Pastry - what have I done wrong?

nickyhutch

The last few times I've made tried and tested favourites - pies, quiches and flans that we all love, my pastry has been soggy and undercooked on the bottom. I'm doing nothing different. I din't used to bake the base of quiches blind, but even tried that tonight and no - still soggy. Not happy, not happy at all! What am I suddenly doing wrong?

Addiscomber

Are other things cooking alright in your oven? Just wondering if the thermostat is OK.

I am not very experienced with pastry as I fought shy of it for years, but someone else will be along soon.

nickyhutch

Seem to be fine, it's a good hot oven. A thought though - I should check that, thanks.

buxtonrabbitgreen

I have heard that you need cold hands to make pastry successfully. Maybe it is because the weather is warm. Try putting into the fridge for half an hour before you roll it out and run your hands under the cold tap before you roll too.Have you changed the shortening? I always find half and half of baking marg and lard makes a nice dry shortcrust.

elisebutt65

nickyhutch wrote: »

The last few times I've made tried and tested favourites - pies, quiches and flans that we all love, my pastry has been soggy and undercooked on the bottom. I'm doing nothing different. I din't used to bake the base of quiches blind, but even tried that tonight and no - still soggy. Not happy, not happy at all! What am I suddenly doing wrong?

Not buying it ready made from the freezer section???


Sorry - still in Bad Mother mode:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

thriftmonster

Try preheating a baking sheet and placing the quiche dish on the hot metal as you bake it. It's supposed to transfer more heat from the bottom.

Aklso as Buxtonrabbit suggested, half lard gives a good texture

MRSMCAWBER

hi there
thriftmonster is right, putting a baking sheet in your oven to get hot whilst the oven heats up should help...if you do decide to blind bake the case, when it is cooked through brush beaten egg white (save a bit back from your egg mix) and bake for a minute this will seal the pastry and should stop it from soaking up the filling.

Sharra

I would think also that its not a hot enough oven, also make sure you are rolling the pastry thin enough.
I make pastry with marg and wholemeal flour and it can be soggy if its not cooked long enough (obvious I know) or if its too thick or the oven too cool. If the top of your quiches are cooking too quickly, you could cover the top with some foil once its cooked to give the pastry time to cook.
Another thought - have you changed the type of flour? The amount of liquid needed in the pastry varies with different flours.

cannycat

Hi, I used to have this problem (I have a ghastly electric cooker, bah!) - I found recently that using a different kind of cooking fat worked really well and gave nice crispy pastry on pies and pasties - am I allowed to say brand names? It's c-o-o-k-e-e-n.