Fearless Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

Recipe Source: Clements, Carole & Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen. French: The Secrets of Classic Cooking Made Easy.

Anness Publishing Ltd, 2006, p. 250.

The original title for this recipe is Rich Shortcrust Pastry. I knew that I wanted a tasty, rich crust for my peach and almond cream tart, so I decided to play with this one a little. The original does state that it is "somewhat difficult to handle," which doesn't cover the half of it, but I managed to make it work. It wasn't as pretty as the photo in the book, but I don't have an army of food stylists either, so I guess that's okay.

I've made a couple of changes to the original recipe, but they're minor changes. It might be possible to make this without the food processor, but I don't think I'd like to give it a try. The crust was very difficult to work with, but I think I've come up with a way around that. I'm looking forward to using this crust for some future tasty treats!  I used it for a Peach and Almond Cream Tart, the recipe and write-up for which should be posted tomorrow. 

I kind of suspected that this crust would be good. I went to insert it into the plastic bag for the chilling phase, and a good quarter of it fell onto the ground. The dog immediately ate it, which required me to make it all over again. I tasted the remains of the first batch (which, given the presence of egg yolk, you should probably not try at home) and it was amazing.

Fearless Sweet Shortcrust Pastry (1 nine-inch pie, approx. cost $1.74)

1 cup flour

4 tablespoons confectioner's sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 egg yolks, beaten with 2 tablespoons iced water and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Equipment

1. Food processor
2. Plastic bag
3. Process the flour, sugar, salt and butter in the food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. This should take 15 - 20 seconds.
4. Pour in the egg mixture.
5. Pulse the dough until it just begins to stick together. Do not allow the mixture to form a ball; this will render the pastry too tough.
6. Turn the contents of the bowl of your food processor into a plastic bag and press into a round disc.
7. Press the air out of your plastic bag, seal, and chill for a minimum of two hours.

When the time comes for you to roll out your dough, I've found that the following tips make most pastry dough much easier to work with.

1. Chill your work surface. I use a glass cutting board and chill it in the refrigerator for a while before rolling.
2. Use aluminum foil on both the rolling surface and over the dough.
3. Flour the work surface. The original recipe did not call for it. It should have, as I had to scrape it off the foil and press it into the pie plate.
4. Chill the rolling pin, if yours is metal or marble.

Comments

[Deborah Stratmann]

Try using plastic wrap instead of foil to roll out pastry dough in this recipe.
You do not need flour and in goes quite easilt into the pie tin.