Name: Very Good Short Crust for Fruit Tarts
Ingredients: 1 tablespoonful of sifted sugar; 1/3 pint of water

Very Good Short Crust for Fruit Tarts

Ingredients

1 tablespoonful of sifted sugar
1/3 pint of water

Directions

Rub the butter into the flour, ensuring the flour is dry.
Add the sugar and mix the whole into a stiff paste with about 1/3 pint of water.
Roll the paste out two or three times, folding it over each time.
The pastry will be ready for use.

By Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Butter (in the method): Rubbed into the flour to coat it, giving the pastry a short, crumbly texture and richness.
Flour (in the method): Forms the structure of the pastry once mixed with water into a paste.
Sugar: Adds a touch of sweetness and helps the pastry brown.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.