Pastry for All Sorts of Tasties

Pastry is a wonderful thing. You can wrap pretty much anything in pastry and it instantly becomes incredible. And impressive. People who would think you were being awfully lazy for serving sliced apples for dessert are suddenly impressed when you bake them into some pastry. Handy dandy.

Pastry is simple to make, but you do have to pay attention. The biggest thing you have to remember to do is, well, not. Don’t over-do it. Don’t handle or stir too much after you add the water, or you’ll develop the gluten and things won’t be flaky. That’ll make tough pastry.

For pastry making, I like using two different fats. Butter, of course, and then either lard or shortening, depending on your opinion of lard, or availability. They have different melting temperatures, and I find the combination takes the best of both worlds and makes a great pastry.

Pastry (for a single crust)

50g butter
35g lard/shortening
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp table salt
Cold water, as needed

You start by measuring out your fats by weight. It’s easy if you just cube them and toss one cube at a time onto the scale until you get the right number. Pop the fats in the freezer to chill them while you mix your dry stuff. So, sift your flour and salt together, and then toss the chilled fats in. Cut the fats in using a pastry cutter or a pair of butter knives until none of the bits are any bigger than peas. Now, using a rubber spatula, slowly stir in the cold water until everything just barely holds together—a quick squeeze with your hand will let you know if it will hold together for rolling (it should hold together easily). I just find that ‘holding together’ in the bowl is very different from ‘holding together’ while rolling—it takes a lot more water to hold together in the bowl, so if you add water until it feels right with the spatula it will be far too wet to work with on the counter.

Gently press the dough into a round and then wrap it in plastic and put it in the fridge to chill for at least 20 minutes, up to about a day (anything longer than that and it will go all gross and slimy).

To roll the pastry out, start with a dry, well-floured counter top, a well-floured rolling pin, and a good supply of flour for dusting. Now, when I say “well-floured”, I do not mean “douse the pastry in flour until it becomes so dry it wouldn’t stick to duct tape”. The flour is just for a bit of lubrication. Don’t go all nuts on me here. And make sure to work quickly. Just use enough flour to keep the pastry sliding across your counter. Make sure to stop, swish, flip, and dust the pastry frequently, as rolling exposes new, sticky bits of pastry to your counter, and if you roll too much without checking you will quickly find that your entire pastry is irreversibly plastered to your counter. There is no return from there.

Once you’ve rolled it thin enough, it’s time to move it to the pan. Fold it in half, and then in half again, to make a triangle. Gently pick it up and transfer it to the pan, with the point in the centre. Then unfold.

At this point, proceed as your pie/tart/etc. recipe directs! You did it! Pastry!

What do you like to wrap in pastry? Remember, every post you comment on is an entry in the monthly draw!