Plain Pastry
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into a bowl.
Flour the blade of a knife and chop the shortening into the flour, keeping the flour between the knife and shortening.
When the mixture resembles meal, gradually add cold water until it forms a paste that sticks together but is not crumbly.
Mix and shape
If preferred, transfer the mixture to an earthen bowl for mixing.
Use a case knife to mix until the paste forms a ball and collects all flour from the bowl.
Turn the paste onto a floured board, roll it in flour, then pat it into a rectangular shape and roll out to the desired thickness.
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.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the dough once moistened and worked together.
- Shortening
- Coats flour particles and creates a tender, flaky texture when chopped in.
- Cold water
- Binds the flour and fat into a cohesive paste without developing excess toughness.
- Baking powder
- Provides a small amount of rising lift in the dough.
The step that matters
Adding the cold water. Water should be added gradually and only until the paste holds together. Too much water makes the dough sticky and tough, while too little leaves it crumbly. Cold water keeps the shortening solid, which helps create flakiness.
“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.
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