So in my attempt to master shortcrust pastry but not make the same
thing over and over I decided to make my first savoury bake. I used the recipe
from the BBC website for the pastry this time (here) and
the overall recipe is from another baking blog called Simply Veggie (here).
Method
I did a few things to try and improve my pastry. I left the butter out
of the fridge for a few minutes before using and the room in general is warmer
today (despite the falling snow). I tried to focus a bit more on what I was
doing and making sure I mainly used my fingertips. Also, the recipe is for a
smaller amount which reduced rubbing in time. I also used a knife to stir in
the water and added it a lot more slowly and carefully. I used my hands to
squish everything together at the end.
The dough looked a little better this time, although it was still
pretty pale and I could see some small tell tale butter smears. I left in the
fridge for longer this time, and tried to be gentler when rolling out and
cutting.
The filling was simple to make with fried onions, grated cheese and an
egg and milk mixture. I knew that this reduced pastry recipe would make fewer
rounds and in the end I just about got to fill one 12 hole bun tray. I had
scaled down the filling quantities but still had quite a bit left over –omelette
for dinner!
Results
There were no soggy bottoms and no fillings exploding over the edge. The
pastry still wasn’t that crumbly melt in the mouth texture I was going for. It
still had those “layers” and the kind of hardish chewiness. However, the pastry
was a lot softer than before, so an improvement. The filling was great,
although I could have cooked the onion for a little longer (or used a bigger
pan!).
Score: 4/10
Soundtrack: Radio One Chart Show
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