You can buy pastry in any French supermarket and I certainly don’t judge anyone for using it as it saves time, comes rolled and is ready to slide into a tin. But, it’s not quite as good as homemade. Probably because when I make my own I use rather large quantities of really good fresh butter. Yes I know it’s fattening but I take the view that if you’re going to eat pastry it might as well be rich and buttery and of course you can always call in that moderation bell. A little of what you fancy does you good I say.
So, this week I’m giving you my recipe for the pastry I use when making a savoury tart or quiche. You could use this recipe for a sweet pie if you substituted the salted butter for unsalted. The basic rule for pastry is to have around half fat to flour. I add a bit more fat for good measure to make it extra crispy and rich. The key to making decent pastry is to work it for the shortest time possible and to keep everything as cold as you can.
For one large quiche tin I used the following quantities:
300g plain flour
175g chilled salted butter cut into tiny cubes
1 egg yolk
A squeeze of lemon juice
A few tablespoons of cold water to bind (sometimes I use creme fraiche or even cream to bind as the fat coats the flour particles and makes it crispy)
Weigh your flour and then add the butter cut into tiny cubes. Put your bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes and while waiting get your egg yolk, lemon juice and chilled water ready.
Flour and butter cut into little cubes
Pop it in to the freezer for 10 minutes
When the 10 minutes is up, take it out the freezer and mix well until it has the texture of oat flakes (ie there are still some biggish buttery bits visible. squeeze in your lemon juice, followed by the beaten egg yolk and finally the water a little at a time. Add enough to bring it together and as soon as it does start to bind, turn your machine off. Bring together with your hands, form a ball and refrigerate for an hour or so before use.
Don’t overwork it. When there are still visible bits of butter left in the flour, stop!
Add your lemon juice while the mixer is going then the egg yolk and finally enough chilled water to bind. when it starts to come together turn off and bring it together with your hands quickly.
Wrap in clingfilm. I find that flattening it into a disc makes it easier to roll later.
Bring your pastry out of the fridge about half an hour before you are going to roll it. Gently roll into a disc that will fit inside your tin and then roll the pastry over your rolling pin and then place it carefully in the tin. As you can see from my picture, I had do a teensy bit of patching but that’s no problem. If you have to patch, dip your finger into a little water and rub in on the pastry edge before sticking another bit on. That helps it to stick.
Prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork and then put back in the fridge to rest or freeze it as it is to use another time. Do be sure to leave the pastry case in the fridge for a decent amount of time before blind baking or cooking. If you don’t the chances are that it will shrink which is not the end of the world but you won’t end up with the depth that you were wanting.
