Can anyone tell me where I went wrong with my pastry?

Question

I made an apple pie and used the normal shortrust pastry recipe of plain flour, butter and water and although it was nice the pastry was thin and crispy instead of being rich and crumbly.

Thanks xx

Answer 1

Right now, I'm in the process of honing my pastry-baking skills, and I've learned some important stuff, often through trial-and-error.

First, the thinness of your crust has alot to do (obviously) with the way you roll it out. Most pie/tart recipes call for crust that's about 1/8 of an inch thick, but it's hard to judge that visually. Get some quarters (US currency, 25 cents, you know) and stack one on top of the other. That's about 1/8 of an inch. Use four stacks of quarters as the "corners" of your dough, as the guide for rolling. The dough will be the right thickness, and even throughout.

For the dough to be more "tender" (less crispy, more crumbly), you have to let it rest before you roll it out. When you're mixing the flour, shortening and water, the gluten in the flour starts to get stretchy, like bread dough. If you wrap or cover the mixed dough ball, and let it rest in the fridge for half an hour (or even longer), the gluten will relax, and the crust will be less tough in the finished product. Also, the cold dough will be easier to roll evenly, AND it won't stick so much.

You'll have to experiment with the amount of water you use in the dough, too; that will affect the body of the dough. Most recipes call for very little water---a tablespoon or less. But that quantity is an "up to" amount...it will likely be less, depending on how humid the weather is, etc. Use only as much water as you need, and no more. Oh, and make sure the water is very cold.

Answer 2

I've never had any luck with butter pie crusts. I prefer using either vegetable shortening (Crisco) or my favorite--lard. Both of those make a very tender, flaky crust, while butter has a tendency to make crusts (like you said) thin and crispy. It's the same reason why some cookies are crispy and some are soft and chewy. If you look at recipes for crispy/crunchy cookies, they generally call for butter only. If you look up recipes for soft cookies, they generally call for either shortening alone, or some combination of shortening and butter.

Another possibility is that you overworked your dough. The more you mix it, the tougher it gets. You should mix pastry dough until it just *barely* holds together. You don't want it completely smooth and shiny and beautiful. You're making pie crust--not bread. :)

Answer 3

This is the best pastry recipe in the world.I kid you not.I could never make proper pie crust till I started using this recipe.

No Fail Pie Crust:
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5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 lb.lard (not shortening)
1 tsp salt
1 egg litely beaten
1 tbsp. vinegar
Water to make 1 cup

Mix flour and lard till crumbly
Add salt
Beat egg in 1 cup measure
Add tbsp. vinegar
Add water to make 1 cup

Make a well in centre of flour and add the liquid
Mix together till dough forms.Roll.

This recipe makes 6 pie shells and freezes very well.

I always have pie crusts on hand in my freezer.So nice to take one out and fill.

Answer 4

Maybe you didn't put the correct quantity of butter in? Did you measure it ok? I always use sr flour, I find it makes a nicer pastry, even though the recipes always say plain.

Answer 5

a basic rule for making shortcrust pastry is double the flour to butter and rub together to make fine breadcrumbs then jst bind with water all ingreadients must be at room temp

Answer 6

too much fat to flour ratio - and I always mix butter and vegetable shortening in equal parts, cold hands and ice cold water to mix, and leave the pastry to rest a while before rolling it out. and don't forget to add a pinch of salt to the flour, even for sweet dishes!!!

Answer 7

When making shortcrust pastry I always use half lard and half margarine,make sure you put just the right amount of water and don't over kneed the pastry, cooking at the right temperature for the right amount of time

Answer 8

sounds like you rolled your pastry to thin to me. make the recipe for your pastry again but double it, if you have too much you can always make a turn over for later.

Answer 9

The water needs to be ice cold and your hands need to be cold too. The only reason I can make good pastry is my hands are always cold, so bad circulation does have it's benefits.

Answer 10

probably didn't make enough dough. Should use about 8 ozs flour, 2ozs lard 2ozs butter or marg and cold water to mix. Use Plain flour