Pastry is used to make pies, tarts, and desserts. Despite being a very common component of many dishes, many people do not know how to make a simple shortcrust pastry. Instead, they resort to buying expensive pre-rolled pastries from the shop. It always surprises me as it is so quick and easy.
When I was a child and stayed at her house, my grandma taught me how to make pastry. I still remember and continue using the simple recipe she taught me then. It is one part fat to two parts flour. I usually use all butter for the fat, but you can use margarine or half butter and half lard. It is easier to roll the pastry if you make it in a cold room or chill it a little in the refrigerator before rolling. If you make sweet pastry, replace the salt for one ounce of caster sugar.
Once you master making the pastry, you can use it to make multiple delicious dishes. It is a particularly good option for pies, both savoury and sweet. You can use it to make a pastry pie base, a full pie where the crust fully encases the filling, or as a pastry lid for pot pies.
Our site has many recipes that use this shortcrust pastry, such as individual ham and mushroom pies, family-style chicken and ham pies, cheese and red onion tartlets, and cheese and tomato tartlets.
Here is how to make shortcrust pastry with a full ingredients list, step-by-step instructions, and helpful tips.
Shortcrust Pastry- Easy Recipe
Course: Recipes, Recipes for Pies and TartsCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy1
family pie20
minutes20
minutesYES
with no lardNO
NO
NO
An easy recipe for shortcrust pastry to use when making sweet or savoury pies.
Ingredients for Shortcrust Pastry
8 oz/ 225 g plain flour
4 oz fat (all butter/ 2oz. each of butter and lard/ or all margarine)
A good pinch of salt
(If you make sweet pastry, you will also need 1 oz. of caster sugar instead of the salt)
Directions: How to Make Shortcrust Pastry
- Weigh out the ingredients.
- Sieve the flour and the salt into a bowl.
- Chop the lard and the butter into the bowl.
- Rub the flour and the fat between your fingers to form a crumb. (If you make sweet pastry, add the caster sugar to the other ingredients now).
- Add a small amount of water to the bowl and stir the crumbs with your hand to bind them together. Add small amounts of water until you have a firm pastry dough.
- Wrap the pastry and put it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
- Dust the work surface with a little flour and rub some flour into a rolling pin.
- Remove the pastry from the refrigerator, remove the cling film and place it on the floured surface.
- Take the rolling pin and roll backwards and forwards on the pastry, pressing down firmly.
- Turn the pastry 90 degrees and repeat.
- Continue this process until the pastry is at the desired thickness.
Additional Tips
- Vegetarians: Replace the lard with an extra 2 oz of butter or use margarine.
- Sticking pastry: If the pastry is sticking to the rolling pin, simply sprinkle a little flour over the pastry and rub some flour into the rolling pin.
- Lifting the pastry: If you find it tricky to lift the pastry without breaking it, use your rolling pin. Lie the rolling pin across the centre of the pastry. Take the edge furthest away from yourself and lift over the rolling pin until the back edge meets the front edge. Use the rolling pin to lift the pastry.
- Glaze: If you are using the shortcrust pastry for a pie crust, you should add a glaze. Use a pastry brush to cover the pastry with either milk or a whisked egg.