I am not very confident making pastry and would appreciate some tips.

[IAmReallyFabNow]

I want to make mince pies. I have made the mincemeat and now need to make some pastry.

Do you have any machinery at your disposal - particularly a food processor or similar?

make sure your hands and work surface are really nice and cold
pastry doesn't like getting warm, and it doesn't like being handled too much

other than that, just go for it! I used to be shit at pastry but perserverence paid off and now i can make lovely pastry. i think it's just practice and luck lol

cold hands and water as cold as you can make it for mixing.

Yes, I have a food processor and was hoping to use it. I used to be able to make pastry but then got out of practice and lost confidence when I was abroad and the flour wasn't what I was used too.

Best tip ever is to roll out your pastry between two big pieces of clingfilm. That way you don't have to handle the pastry at all and the bete noir of pastry is over handling. Just make sure it is big enough to handle the size you want the pastry to be. Also useful if you keepnit vaguely rectangular to make the shape of the clingfilm (so make a long thin piece of rolled out passtry rather than a sqaure piece)

Other than that, everything needs to be nice and cold. So you can even go so far as to put the flour, bowl etc in the fridge before hand. A great tip is to put the butter in the freezer and then grate it. Reduces the amount of time that you havr to rub for and thus over handling.

Do you have a food processor? They really help with novice pastry. The recipe book you got with it should have a simple recipe to start with.

I will look for the instructions, not sure what it has in it as not used it for ages. I tend to use the FP for the same things so don't need to look at the book much.

I second the grating butter method. Either by hand or using the grater attachment straight into the mix in the food processor.

No recipes in the instruction book.

I have a lot of recipe books though. Any recommendations for which recipe to use please?

want me to post my FP pastry recipe? Not that I make it, but I know I have the book.

Yes please.

Thank you.

I have found a recipe now, but thank you for the offer.

freeButtonBree Thank you very much for the cling film tip. It has worked a treat and I will not be scared to make pastry anymore .

bugger - sorry FAB, I posted that then had kids fighting and just forgot.
Glad you have found one, and would second the cling film tip (read that in an Australian cookbook) but you have already found out it is worthwhile.

Buy frozen pastry! :o

I usually buy my own pastry but didn't want to go to the shop. I can't believe how easy it was to make .

Glad you like it; it's a really amzing trick!!

It really is.

I can't believe how easy it was to do it.

I can't make pastry. My gran was the pastry maker in our family... she was brilliant at it. [sigh]

I rarely use pastry actually although I do have puff pastry in the freezer for pie tops - even Nigella says there's no point making your own when you can buy it ready made :)

True but when you want to make pies and haven't any ready made in, it will be handy for me to know how to make it. I have some in the freezer but didn't want to wait for it to defrost.

This is one of my new year resolutions - to get good at pastry. Mine ALWAYS shrinks when I put it in the oven, why is that? Is my oven too hot? That and it tears when I roll it out.

Actually the whole pastry even is fraught and usually ends in cursing and swearing.

I want to be a serene pastry chef.

Will deffo try the grated butter tip. Think COLD.

Nigella says to put flour and butter in the freezer for 10 mins or so before mixing together. Also to make sure to add iced, not just cold water. And if possible to use 100 flour, (or maybe it's 1000 flour) - anyway, it's the flour that should be used for pasta.

When I've done it as above, my pastry has tasted significantly better than previous attempts.

Buy it!
Sorted

Run your horrid sweaty hands under a cold tap for a minute before you do any pastry handling.
Work in a cold kitchen - ie don't have tghe oven on high, 3 hobs going and the radiator on.
If the pastry shows signs of warmth, don't be afraid to put it in te fridge for a bit to calm down.

Do you think I need to replace my quite nice but not that beautiful work tops with granite or marble?

Do you think formica might be a critical factor in my pastry failure?

Is this the leverage I need to get them replaced?