Shortcrust pastry technology: step by step description and best recipes

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

A novice cook often faces this problem: he wants to make a cake or cookies, opens a recipe book, and it says: “From two eggs, one hundred grams of butter, two tablespoons of sugar and 150 g of flour, knead shortbread dough.” A novice cook takes to follow the recipe, throws everything into one bowl, but it turns out some kind of nonsense. The dough is not kneaded, and when baked it becomes hard. And all because the authors writing cookbooks for some reason believe that a person is born into the world with full knowledge of what the shortcrust pastry technology is. But this is a kind of skill that should be comprehended. And this article will help all beginners to knead the shortbread dough correctly. It is of two types. And we will tell you in detail how they differ and how to cook them. And we will reveal some subtleties and secretsmaking this base for cakes, cookies and pastries.

A bit of history

Dough products appeared at the very dawn of the Neolithic revolution, when mankind had just mastered the cultivation and use of cereals. The grains were ground with a hand millstone, a little water was added to the powder … It is believed that the first flour products looked like dumplings. But the technology for making shortcrust pastry is not so ancient. It is assumed that the first products from it began to be baked in the Persian Gulf region. The crusaders who fought in Palestine for the Holy Sepulcher brought to Europe a recipe for shortcrust pastry, as well as a fork and other benefits of civilization. Cookies from this base very quickly gained popularity. And the name of the dough - shortbread - was given by French chefs. After all, the consistency of the finished product is crumbly, fragile. You bite off a piece, and it crumbles into small “grains of sand” in your mouth. It is shortbread cookies that are served with the traditional English tea party at five o'clock in the afternoon. And now we will learn how to cook it.

Ingredients

The technology for preparing products from shortbread dough is quite simple. It is within the power of everyone, even a novice cook. But there are a few secrets that you need to know in order for the dough to turn out really crumbly, sandy. We have already said that it is divided into two types. The first is sand-dough. For its preparation, only the so-calledbasic products. These are flour, fats (butter, margarine), sugar and a little s alt. To achieve the splendor of products, another baking powder (soda, ammonium) is added. Sand-jigging dough has a more liquid consistency. For its preparation, in addition to basic products, eggs and (sometimes) sour cream are also used. Of course, you can and even need to add different seasonings to both types of shortcrust pastry. It can be chocolate pieces, cocoa powder, ginger, raisins, nuts, cinnamon, vanilla, grated lemon zest and more.

Secrets of preparing ingredients

As we have already said, the technology for making shortcrust pastry is quite simple. But she also has her secrets. The first concerns the temperature regime. If you knead shortbread dough in a hot kitchen, you will not get a quality product. After all, it is based on fats. They melt at high temperatures. And we just don't need it. Therefore, it is important to prepare the dough in a room where the temperature does not exceed eighteen degrees. Next is flour. For a good yeast dough, it should be with a large amount of gluten, and for shortbread, on the contrary, with a small amount. But since in our conditions we don’t have to choose much, we will limit ourselves to buying white wheat flour of the highest quality. The butter should be very cold, but not from the freezer. For best results, margarine should also be used. The ratio of fats should be one to one. In order for the baking to literally melt in your mouth, you must first turn the granulated sugar into powder. eggs andsour cream, if we use them, should also be cold.

Shortcake dough: food preparation and technology

The main focus of kneading is to mix the fats into the flour as quickly as possible. Therefore, we first of all prepare bulk products. We need the flour particles to be coated with fat. Then the gluten contained in it will not be able to come out, and the dough will not come out elastic, like yeast. Therefore, the flour must first be sifted into a deep bowl through a fine sieve. Next, add other bulk ingredients: powdered sugar, s alt, baking powder (cookie powder or soda with ammonium). If the recipe calls for cocoa powder, vanillin, cinnamon, grated ginger and other similar ingredients, we will also add them at this stage. Mix all dry ingredients. We take cold and hard oils with margarine (or cooking oil) and quickly rub them on a coarse grater. Mix this shavings with your fingers with flour. We work until the whole bowl is filled with the so-called bread crumbs.

