Shortcrust is a type of pastry often used for the base of a tart, quiche, pie, or (in the British English sense) flan. Shortcrust pastry can be used to make both sweet and savory pies such as apple pie, quiche, lemon meringue or chicken pie.
A sweetened version – using butter – is used in making spritz cookies.
Shortcrust pastry recipes usually call for twice as much flour as fat by weight. Fat (as lard, shortening, butter or traditional margarine) is rubbed into plain flour to create a loose mixture that is then bound using a small amount of ice water, rolled out, then shaped and placed to create the top or bottom of a pie. Often, equal amounts of butter and lard are used to make the pastry, ensuring that the combined weight of the two fat products is still half that of the flour. The butter is employed to give the pastry a rich flavor, while the lard ensures optimum texture.
Pâte à foncer is a French shortcrust pastry that includes egg. Egg and butter are worked together with a small quantity of sugar and salt before the flour is drawn into the mixture and cold water is added to bind it.[2]
Pâte brisée is similar to pâte à foncer, but is lighter and more delicate due to an increased quantity of butter – up to three-fifths the quantity of flour. Very often it is made with no sugar, as a savoury crust for pies.[2]
Pâte sablée is made with more sugar, which sweetens the mix and impedes the gluten strands, creating a pastry that breaks up easily in the mouth. An alternative is a gluten-free pastry.
Pâte sucrée has the same ingredients as pâte sablée, but the butter is creamed with the sugar and the eggs before the flour is folded in. This mixes the butter more evenly, which makes the dough puff much less, creating a more "snappy" and dry pastry, instead of the crumbly texture of the previous doughs.
Techniquesedit
In preparing a shortcrust, the fat and flour are "cut" into each other, rather than blended, and the ingredients are kept cold. This ensures that the fat remains distinct in the crust, and when it heats during baking, steam is released, resulting in the pockets that make a flaky crust.[3] Water is only added once the fat and flour are thoroughly combined. This ensures that the flour granules are adequately coated with fat and are less likely to develop gluten.[4] This may be achieved with the use of a food processor, a specialized kitchen utensil called a pastry blender, or through various alternatives, like a pair of table knives held in one hand, or smearing the flour and fat together using the heel of the hand in a method known as fraisage.[5]
In addition to over-warming the dough, overworking it is also a hazard. Overworking elongates the gluten strands, creating a product that is tough, rather than light and crumbly or flaky. Flour made from low protein soft wheat, like cake flour, is used for pastry making because it does not become overworked and tough as easily as bread flour.
^Cheaib, Rana. (Masters thesis). Malmö: Lund University. Archived from the original on 2018-10-09. Retrieved 2018-10-09 – via Perten Instruments.
^"What is fraisage, and how do I use it for flaky pie dough?". Retrieved 2022-01-09.
February 16, 2024
shortcrust, pastry, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, june, 2. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Shortcrust pastry news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message Shortcrust is a type of pastry often used for the base of a tart quiche pie or in the British English sense flan Shortcrust pastry can be used to make both sweet and savory pies such as apple pie quiche lemon meringue or chicken pie Shortcrust pastryA shortcrust pastry pie crustTypePastryRegion or stateWestern countriesMain ingredientsFat lard shortening butter or full fat margarine flour water 1 Cookbook Shortcrust pastry Media Shortcrust pastryA sweetened version using butter is used in making spritz cookies Shortcrust pastry recipes usually call for twice as much flour as fat by weight Fat as lard shortening butter or traditional margarine is rubbed into plain flour to create a loose mixture that is then bound using a small amount of ice water rolled out then shaped and placed to create the top or bottom of a pie Often equal amounts of butter and lard are used to make the pastry ensuring that the combined weight of the two fat products is still half that of the flour The butter is employed to give the pastry a rich flavor while the lard ensures optimum texture Contents 1 Types 2 Techniques 3 See also 4 ReferencesTypes editPate a foncer is a French shortcrust pastry that includes egg Egg and butter are worked together with a small quantity of sugar and salt before the flour is drawn into the mixture and cold water is added to bind it 2 Pate brisee is similar to pate a foncer but is lighter and more delicate due to an increased quantity of butter up to three fifths the quantity of flour Very often it is made with no sugar as a savoury crust for pies 2 Pate sablee is made with more sugar which sweetens the mix and impedes the gluten strands creating a pastry that breaks up easily in the mouth An alternative is a gluten free pastry Pate sucree has the same ingredients as pate sablee but the butter is creamed with the sugar and the eggs before the flour is folded in This mixes the butter more evenly which makes the dough puff much less creating a more snappy and dry pastry instead of the crumbly texture of the previous doughs Techniques editIn preparing a shortcrust the fat and flour are cut into each other rather than blended and the ingredients are kept cold This ensures that the fat remains distinct in the crust and when it heats during baking steam is released resulting in the pockets that make a flaky crust 3 Water is only added once the fat and flour are thoroughly combined This ensures that the flour granules are adequately coated with fat and are less likely to develop gluten 4 This may be achieved with the use of a food processor a specialized kitchen utensil called a pastry blender or through various alternatives like a pair of table knives held in one hand or smearing the flour and fat together using the heel of the hand in a method known as fraisage 5 In addition to over warming the dough overworking it is also a hazard Overworking elongates the gluten strands creating a product that is tough rather than light and crumbly or flaky Flour made from low protein soft wheat like cake flour is used for pastry making because it does not become overworked and tough as easily as bread flour See also editList of pastries Shortbread nbsp Food portalReferences edit Shortcrust pastry BBC Food Retrieved 7 June 2017 a b Roux Michel 2010 First published 2008 Shortcrust pastries Pastry London Quadrille Publishing pp 20 23 ISBN 978 1 84400 827 8 Magazine Cook s Illustrated 2004 Baking illustrated a best recipe classic 1st ed Brookline Massachusetts ISBN 0936184752 OCLC 54454496 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Cheaib Rana Predicting Baking Performance through Evaluation of Short crust Dough Masters thesis Malmo Lund University Archived from the original on 2018 10 09 Retrieved 2018 10 09 via Perten Instruments What is fraisage and how do I use it for flaky pie dough Retrieved 2022 01 09 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Shortcrust pastry amp oldid 1194821964, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
