Unlike the puff pastry, which is more complicated to prepare, the short pastry is very easy to do and gives a delicious homemade touch to your quiches, lemon pies, apple pies or any other tarts.
How to make a short pastry? Some flour, a pinch of salt, butter, egg yolk, a little bit of water … and that’s it. It always follows the same proportions: 2 weights of flour for each weight of butter. It is ready in 5 minutes. It is advisable to let the pastry rest 2 hours in the fridge before using it, so that it holds itself together better, but it is also ok to use it straight away if you don’t have time.
I like it because:
- You can use seasoning or spices to personalize your pastry: cinnamon or vanilla extract sweet tarts, cumin or curry for savoury pies.
- You can prepare it in advance and freeze it.
Tricks:
- Take the butter out of the fridge 10 minutes before you start cooking.
- Use your hands to mix the flour with the butter so that they mix better.
- Prepare the pastry with a food processor to go faster, keeping the same proportions.
- Flatten the pastry on a sheet of kitchen paper and move the sheet directly in the pie dish.
INGREDIENTS FOR 1 BALL
- 8,8 oz (250g) all purpose flour
- a pinch of salt
- 4,4 oz (125g) butter
- 1 egg yolk
- 3,5 tbsp (5cl) water
- 1 tsp of any seasons, spice or extract you which to add
SHORT PASTRY RECIPE
- Mix the butter, the flour, the salt and any other seasoning you which to add in a big bowl. Give the mixture a sandy texture by rubbing it between the fingers until it is completely smooth.
- Make a little hole in the middle of the bowl, and put in the egg yolk, the water and any extract if you wish to. Mix them all together with your finger making rounds, then add little by little the rest of the mixture making bigger rounds with your finger. At the end, mix with your hand quickly until you have a ball. If the pastry is too sticky, you can add a bit of flour.
- Take the ball out of the bowl and spread it 2 times with your hands on the worktop in order to incorporate the butter well into the pastry.
- Roll a plastic film around the paste and let it rest for 2 hours in the fridge.
- It will be easier to spread if you pull it out of the fridge 10 minutes before using it.
Bon appétit!