Pastry Hell
So I decide it's about time I learn to make pastry. Having never made it in my life, (well, maybe once I made a sausage plait in Home Ec when I was 12) I have no idea at all where to start.
I've looked at a couple of cookbooks, and even my basic ones Delia assume I know how to do it!! Argh.
So I decided to look on the net. I found lots of sites. They all assumed some knowledge of pastry making.
Do I know the difference between puff pastry, flaky pastry and short pastry? No.
Do I know what shortening is? No. Butter? Marge?
Do I even know the ingredients of blooming pastry? NO. I'm guessing flour eggs and butter/ Milk? Water? I dunno.
All the beginner's instructions I found are beyond me 
I can't find one site with a recipe and instructions, along with an explanation of which pastry does which job.
HELP.
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I'm not a pastry expert Honey
I'm not a pastry expert Honey, all I know is what I use which is shortcrust pastry. I use this for everything pretty much and the recipe is:
12 0unces flour (plain)
6 ounces butter or marg
pinch of salt
very cold water
Rub the flour, salt and butter together until it is like bread crumbs then add a little cold water and mix into a dough. Let 'rest' for 10 minutes, roll and use.
For something more fancy like vol-au-vents you need puff pastry (I sort of know how to make it but usually buy the chilled or frozen one as it takes a while to make)and for samosas or that sort of thing you need filo which I have no idea how to make.
Anyway, I'm sure there are lots of people who know much better pastry methods on here but that might give you a bit of an idea.
Snork Maiden
Maybe this well help
http://www.baking911.com/pastry/101_intro.htm
I love this site.
Best of luck...a croissant would be nice right about now...hmmmm...
Leanne
cookbooks
That looks like a good website, but if you want a cookbook I THINK the UK version of the Good Housekeeping cookbook has pastry instructions.
good heavens
Pastry = pie crust in my book. TNH knows all!
Lynn Siprelle, Editor
start simple
I know you probably want to make your own sausage rolls for Christmas, but knowing what a novice you are I'd suggest you take it in slower steps. Have you tried making things with ready-to-roll pastry first?? First get the hang of rolling it and getting it ready for the dish, without the hassle of knowing whether you've got it right. Once you have a feel for the other bit you can try making the pastry from scratch, and then you could start with cheese straws which don't require you to do much other than the pastry itself.
I have some good instructions in a Cordon Bleu 'Pastries and Savouries' book. Even tells you which pastry is which and what it's usually used for. Some items can be made with different types of pastry, like mince pies which could use flaky or shortcrust. Then it's up to you what effect you prefer and which type of pastry you prefer to make.
seriously, practice with the ready made stuff first. I know it's more expensive than the raw ingredients, which is a nuisance, but it saves you wasting stuff as you practice. You need to build your confidence with things like pastry because it feels so scary (actually it isn't THAT bad, but it can go wrong, and it requires a bit more precision than a casserole!). Knowing how to handle pastry and make it do what you want it do is very helpful I reckon, especially if you don't have anyone confident enough to show you.
and no, I'm not offering lessons, because I need some practice myself. I might see if I can get my scanner working to send the right recipe pages to you from the book I have.
Kerri.
shortening
Shortening is any solid fat. Butter, margarine, lard, solid vegetable oil (aka vegetable shortening in the US), suet, chicken fat (great for chicken pies), whatever. I missed that question the first time around.
Try not to care too much how your pastry looks, by the way. There are even instructions to that effect in The Joy of Cooking cookbook, that perfectly awful-looking pies can still be delicious. I often don't even roll mine out, I just smash it flat and put it in pieces into the pie pan or on top of the pie or whatever. No one has ever complained.
shortening, etc.
In the US when people say shortening they often mean vegetable shortening, sold here as Crisco. I know many bakers who swear by using Crisco as at least a portion of the fat in their pie crust, and some great bakers who say the Crisco recipe is the one to go by.
Crisco (veg shortening) is not the same as margarine, it's more of a replacement for lard, which real purists will say is essential for tender crust.
I tend to make all-butter pastry because that is what I have in the house, but for the novice pastry maker who really wants to do a good job I'd say try solid vegetable oil, or a 50/50 mix of the two, which should make it easier to handle. All-butter can be a bit greasy or dense -- but hey, butter tastes good and an imperfect pie crust is better than no pie at all!
