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Perfect Shortcrust Pastry

A community recipe by Dustbunny

Not tested or verified by Nigella.com

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Introduction

This is the easiest and most foolproof pastry I've ever made. I use it for sweet and savoury pies.

Ingredients

Serves: 1

2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup cold butter
½ cup cold vegetable shortening (such as Crisco)
8 tablespoons cold water

Method

Perfect Shortcrust Pastry is a community recipe submitted by Dustbunny and has not been tested by Nigella.com so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe.

Place flour and salt in food processor and pulse to combine.

Chop cold butter and shortening (not too fine, just into several pieces) and add to flour mixture. Pulse until mixture is coarse and lumpy

Add water and pulse

Wrap in cling film and chill at least 30 minutes or up to 2 days

Additional Information

Being on the lazy side, I let the processor run until the pastry forms a ball. Every recipe I've ever read claims this is the worst thing you can do but mine is always tender, flaky and perfect. The most crucial tip I can give you is to keep your vegetable shortening in the refrigerator. It needs to be as cold as the butter. Also, error on the side of SLIGHTLY wet when you add the water. It will take up more flour when it is rolled out. What you want to avoid is crumbly at this stage. But above all DON'T PANIC. It's only pastry after all.