Shortcrust Pastry
This recipe, adapted from Bourke Street Bakery, is one of the yummiest shortcrust pastry recipes I have made - it just melts in the mouth. I like the addition of spelt or wholemeal flour for its texture and nutty flavour. In addition, find the pastry is very easy to work with, an added bonus!
- 150 g unsalted butter diced into 1.5cm cubes
- 200 g plain flour
- 100 g spelt/wholemeal flour
- pinch of salt
- 1 ½ tsp vinegar chilled
- 50 ml water chilled
Remove butter from the fridge about 20 mins before you start making the pastry so that it is just soft but still cold.
Combine the flours & salt in a mixing bowl and toss through the butter. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour to partly combine. Turn the mixture out onto a clean bench and gather it together.
Combine the water & vinegar and sprinkle it over the flour mixture. Use the palm of your hand to smear the mixture away from you across the bench. Gather together and repeat this smearing action 2-3 times more until you achieve a pastry with streaks of butter marbled throughout. Wrap in plastic & place in the fridge to rest for at least 2 hours.
Bring pastry out of the fridge for about 20 mins before rolling out. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured bench to line a 34x12cm loose-based tart tin. Put back in the fridge to rest for at least 30 mins to 1 hour.
Prick the base with a fork, line with baking paper & fill with baking beans - cook for 10 mins. Remove baking beans & cook for a further 5 mins.