might help me.
i made some mince pies, my hubby thought they were spot on when they were warm. they cooled down, and i shared some to my parents, who said that it was missing 'something'. my hub agreed that they werent as nice cold. i made my pastry with 4oz trex, 4oz butter, and 6oz plain 2 oz cornflour, and cold water to bind. any ideas what the something could be??? they are comparing to shopbought i guess which i guess im not gonna get what they taste like, dont want them to anyway lol. do you think its sugar whats missing from the pastry??
thanks in advance

melie

Same here for half fat to flour and also if you're using Trex, it says on the box you need to use 20% less because it contains no water. I personally don't put any sugar into my pastry as the mince meat is sweet enough.

Good luck!

westcountrymaid_2

Pink-winged wrote: »

Hi melie,

This thread may help:

The best mince pie pastry ever?

I'll add your thread to that one later to keep the replies together.

Pink

melie i can highly recommend 'The best mince pie pastry ever' I'd be the first to admit I'm no pastry cook but my sister in law said that my mince pies tasted like Marks and Spencers.

kittyscarlett

Err - the OP IS using half fat to flour - 6oz plain + 2oz cornflour = 8ox flour altogether !

melie3, you could be right, they might be comparing them to shop bought - but it might be the excessive amounts of sugar and salt in the pastry they are missing - give their tastebuds time to adjust

Penelope_Penguin

kittyscarlett wrote: »

Err - the OP IS using half fat to flour - 6oz plain + 2oz cornflour = 8ox flour altogether !

....and then adding 4oz butter and 4oz trex - that's even more fat than in puff pastry

Penny. x

melie3

garden-lover wrote: »

Sounds like a high proportion of fat to flour. I make mine half fat to flour.

wrong amounts i type, i made it half fat to flour, 2oz trex 2 oz butter soz for that lol

melie3

tiddly_widdly wrote: »

I use a pate sablee recipe. A sweet pastry. rich and delicious. you wont use anything else. will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer

250g plain flour
200g butter - softened
100g icing sugar
2 egg yolks.

yummy yummy. must go and make some!

i never found a recipe for pastry requiring egg yolk??? im confused now lol