Perfect Every Time Shortcrust Pastry!..

I thought I better put this up as it is a really handy recipe - it never lets me down and can be tweaked so easily that you can use it for sweet or savoury bakes! Plus as Shortcrust Pastry is in so many recipes, master this and you'll find everything much easier to work with.

For one batch of Shortcrust Pastry (will cover a 23cm tart tin comfortably), you'll need:

• 200g of Plain Flour
• 100g of Unsalted Butter - chilled and cubed
• 1 Egg - whisked 
• 1tablespoon of icing sugar ( if making Sweet Shortcrust) or a pinch of salt ( for Savoury Shortcrust)

• You can also add a teaspoon of mixed herbs or even a broken up sprig of lavender  for a fragrant bake

Pop all the dry ingredients (butter, flour and icing sugar or salt) into a large mixing bowl.

Using only the tips of your fingers, gently rub the butter into the flour. Try to aerate the flour, by lifting the flour up and out of the bowl as you rub the butter in.

(slightly dodgy phototaking /rubbing in / multi tasking photo!)

Continue rubbing in until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs - this can take up to twenty minutes by hand, so be patient (it's quite relaxing really!)

Whisk up your egg and have ready to pour in. The key is to use as little egg as possible, you want to bring together the pastry dough mixture, but you don't want to swamp it in liquid.

At this point, you want to use a metal knife to bring together the mixture - the butter will have started to warm up  a little when you were rubbing it in, so use a knife to prevent it warming further and changing the structure of the pastry.

You can add a little more egg to bring it together - but be mean with your egg!

When your pastry dough has come together, place on a lightly floured surface and ever so gently knead a couple of times to bring it together until it is all combined.

And there you go! Your shortcrust pastry - hurrah!

Wrap in clingfilm and pop into the fridge for half an hour to rest and then you can use it to line your pastry tin. Alternatively place in a sealed bag and pop in the freezer - it will last for about three months and when wanted can be defrosted in the fridge then rolled out as normal.

Troubleshooting..

• If your pastry is falling apart completely, add a little more egg, mix well and then add more if required - this will bring it together.
• If your pastry is sticking to your hands - you've added too much egg, so add a pinch of flour and continue adding until your pastry stops sticking.
• If you've got bumps and blobs of butter in your final pastry ball, you've not rubbed your butter in finely enough, the best thing is to probably start again - don't be impatient - keep going until it is fine breadcrumbs!