Making pastry

emiff6

Perhaps you didn't 'bring it together' quite enough, and left too many air gaps in the dough, so it behaved more like puff pastry.
Also aren't you supposed to rest the pastry in the fridge before rolling or shaping it? (I'm not sure about that one as I always use SR flour for short pastry 'cos it doesn't need resting, and doesn't crumble when you roll it out).

LJM

ive always been taught to allow my pastry to rest and i also think the temperature in the house/kitchen etc can be a factor and have an effect

stitching_witch

My grandmother taught me to jab* the bottoms of the pastry cases three times with a fork. I don't know if this stops it from rising, but forty years on I still do it as I always do as I'm told!

* wouldn't let me say p-r-i-c-k the pastry cases!!!!!

ChocClare

Pastry will rise if left to its own devices!

You need to !!!!!* it with a fork, and I always think baking it blind even for 5 minutes helps. I then use the end of my rolling pin to jab the pastry down into the individual tartlet cases again as it does tend to rise whatever you do. For a big tart case, you can use the flat of the fork you pricked it with to squish it again.

It doesn't sound like you did anything wrong to me!

* ooh, you're right, stitching witch - just seen your post (sorry, should press "refresh" more often I suppose) and it won't let you say p-r-i-c-k, will it?!!!

laloopi

A few things I do which may be worth a try...

I grease the tins using cooking spray, and never have problems with sticking
I blind bake the pastry case before adding the filling
I make the pastry using my food processor so touching it as little as possible
I leave the pastry in the fridge for half an hour before using it
I p#$%k the pastry case to stop it rising up

Hope that helps!

kezlou

hmmm strange.

I normally make pastry with 1/2 cheap marge to 1/2 plain four and bind with cold water.

Some times i let the pastry rest. But i just roll i straight out and place into baking trays.
I also bake blind everytime before i add the filling.
It hardens the so it doesn't puff up, according to Delia.

freyasmum

Pastry should shrink if not left to rise, not balloon up like a vol au vent :rotfl:

The recipe sounds fine to me. The only thing I can see is that you haven't said you pricked it. You need to do that or you get little balloons

Fruball

Thanks all - I will definately follow all the advice above and give it a good p-r-i-c-k next time

OrkneyStar

I think there has been air trapped in the pastry, simply pricking with a fork and/or a little pre-cooking (5-10 mins) before adding filling can help this.

Pitlanepiglet

Can I tag on the end of this please? I make a real pigs ear of pastry - I can bake cakes and bake bread but pastry seems to be beyond me for some reason.

I either do the rubbing in in the kenwood or I do it by hand, I then rest it in cling in the fridge for half an hour or so but when I roll it out I make a real mess, I can't get it in any sensible shape and end up having to roll and re-roll and then the pastry ends up hard and nasty and very bitty.

Can anyone help me with this? What recipe do you use (I usually use flour/butter/lard but I can't remember the proportions), and I just roll it on a floured work top - I wonder whether some sort of oil cloth would help?