Shortcake dough: recipe and cooking technology

Of course, each product has its own set of products and their quantity. Here you need to rely on the recipe. But still there is a certain formula for the ideal shortcrust pastry. It lies in the proportions of the base products. In general, flour should take twice as much as fat. But you should not immediately pour it all into a bowl. Leave some of it for later kneading. In a bowl forAt the first stage, we put the basic products in the following proportions: for three hundred grams of flour - two hundred butter with margarine and one hundred powdered sugar. Even in sweet products, do not forget to add a pinch of s alt. So that the dough does not come out “clogged”, pour in a little soda and ammonium - literally at the tip of a knife, otherwise the products will get an unpleasant smell. Now it is important for us to achieve a kneading of a moderately elastic dough. The fat begins to melt, and the breadcrumbs stick together easily. We roll a bun in a bowl and knead it with our hands. All breadcrumbs should be part of the dough.

What is important to know when kneading

The temperature regime is very important at this stage as well. If the room temperature is below fifteen degrees, we will stop at the “breadcrumb” stage, since the fats will remain solid. And if the thermometer in the kitchen is above twenty-five, the butter will melt and stand out from the total mass of products. At the same time, it is important for us to quickly and thoroughly prepare shortcrust pastry. Reviews of experienced chefs advise putting the cutting board in the refrigerator in advance and preparing a container of ice water, where you should dip your palms from time to time. We take out the bun from the bowl. Transfer it to a floured cutting board. We knead with our hands quickly and vigorously, rolling the edges inside the bun. The dough should be smooth, elastic, but matte. If the bun is shiny, it means that the butter has melted too much. To fix this, put the dough in the refrigerator.

Rolling

On thisstage, the same requirements are observed as during kneading. That is cool temperature and speed. The bun pulled out of the refrigerator should be lightly kneaded with your hands. But the longer you knead the shortbread dough, the harder the product from it will become. Sprinkle the board with flour. We put the dough in its center, giving it the shape of a brick. We take out the rolling pin from the refrigerator. Roll out from the center to the edges. At the same time, we move the rolling pin from and to ourselves at a right angle, turning the board in a circle. The technology for preparing dishes from shortcrust pastry is such that we need to roll out a rather thin layer. It's not biscuit cupcakes, and not pies. The layer of rolled shortcrust pastry should not exceed eight millimeters in height.

How to make shortcrust pastry

As we remember, this second type of base for cakes, pastries and cookies is added with liquid products - eggs and sour cream. Sometimes, if the dough turned out too steep and rolls poorly, cracks, add a little water. But it spoils the taste of baking. The technology for preparing shortcrust pastry of the jigging type is not much different from that described by us above. When we achieve “bread crumbs”, we enter the number of eggs and sour cream indicated in the recipe. Knead until you get an elastic ball. If it's slightly shiny, it's not a problem. Transfer the dough to a floured board and continue kneading there. It is important not to overdo it with eggs. Proteins can give products rigidity. Therefore, it is better to limit oneself to yolks. Sour cream, as an additional fat, gives the dough extra tenderness andfriability. This ingredient should be of high quality, very thick.

Baking products

The oven must be preheated to the temperature indicated in the recipe. If we are making cookies, we cut a layer of dough with figured notches. We shift the blanks to a baking sheet covered with cooking paper. The thinner the layer of dough, the higher the temperature and the shorter the cooking time. Accordingly, the higher the cake, the colder the oven should be. We check the readiness of such products with a match: if the splinter comes out dry, it's ready. The technology for making shortcrust pastry cakes allows the use of metal or silicone baskets. The surface of such products must be pricked in several places with a fork so that it does not swell. Bake cakes and cookies until golden brown.

Shortcakes

These products require liquid ingredients. The technology for making shortcrust pastry muffins involves the use of milk. A full glass of this product will require three hundred grams of flour, 180 g of butter, 100 g of powdered sugar, two eggs, 10 g of baking powder and a pinch of s alt. Optionally, you can add two handfuls of raisins, vanilla, grated lemon zest, dried apricots, chopped prunes into the dough. We begin work with mixing bulk products. Then add crushed cold butter. Getting "bread crumbs". Put eggs and milk into a bowl. We beat the mass. Add raisins or other groceries. Beat again to saturate the dough with oxygen. Pour into a cake mold. We put in an oven preheated to one hundred and ninety degrees. Bake for about forty minutes.