It is very easy to make friends with shortcrust pastry. All you have to do is follow a few simple rules. Perfect quiches, tarts and pies are guaranteed.
✅ The ingredients for shortcrust pastry should be well cooled. Ideally, the temperature in the kitchen should not be too high.
✅ If you want to get a crust with a layered structure, do not chop the butter and flour too finely. Let the butter remain in large flakes – when baked, they will form the pockets that create the puff pastry effect.
✅ When crumbing the butter with flour, choose methods that avoid contact between your hands and the pastry. When rubbing with your fingers, the butter melts from the heat of your hands and the structure of the baked crust is denser and often even harder. A food processor is best. Or cut butter and flour with a knife on a cutting board.
✅ When adding water to the dough in the final stages of kneading, try not to add too much. Add just enough to allow the dough to form a ball. Excess water will make the dough stiffer.
✅ Never ignore chilling the shortcrust. While resting in the refrigerator, the butter hardens and the gluten relaxes, creating a tender texture. If the butter is soft, it will be easily absorbed into the dough when you roll it out, and the baked pie crust won’t turn out flaky. And if the gluten isn’t allowed to relax, the dough can come out dense.
✅ Roll out the shortcrust between two sheets of parchment paper. This eliminates the need to add extra flour to the dough. The dough itself will not stick to the work surface or the rolling pin. And of course, this method of rolling makes it much easier to transfer the dough to the pan.
✅ When placing the rolled pastry in the pan, press it firmly to the bottom and sides – there should be no air pockets, otherwise the pie may deform during baking.
✅ For a crispier and melt-in-your-mouth pie base, practice prebaking using the “blind” method. You can cover the dough in the pan with foil or parchment and use dry beans, peas or pearls as weights.
✅ If you are baking a closed pie, make one or more holes in the top to allow steam to escape. This will keep the shortbread base crispy and prevent it from getting soggy from the steam released by the filling.
