Pastry disaster

Fay

Has anyone else tried to make the custard tart from the marcus wearing book 'how to make the perfect...' because this is the second time I have tried now and both times were a complete disaster. The pastry just won't work for me I have had it in the fridge for the 2 hours in a ball, then half an hour rolled out on a tray but as I lifted it into the ring it just all fell apart. I can feel the butter as I have tried to line the ring with it.

last time I tried it just dripped to the bottom of the ring whislt cooking and I KNOW it's going to happen again. The recipe is 230g plain flour, pinch of salt, 150g butter, zest of one lemon, 75g sugar and a whole egg and one egg yolk-should the pastry be this difficult? I feel like crying! I can master anything else in the kitchen but not this pastry! Grrrr

odds-n-sods

http://thefoody.com/baking/sweetshortcrustpastry.html



try this one; I think there's too much butter and that's why its falling apart. If pastry dough is too soft to hold together, add a little more flour.

THIRZAH

It's falling apart because there is such a high proportion of fat to flour-most pastry is about 4 oz fat to 8 oz flour etc.

Roll it out as best you can then stick the bits together in the ring making sure you don't leave any gaps

Fay

Well I think I have rescued it guys-from other recipes there is an awful lot of butter, but its what the recipe calls for. It's in the oven now with the filling in and I shall let you know how it turns out.

If anyone else is mad enough to try the recipe it's also on the net:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/custardtartwithgarib_81804.shtml

Thanks for the advice guys-not sure I will attempt it again!

odds-n-sods

when doing a quiche etc or cuatard tart, once you've blind-baked the shell, brush beaten egg yolk on it while its still hot - cover it completely and put it back in teh oven for a minute or so to dry out. then put the filling in. Should stop all leaks.

If you find there are holes, take a littel of the left-over dough and patch before putting on the egg.

Fay

I did that odds-n-sods, as directed by the recipe. The pastry was literally sliding down the sides of the pastry ring there is so much butter in it!

bltchef

after line the flan ring brush the pastry with egg white this will seal any leaks in the pastry > what some cook boks do not tell you try not adding the egg it will make pastry less rich you should find easy to use

Penelope_Penguin

I'm not sure that it is too much butter. I use a puff pastry recipe with 180g fat to 225g flour, and don't have this problem.

Is your oven hot enough? It may be that you've set the dial, but that the thermostat isn't working. Try putting a thermometer in to check.

HTH, Penny. x

Nordictat2

I personally follow Rachel Allen's way of doing pastry and it works great for me everytime!
I saw her make this one http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/573055 on her show so I followed her steps

SUESMITH_2

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

I'm not sure that it is too much butter. I use a puff pastry recipe with 180g fat to 225g flour, and don't have this problem.

Is your oven hot enough? It may be that you've set the dial, but that the thermostat isn't working. Try putting a thermometer in to check.

HTH, Penny. x

puff pastry is differant, you need all the butter to get the layers - rich shortcrust (which this is a variation of) is always half as much fat as flour. i bet they never even made the wretched stuff or tried the recipe now that makes me cross. a friend confessed a few years ago that when she was a poor student she was a recipe researcher for a famous tv cook (not st delia) who was too lazy to test/write her own recipes but cos my friend was paid so poorly she would deliberatly give her recipes that wouldnt work and of course she just used them - something she isnt proud of now i hasten to add but whenever i see this woman on tv i can picture my poor friend thinking what she could add surrepticiously lol

Fay

Thanks for all the tips guys-it worked in the end, but was difficult to do! It wasn't the oven, that's working fine, and the pastry fell apart before it got anywhere near the oven! It was just falling apart as I picked it up with the rolling pin.

I have to say though, that despite the trauma (obviously not a real trauma!) of it all the tart is beautiful and the pastry is delicious. Maybe I will make it again...