Short Crust Pastry

Ingredients

• Eight ounces flour
• Four ounces butter
• Half a teaspoonful baking powder
• Half a teaspoonful salt
• A little cold water
• one yolk of egg

Method

1. 1

   Sieve flour, baking powder, and salt into a basin.

2. 2

   Rub in butter until crumbly, add water to form a stiff paste, knead slightly, and roll out.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Plain cookery recipes (1908) by Edinburgh School of Cookery and Domestic Economy, page 31. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Short Crust Pastry* Eight ounces flour. Four ounces butter. Half a teaspoonful baking- Half a teaspoonful salt. A little cold water ; or, if wished richer, one yolk of egg and water. powder. Sieve the flour, baking-powder, and salt into a dry, cool basin. Put in the butter, and rub it into the flour with the tips of the fingers till the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Add sufficient cold water to form a stiff paste. Turn the paste on to a floured board. Knead slightly till free from cracks, then roll it out to the size required. The pastry should be about a quarter of an inch in thickness. Prepare the fruit first. If rhubarb is used, wipe thoroughly with a damp cloth, remove the coarse skin, and cut the rhubarb into lengths of one inch. Apples are peeled, quartered, and cored. Gooseberries and other fruits are washed thoroughly, and the stalks and tops removed. In filling the pie-dish, put in half of the fruit, then add the Fruit Tart. Short crust pastry. Fruit to fill pie-dish. Beaten white of egg and castor sugar to glaze. Sugar to sweeten. 8o PLAIN COOKERY RECIPES sugar in the centre, piling the rest of the fruit on the top Prepare the pastry, and roll it out about one inch larger than the rim of the pie-dish. Cut a strip from the pastry one inch wide, wet the edge of the pie-dish, and place the strip on without stretching it. Join the cut ends by wetting them. Brush the strip of pastry with water and lay on the cover, pressing it down to the strip. Trim off any rough edges, open up the pastry with the back of a knife, and decorate the edge with tiny flutes. Brush the pastry over with the beaten white of an egg, dredge with castor sugar, and make two small holes with a skewer to allow escape of steam. Place the tart in a hot oven for the first five or ten minutes till the pastry is risen and slightly browned, then remove the tart to a lower shelf till the fruit is quite soft. (Average time about three-quarters to one hour, depend- ing on the kind of fruit and size of pie.) On removing the tart from the oven dust over with castor sugar. It may be served hot or cold. Open Tart. Short crust pastry (six ounces flour, three ounces butter, etc.). Beaten white of egg. Castor sugar. Jam, or stewed fruit. Wet a strong dinner-plate or ashet with cold water. Roll out the pastry a little larger than the plate. Lay it on, and trim off the rough edges. Prick the centre with a fork to prevent it rising from the plate in the centre. Roll out the scraps and cut into small fancy shapes. Brush the rim of the pastry with beaten white of egg, and decorate it with the small shapes of pastry, pressing them well down in the centre. Brush over again with the white of egg, and dredge with castor sugar. Cut a round of greased paper to fit the centre of the tart; lay it on, and place in it some haricot beans or crusts of bread to prevent the pastry rising in the centre. Put the tart into a hot oven, reducing the heat after PASTRY. 81 the pastry has risen and begun to brown. About ten minutes before removing from the oven remove the paper and beans, and allow the pastry in the centre to dry off. When dishing, dredge the edge with castor sugar, and fill up the centre with jam, which should be heated if the tart is to be served hot. Cheese Cakes* Short crust pastry. Filling. One egg; its weight in butter, sugar, and flour. Little grated lemon rind. Quarter of a teaspoonful baking-powder.

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.