to think that pastry is the devil's work

[foureleven]

How can it be that one day you make pastry using the exact same recipe as another and yet one day it will be fit for a competition with Delia nd the next it will be utter sh!te.

Surely lucifer is at work...?

jusroll! chiller aisle tesco! :-)

Ah.. ok ill check it out. Thanks! !

use a food processor, much better than by hand.

Ooh ok, i may do that first in the name of trying everything before giving up.

Is that cause of the heat of your hands do you think? I put it in the fridge for a bit cause I have hot hands but sometimes it still wont do.

Ill dig the food processor out and if that fails Ill head to tesco

Oh no, then I have to wash the food processor... moan moan moan haha

pastry is a cruel mistress

but oooohhhhh so delicious

tbh i don't like taste of jusroll and find defrosting it a pain

don't let the pastry know you care - make it with one hand while facepainting ds or reading a novel with the other

pastry will want to please you and will be delicious

as soon as you start chasing her she will laugh in your face and go rock hard

why so many carb-loving threads this eve? i am now v v hungry

Food processor is the way to go.

yeah, I fecking hate cleaning the damn thing, but it does make much better pastry. Might be the hot hands thing, might just be that its not overworked (only mix it until it comes together, no more).
Defo works though, for whatever reason!

that really made me laugh, I will exercise a tough love approach next time!

Was making a giant stak pie, ended up making little ones in ramekins as couldnt roll the damn stuff more than 3 inches without it breaking eurghhhhh they were tasty though. And the ramekins were heart shaped so got away with brownie points for making the effort to be romantic.

Is it shortcrust pastry you're attempting to make?

Yes, well on this occassion it was shortcrust but I find all types to be unpredictable..

And yet Pasta works ever time...

Hmm are you using enough water? I used to be worried about using too much and it always broke - better to use too much and have to add more flour IMO?

I have cold hands and a cold kitchen. I am sure I have read that you can put your flour in the freezer to chill it and stop the pastry warming up quickly. Do you let it rest in the fridge for at least half an hour after you have made it? Ice cold water(if you are adding any).

I love homemade pastry, even if it is a faff.

Temperature could be something to do with it. Pastry doesn't go so well when it is warm and this has been a warm weekend.

i always buy
am crap

roll it out on clingfilm much easier to move to the pie dish without breaking.....sometimes I roll it between clingfilm especially if it is a warm day.

Good tips, great thanks! I think it must be the heat thing because that is the only variable as far as I can see..

I was at my wits end yesterday... i actually threw a lump across the kitchen... luckily yhte kids were out while I had my tantrum else it would have had to be a case of 'do as I say, not as i do'

you don;t need to buy frozen jus roll though.

Even better, buy one of those ready made cases. They are very very nice.

Its the devils work because its so scrummy but so full of fat

I am a qualified chef, and like so many tv chefs one of whom I am sure is delia smith, I use jusrol! It doesn't taste any different, and comes already rolled. I make my own bacon and sausages, and I have been known to whip up the odd jar of chutney, but I really don't see the point of wasting time with pastry! You never get the same results twice, and bad pastry is BAD! Jusrol gives you perfect results every time. :-)

How can it be difficult to defrost pastry? You go into the freezer, remove the item marked "JusRol" and carry it to a handy work surface, put it on a plate and allow it to defrost. I have to go all the way into the utility room to get the sodding pastry too!

lol! you can even buy it not frozen! even easier. open packet of ready rolled pastry, put in dish, add filling, go make chutney...

agree you need cold hands