Making pastry

pjw123_2

I have a hand driven mixer called multi chef made by John Mills Ltd. I think it was a 'special purchase' in Woolworths some years ago.
I weigh plain flour plus about a dessertspoon of chickpea (gram) flour to give it a nice taste. then add half the weight of marge. whizz in the machine then add very cold water, I have no idea how much, I pour some in a cup and drip it in till it turns into pastry. This bit by hand, but handle very lightly. Then chill in the fridge for about an hour before rolling out and cooking
good luck
pjw

sixtyplus

My tip is to use half butter or margarine and half Trex. Trex is wonderful for pastry, makes it really light, but the pastry is too soft to handle if you use all Trex. Rough rule of thumb is to use half to one third fat to flour, and have to say that butter and Trex gives the best taste. I always add a whole egg after the rubbed in stage and then add the water.

Don't knead too much
Always rest dough in fridge before rolling
Careful with flour for dusting
Keep everything cool.

Bon appetite!

shanks77

catkins wrote: »

Just don't seem able to get it right - either to dry or too wet - usually too dry. I add as much water as the recipes state, but it never seems to be enough, but if I add more it then seems to be too much even though I have only added a few drops. Where am I going wrong? Is there a foolproof method. It is annoying because apart from pastry I am not a bad cook.

I made some today and when I went to roll it out it kept crumbling. I assumed it was too dry so tried to add more water but it was such a disaster I had to throw it away. I had already made a mixture for fillings (was going to make spicy chickpea pasties and cheese and onion pasties) so don't know whether to try again tomorrow or resort to buying frozen pastry

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Try rolling pastry between s sheets of cling film. It works really well and elimenates the need for more flour which makes pastry very dry and heavy

princess_loki

princess_loki wrote: »

thank you for advice!! :A

am off to peel apples now (been soaking in bowl in case of bugs!) and will report back this evening / tomorrow on results.

i have got lots of custard so even if i have a small disaster then i will pour custard over and hope no one notices!!!!!

i have to say that i am now hooked on making things with pastry!! my mum used to make horrid pastry :eek: and so that put me off it for ages :rotfl: . BUT thanks to everyones tips on here i am now turning out apple pies and quiches every other day!! OH thinks it is excellent and so do his workmates .

now that i am confident with the basics i would like to try a chicken and mushroom pie.... does anyone have any good tips? my mums pies always had 'no bottom' even though there was pastry there somewhere - would like to avoid this... can i sprinkle on semolina as previously mentioned or is that only for sweet things????

Ellonquine

I am wanting to start making pies, quiches and sausage rolls for the family instead of buying, and have no clue what sort of pastry to use.

Any hints, tips or recipes would be greatly appreciated

Also, what size of pie dish to use etc (sorry total novice)!

glitterycloud

hi i use Delia's shortcrust pastry when making quiche and sausage rolls, cant say im an expert so someone might come up with a better recipe however it never fails me.
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/basic-shortcrust-pastry,1123,RC.html
hth

troll35

I have a very large rectangular ceramic dish approx 10 inches by 7 inches which I often use for corned beef hash pie, cornish pasty pie (and occasionally other savoury pies) .
I use:
12 oz plain flour (300g)
3 oz lard (75g)
3 oz margarine (75g)
Rub the dry ingredents together until it resembles breadcrumbs (ish). I then bind it with milk, couldn't tell you how much because I add it in small glugs until it ha all bound together.

Not sure if it is the 'best' recipe but it's the one we prefer

Magentasue

The above is shortcrust pastry - easy one to start with. I never use milk, only cold water unless I need to use up eggs; then I use an egg instead. Pastry making is definitely something that comes with practice. You could do worse than start here:

http://www.be-ro.com/f_basics.htm
http://www.deliaonline.com/search/recipes/?qr=pastry

Look at pastry basics and then have a go at shortcrust and the quick and easy flaky. Start with small quantities. Also, not very OS but if you buy some chilled pastry, you'll know what you're aiming for when you make your own.

PasturesNew

troll35 wrote: »

Rub the dry ingredents together until it resembles breadcrumbs (ish).

I HATE this bit. It's hideous and puts me off baking.
Is there an easy way (without gadgets) to achieve this/cheat?

Magentasue

PasturesNew wrote: »

I HATE this bit. It's hideous and puts me off baking.
Is there an easy way (without gadgets) to achieve this/cheat?

Yes, use soft butter. Goes against conventional wisdom (everything cold) and you have to work really fast so fat doesn't go oily. Another way is to grate the fat (put in freezer for half an hour) and stir in - pastry is more flaky than shortcrust.