Pastry: Keeping It Short

"Short" pastry is crumbly and tender rather than chewy. Two things decide it: how much the fat coats the flour, and how little gluten forms when water is added. Every rule for good pastry follows from those two.

Keep it cold

Fat that stays solid coats the flour in flakes and keeps the pastry tender. Fat that melts makes it greasy and heavy. Use butter straight from the fridge, iced water, and cool hands; on a warm day chill the bowl and flour too.

If the dough turns soft or sticky while you work it, stop and put it in the fridge for 15 minutes. It is always quicker than fighting it.

Little water, little handling

Water and kneading develop gluten, which is what makes bread chewy and pastry tough. Add water a spoonful at a time and stop as soon as the dough holds together when squeezed.

Bring it together, do not knead it. A few streaks of butter left visible are a good sign.

The usual proportion is half as much fat as flour by weight. More fat makes a richer, shorter, more fragile pastry; an egg yolk instead of some of the water makes it sturdier and richer.

Rest it, twice

Rest the dough, wrapped, in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before rolling, and again for 15 minutes once it is in the tin. Gluten stretched by rolling springs back as it bakes; rested, it relaxes, and that is what stops a case shrinking down the sides.

Leave a little pastry overhanging the rim and trim it after baking for a neat edge that has not shrunk.

Rolling

Roll from the middle outwards and turn the pastry a quarter turn every few rolls, so it stays round and you can feel at once if it sticks. Use as little flour as you can.

Rolling between two sheets of baking paper avoids extra flour altogether and makes a fragile pastry easy to lift.

Cracks can be pressed together or patched with a scrap and a dab of water.

No soggy bottoms

Any tart with a wet filling needs its case baked first, which is called blind baking: lined with paper, filled with baking beans or dry rice, and baked until set, then baked again uncovered until the base looks dry and sandy.

A metal tin conducts heat better than ceramic, and a baking tray heated in the oven beneath the tin sends heat straight into the base.

Brushing the hot blind-baked case with beaten egg and returning it to the oven for a minute seals any small cracks before the filling goes in.