MY FAVORITE SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY

My Favorite Sweet Shortcrust Pastry image

Blind baking the pastry case before any filling has been added allows it to crisp up, stopping any wet fillings seeping through.

Provided by Martha Collison

Categories HarperCollins Dessert Pie Tart

Yield Makes enough to line a 23cm (9-inch) tart tin

Number Of Ingredients 5

Ingredients

200g (1 2/3 cups) plain flour
20g (about 1/4 cup) ground almonds
35g (1/3 cup) confectioners' sugar
125g (1/2 cup/1 stick) cold butter, diced
1 egg, separated

Steps:

Put the flour, almonds, and confectioners' sugar into a large bowl and mix together until well combined.
Add the butter to the dry ingredients and rub into the flour until you get a mixture that looks like fine breadcrumbs.
Add the egg yolk (save the white for glazing) and 1 tablespoon of cold water and stir into the flour with a round-ended knife. The mixture will start to clump together after you have mixed for a minute or so, but there will still be some floury patches in the bowl. Turn the contents of the bowl onto a large piece of cling film and knead briefly until all the pastry has come together into a ball. Wrap in the cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes, or until you are ready to use it.
Blind baking:
Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C/170°C fan/gas 5. Roll out the chilled pastry between two pieces of cling film until it is a few centimeters larger than your tin. You could also do this on a floured surface, but the pastry is so fragile I find it easier to handle between cling film. Peel off the top layer of cling film then invert the pastry circle into the prepared tart tin, gently pressing it into all the edges. Put the pastry-lined tin into the fridge for at least 30 minutes before baking.
Remove the cling film from the pastry, prick the base all over with a fork then line the inside with baking parchment and baking beans (you could also use uncooked lentils or rice if you don't have baking beans-anything that will weigh the paper down).
Bake for ten minutes, then carefully remove the paper and beans and bake for a further ten minutes, until the base is crisp. You are now ready to fill the case.