How to make shortcrust pastry: recipes with photos

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Shortbread dough is very popular with housewives, because pastries from it are tender and crumbly. As a rule, cookies, cakes and pastries are baked from this dough, but it can also be used for pies with s alty filling. Most often, cookies are made from sweet shortbread dough, and the basis for open pies is made from lean dough.

The cooking process has its own characteristics, so some housewives do not know how to make shortcrust pastry. The recipe for any variety of this dough includes 3 main ingredients: flour, butter and water. You don't have to add baking powder because good quality butter replaces it. It seems to envelop the flour, due to which the pastries are soft and crumbly. This is what distinguishes shortbread dough from other types. Obviously, dishes from it contain a high percentage of fat, which should be taken into account by those who follow the figure.

History of Creation

The traditional recipe for shortcrust pastry - breeze (Pate Breese) was created in France around the 12th century. It is believed that after baking bread, cookies were made from the leftover dough. Later, butter was added to it, which not everyone could afford due to its high price.

Classic shortcrust pastry consists of flour, butter and water mixed in a ratio of 3:2:1. This standard is taken as the basis for any shortcrust pastry recipe.

Depending on what additional ingredients are added, the dough will turn out either for sweet pastries or for savory pies.

Cooking secrets

Things to remember before making shortcrust pastry:

1. You should choose a fine flour with a medium gluten content. Before preparing the dough, it must be sifted.
2. Do not heat the ingredients. The water must be cooled, and the butter must be melted to such an extent that it is conveniently chopped and does not melt. Prepare the dough in a well-ventilated area.
3. The butter should not be too melted, otherwise the dough will crumble when kneading.
4. No need to delay the cooking process so that the dough does not have time to heat up. Otherwise, the baked goods will be tough.
5. The baking dish does not need to be lubricated with oil, because the dough itself contains a large percentage of fat.
6. Cookies and shortbread pies are baked at 200-240°C in the bottom of the oven.
7. Some sources indicate that shortcrust pastry should be kneaded by hand. Someone objects that you need to use a spatula or a mixer so as not to reheat the dough with heathands It all depends on the specific recipe and the experience of the hostess.
8. If the dough is used to make cookies, it must be rolled out to a thickness of 0.5 centimeters. Shortbread dough can be slightly thicker for pies and cakes, but no more than 1 centimeter.

Classic dough recipe

The classic recipe is perfect for making shortcrust pie dough. How to make it universal so that any s alty filling is suitable? We need a minimum of components:

• 185 grams fine flour;
• 115g butter;
• ½ teaspoon sugar;
• ½ tsp s alt;
• 60 milliliters of ice water.

Water and oil pre-cool in the refrigerator. Sift flour and mix with sugar and s alt. Cut the butter into small cubes, add to the rest of the ingredients and chop together until the size of peas. Pour 1 tablespoon of water into the hole in the middle of the flour and knead the dough. When it starts to hold its shape, no more water needs to be added. Wrap the finished dough in cling film and leave in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. This base is used to make quiches, tartlets and closed pies. The dough must be rolled out with a layer 1 centimeter thick.

Shortbread dough for sweet pastries

Slightly different from the classic cookie dough recipe. How to make it airy and crumbly so that pastries melt in your mouth? For the test you will need:

• 3 cups high flourvarieties;
• 2/3 cup sugar;
• 450 grams of butter;
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda;
• 3 eggs;
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice;
• vanillin.

Butter rub with sugar, then add eggs and mix. Soda repay lemon juice and mix with sifted flour. Combine all ingredients, add vanillin, quickly knead the dough and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Chilled dough should be rolled out into cakes 0.4-0.7 cm thick. Cookie cutters should have sharp edges. Products are baked at a temperature of 200 ° C.

How easy it is to make shortcrust pastry

Preparing dough does not require a lot of time and money. Even with a minimal set of ingredients, you can make shortcrust pastry at home, as if you bought it in a store. This recipe is suitable as a base for pies with any filling, sweet or savory. Since the dough is not kneaded by hand, it will not have time to warm up. This method is suitable for beginner housewives.

• 210 grams uns alted butter;
• 300 grams of flour;
• 60 grams of sugar;
• 1 egg.

Butter and sugar must be mixed with a mixer for 4 minutes at a slow speed. Then add the egg, continuing to mix the mass at medium speed. Pour the sifted flour in small portions and mix the dough at a slow mixer speed. Leave in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

Shortbread dough with rye flour

Recipe using rye flour - the answer to the question of how to make shortcrust pastry for cookies more he althy and original. This recipe is also different in that it uses vegetable oil instead of butter. To prepare such a dough you will need:

• 200 grams of rye flour;
• 1 yolk;
• 50 grams of sugar;
• zest of 1/2 lemon;
• 100 grams of vegetable oil.

Mix all ingredients except flour. Sift the rye flour and add to the dough. Leave in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Products from such a dough must be baked at a temperature of 180 ° C.

With sour cream

Many housewives love to use primordially Russian ingredients in baking - sour cream and margarine, which everyone was used to back in Soviet times. The following recipe will tell you how to make shortbread dough, reminiscent of the taste of childhood:

• 650 grams of flour;
• 180g margarine;
• 2 tbsp lemon juice;
• 150g sour cream (10-20% fat);
• 200 g sugar;
• 1 sachet of baking powder;
• 2 eggs.

Chop margarine into pieces, mix with sugar. Add eggs and sour cream to them. Gradually add the sifted flour with baking powder, lemon juice and knead the dough. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

How to use shortcrust pastry

Some more tips for hostesses.

1. You need to roll out the dough on a flat, even surface sprinkled with flour, or on baking paper.
2. When using the dough as a base for a pie, it is necessary to pierce it in some places with a fork so that the pastries do not puff up.
3. When laying the dough on the form, you need to carefully press it so that the product does not deform during baking.
4. For thick layers, the oven temperature should be lower, for thin layers - higher.
5. If the baked goods are stuck to the foil or pan, allow the product to cool before removing it.

Why the dough doesn't work

In order to make shortcrust pastry as tasty, tender and airy as possible, you will have to be patient and gain experience. Sometimes incorrect proportions or mistakes in the cooking process can prevent you from achieving the desired result. Consider some of them:

1. If the pastry came out too crumbly, this indicates that too much butter was added to the dough or only yolks were used instead of eggs.
2. If butter is added last to the dough, or it is kneaded too long, the baked goods will become rough.
3. Too melted butter and insufficiently cooled food will prevent the dough from being rolled out: it will be unplastic, crumble.
4. If too little oil is added, the dough will shrink during rolling.
5. Don't use low gluten flour, otherwise the dough will be of poor quality.
6. If the pastry is uneven, it means that the dough was stretched during preparation or did not lie in the refrigerator long enough.
7. Shortbread canbecome too oily if the oil is not chilled enough. It is necessary to remove the workpiece in the refrigerator for another half an hour to get rid of excess fat.

Housewives get perfect baked goods if they follow these tips.