Nieces for lunch? Friends for tea or sweet gift for your sweetheart? Whatever the reason you open your fridge and pantry to prepare pies, crumbles or cookies, we’ll reveal in this recipe how to make shortcrust pastry, one of the bases of pastry with which to make these recipes impeccably tasty! There are various variations of shortcrust pastry based on the ingredients, such as egg-free, liquid and dry ingredient proportions, or even their temperature, such as soft pastry, and even the method of preparation. Do you know whipped shortcrust pastry? Start by whipping soft butter and sugar with beaters, then add the rest. But there’s also the “sandy” method by working the ingredients in a mixer to achieve a sandy texture, which is exactly what we’re presenting today.
The ingredients for making shortcrust pastry are easily available: eggs, butter, sugar, and flour… and of course our step-by-step recipe to make excellent homemade shortcrust pastry! For Christmas cookies to give as gifts, for delicacies to serve on birthdays or for original Halloween cookies, discover all the steps to bake buttery delights to decorate to your heart’s content!
Shortcrust Pastry
Ingredients
Ingredients for 1 kg of pastry dough
Eggs (2 medium cold from the fridge) 110g
Flour 00500g
Icing sugar 200g
Cold butter from the fridge 250g
Grated zest of an untreated lemon 1
Shortcrust Pastry Calories
Difficulty: Medium
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cost: Low
Note + at least 30 minutes of refrigeration; cooking times vary depending on the chosen preparation
Preparation
How to prepare shortcrust pastry
To prepare shortcrust pastry using the sandy method, start by pouring the flour into a mixer 1 (if you prefer, you can use the stand mixer in the same way, just use the paddle) along with the cold butter cut into small pieces 2. Activate the blades several times until you get a sandy mixture 3. Using the mixer intermittently will prevent the dough from overheating.
Turn off the blades and add the icing sugar 4 along with the slightly beaten egg 5 and then grate the zest of an untreated lemon, being careful to only take the yellow part and not the white, which is bitter 6.
Activate the robot again for a few moments, this time lowering the speed so that the blades mix the dough without blending 7. As soon as the mixture has come together 8, transfer it to the work surface 9.
Quickly compact it with your hands, so that the gluten doesn’t develop 10, just enough time to get a smooth and homogeneous ball. Wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least half an hour (although the longer the dough stays in the fridge, the more the gluten will relax and the butter will have time to cool, 10-12 hours would be even better) 11. After this time, take the dough again, which you can use in various recipes for pies and cookies. To roll out the dough properly, simply place it on a lightly floured work surface (alternatively, between two sheets of parchment paper) and beat it for a few moments with a rolling pin, so as to restore plasticity and a bit of warmth 12. Your shortcrust pastry is ready: good recipes!
Storage
Shortcrust pastry can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Alternatively, it can be frozen for up to 1 month.
Some information before you start…
The structure of shortcrust pastry is versatile, depending on the result you want to achieve. Some examples?
1) To get a more crumbly shortcrust pastry, you can use only egg yolks. If the mixture doesn’t compact well, you can add a little butter.
2) Icing sugar gives a fine texture; granulated sugar instead will give an alveolate effect to the baked dough.
3) You can also add a little honey (with these doses, 10-20 grams will suffice): the shortcrust pastry will acquire a beautiful golden color.
4) Adding a pinch of baking powder will give you a softer and crumblier shortcrust pastry.