I like to use my food processor but I do sometimes use the funky pastry blender (not an electronic appliance) demonstrated in Lynn's TNH link. I have had good success smashing and rolling between sheets of waxed paper.
Just choose a basic recipe like Lynn's or Snork's and go for it!
Puff pastry is something I have never seen a recipe for; even my Martha Stewart cookbooks call for using frozen puff pastry.
Crisco
It comes in a tub (1/2 gallon? 1 gallon? not sure). I use it to grease cake pans, as well as in biscuits.
BUT, Crisco also makes things called baking sticks. They come in plain and butter flavored, looks about like a stick of butter, but a little bigger. I LOVE the butter flavored ones (says NOT to use as a butter spread, however, only for baking).
Not sure what you may have over there across the pond. But maybe it will help someone here!!
Finally, MY recipe (well, not mine. it's from my Longaberger cookbook) for pie crust (which is the only pastry I do):
2 cups of flour
1/2 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup lard (I use butter flavored baking sticks)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tablespoon vinegar
1/4 cup water
mix together flour, sugar and salt. Cut in lard with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix togther egg, vinegar and water, add to flour mixture. Mix until dough is moist enough to form a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes. Makes 1 double pie crust (or two bottoms, whatever)
Crisco for UK'ers
It's called solid vegetable oil in the UK. I don't think they have it butter-flavored there.
Shortening
Short version: Don't use it. One of the worst transfats in the world.
Substitutes: Lard, which is actually a good fat. Coconut oil. Palm oil, which is rapidly becoming available as a non-transfat alternative to traditional vegetable shortening. Look for it in health food stores and better-stocked groceries, usually sold as "transfat-free shortening."
Lynn Siprelle, Editor
Nothing to offer,
but I applaude you for trying.
Jana
My favorite pie crust recipe
...is the cream cheese pie crust recipe from Rose Levy Berenbaum's Pie and Pasty Bible. It's not as flaky as some, but it's so easy to work with! It rarely tears and is relatively easy to move from counter to pie plate. And tastes good, too!
(BTW, you don't really have to chill things quite as much as these instructions say, though I don't doubt you'll get good results if you do. Maybe a flakier pie crust than mine! I usually chill the plate I cut up the butter and cream cheese on, then chill the dough again before rolling.)
Good luck!
ok, I'm intrigued Lynn...
vegetable shortening is bad but lard is good? I'm not passing comment here, just asking a genuine question in my insatiable urge to know more about everything! It doesn't sound logical is all. That said, I choose butter over margarine, and possibly even as a result of something said here at some time.
Kerri.
Kerri
I think something to do with the fact that vegetable lard (which is what I call it, didn't realise that was the same as shortening, D'oh) has been messed about with chemically, in the same way that those spreadable butters are best avoided. Proper lard is just honest to goodness animal fat. Or something like that. Lynn?
I finally found recipes in Nigella and Delia books, so what with those and your recipes I have now got several different ones and am spoilt for choice! Thanks all
Still haven't made any pastry, though I have bought the stuff. I did make clotted cream buns yesterday which went down very well with DS and his friend. I never bake usually, and was amazed at how quick they went from ingredients to finished product (20 minutes, including cooking.) And so cheap! Cheap ways to fill up a 14 year old boy (plus friends!) are what are needed around here, so I'm well pleased.
More cookery adventures to follow.
Oh, clotted cream.......
oh Honey, you are making my mouth water!
That stuff is YUMMY! I can only imagine clotted cream buns!
Jana
Don't bother!
I thought they sounded absolutely yummy too, but I was pretty underwhelmed
They were okay, rather plain. A bit like scones, but crumblier. The recipe did say to eat them with jam and (more!) clotted cream though, so I'm probably not being fair to them as we just ate them plain. I didn't have time to get the jam out, DS and his friend scoffed them so quickly! They were quite pleasant, but nothing like 'clotted cream bun' sounds like!
Everything you need to know
...at The Weston A. Price Foundation--not just about fats, either.
Lynn Siprelle, Editor
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