shortcrust pastry for mincepies.......

[Titania]

I'm fed up of mine turning out like crap all the time......I've tried loads of things.....my nan makes lovely pastry in her food processor...I've made it the same way as her and it still ends up awful. Can anyone help please?? I want to get DD helping me make some today. TIA.

Have a look on www.be-ro.com

the secret to making good pastry is to keep all the ingredients cold and handle as little as possible - sometimes food processors over process it and make it tough ... it really is easy to make by hand though, honest!

Use self-raising flour instead of plain, half butter, half lard for the fat, iced water, only roll once (don't keep re-rolling leftovers), and handle gently. And be generous with the filling. That's what my mum does and she makes the lightest, meltiest, crispiest pies ever.

REALLY cold hands - if yours aren't cold enough run cold tap water over the insides of your wrists for 5 mins.

And instead of flouring the table, pastry and rolling pin, roll out between two sheets of clingfilm. You need to lift the top sheet and relay it every so often (also turn over and do the same for the bottom sheet) otherwise the pastry can't stretch easily.

Sorry, I've seen this thread a bit late, how did it go today?

My hint would be to wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge for a while (at least 1/2 hr) before trying to roll it out.

If it's any consolation, I once worked with a trained chef and his pastry was worse than mine! We used to tease him about how it always fell apart.

Replace some of the flour with ground almonds for that special Christmassy flavour!