The best mince pie pastry ever?

lindos90

Ive never been able to make nice pastry, until now! Thank you OP, what great mince pies I have! Ive always wanted to make really scrummy mince pies, these are melt in the mouth!

Quick query about the amount of water, how much are other people using? I added about a teaspoon (only made half the amount of ingredients) and the pastry was not sticky at all!

Ive got a jar of mincemeat and lemon curd on my shopping list for tomorrow!

Im also going to try it without the sugar and add cheese, as my kids love savory things!

vossman

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Rikki

:santa2: Time to bring this thread back in time for Christmas,

lindos90

vossman wrote: »

I know this is an old thread but people are still using the recipe, I decided to try this yesterday and in all honesty I followed it to the letter, even sourcing trex from Sainsury's, the pastry was very crumbly to start with so I added a little ice water and tried again but all to no avail. I threw it away and started again.

The scales I use are digital and are very accurate so once again I tried, still very crumbly pastry and virtually impossible to roll out. I tried chilling the pastry for half an hour and did actually manage to roll out a small amount to try but ended up throwing away the majority of the pastry.

I found the little bit I made (enough for only 9 pies) was quite sweet and it does not need cooking for so long as the OP said.

Conclusion: I can adjust the sweetness of the pastry and the cooking time to reduce a little of the crispiness but overall I don't think this is a success.

Maybe if someone can find a mistake in what I am doing I will try it again.

Maybe you needed slightly more water? That was the question I asked too last year, as my pastry was crumbly, but wasnt sure how much water was too much.

I now use slightly more water, enough to make it stick together better, its very 'short' so is quite delicate whatever you do.

Something I have found works well for me, (but might be seen as OCD by others:o.) ..I roll the pastry out on a teatowel, it helps with rolling as it doesnt stick and crumble to the worktop, it also helps when cutting out the circles as they are easier to peel from the tea towel than from a worktop, without pulling, damaging or squashing the circles:T

I also find it works out better if you measure in ounces and not grams, which is probably nonsense, but its an old recipe, and it feels right to do it in ounces!

researcher

I think you were using too little water vossman. In the original recipe I wrote 'the paste should be smooth, soft and very pliable'. It certainly isn't crumbly and it comes together into a very silky ball. You then need to be very generous with the flour both below and on top of the pastry and on your rolling pin. I'd then use a spatula knife or similar to lift the cut circles.

What I haven't done, but will try is rolling between two layers of cling film (still using ample flour), as I've seen chefs doing that with sticky mixtures to good effect.

Regarding the oven temperature and timing, many people have fan ovens, the temp I gave was not for a fan oven, so both should be altered accordingly.

Lastly, I too find the pastry mixture rather sweet - but that is what it is in the original recipe, which I posted because I was privilaged to have it given to me. Judging by the thousands of pies she's made over the years I'd say that many people like them that way. Personally I use rather less sugar.

Hope this helps.

vossman

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vossman

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catch_me_if_you_can

researcher wrote: »

What I haven't done, but will try is rolling between two layers of cling film (still using ample flour), as I've seen chefs doing that with sticky mixtures to good effect.

I always roll my pastry out in cling film now with no extra flour - Raymond Blanc (I think?) said on one of his tv programmes to do that as otherwise the pastry ends up too dry with the extra flour used. And I don't know if it's his accent or what but he speaks and I listen

vossman

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catch_me_if_you_can

vossman wrote: »

Doesn't the pastry stick to the cling film?

never has yet! It can't be a sticky dough though, as that would stick. And makes it easier ti lift the pastry to fill a pie dish etc, as the film is there to support it. Just turn the pastry over so the film is on top and remove the film once it's in place.

hth