There is nothing easier than making shortcrust pastry. Even the most inexperienced housewife will be able to do this the first time. This dough is universal, it can be used for open and closed cakes, cookies, baskets and other confectionery. Most housewives use it for sweet pastries. And we will tell you how to make shortcrust pastry for meat pies. A photo of the finished goodies and a step-by-step cooking process will help you not to make a mistake and delight loved ones with hearty and fragrant pastries.
What is shortcrust pastry?
Such a composition in French is called the "breeze." This is a thick dough that is kneaded with just 3 ingredients: butter, flour and sugar. No baking powder or yeast is used in the classic recipe. In this case, the oil in the composition must be necessarily cold (preferably frozen), otherwise the technology will be broken, and the dough will turn out not so elastic.
So it was before. The recipe for shortcrust pastry for a pie with meat, fish or sweet toppings has changed a lot over time. Now sour cream, eggs, water, spices and other ingredients are often added to it. Only one thing remains unchanged - after cooking, the dough must be sent to the refrigerator for 40-60 minutes.
Classic recipe
That is how our grandmothers prepared it. Shortbread dough prepared according to this recipe turns out to be resilient and elastic, easily rolls into a rather thin layer and does not break.
For kneading you will need:
- wheat flour - 1 cup;
- butter "Peasant" - 150 g;
- ice water - 1 tbsp. l .;
- small sugar - 1/3 cup;
- salt - 1 pinch.
This dough will turn out to be sweet enough and perfect for cookies. If you slightly reduce the amount of sugar, you get a wonderful shortcrust pastry for meat pies.
A step-by-step recipe for cooking is as follows:
- Put the oil in the freezer for 2-3 hours, remove and grate it quickly, pouring sugar and salt. It is very important to ensure that the oil does not “float”. If you hesitate a little and this happened, send the grated product back to the freezer and continue work only after it hardens again.
- To the grated oil, sprinkled with sugar, add a spoonful of ice water and flour sifted through a sieve.
- Knead the dough quickly until smooth. Particularly zealous is not worth it, otherwise you will just “clog” the dough and the pastries will be very dry.
- Roll up the mass in a lump, wrap it with cling film and send in the refrigerator for an hour and a half.
- After that, the dough can be divided into parts, rolled out and used to make a pie or cookie.
Choux shortcrust pastry
This is one of the most unusual types of such a product. Such shortcrust pastry is used for pies with meat, fish or pies with different fillings. Many housewives, once having tested the recipe, prepare the dough the only way. In order to cook 12-14 small pies or a medium-sized closed pie, you will need:
- flour - 350 g;
- butter margarine or butter - 200 g;
- granulated sugar - 3 tbsp. l .;
- water - 5 tbsp. l .;
- vegetable oil - 5 tbsp. l .;
- salt - 1 pinch.
It is interesting that such a dough does not need to be put in the refrigerator, and it is necessary to knead it in such dishes that can be put on fire. You need to act like this:
- Boil the water, and then dissolve the salt and sugar in it.
- In the resulting solution, carefully pour the vegetable oil and gradually add the grated margarine.
- Melt all ingredients and mix them carefully.
- Without removing the bowl from the fire, add the sifted flour to the resulting mass in parts, mix gently.
- Stir until the spoon cannot be rotated in the dough.
- Remove the mass from the fire, cool slightly so that you can touch your hands.
- Add the rest of the flour and quickly knead a uniform dough.
- Put the mass on the table and knead a little, do not add flour. Cover the lump with a dry clean towel and cool.
- Roll into a layer and form the product of the desired shape.
- Bake such products immediately, do not put in the refrigerator.
Shortbread dough in vegetable oil
This recipe will appeal to those who monitor their weight, but do not want to give up baking. Also, products from this test can be consumed by those who are forced to eat gluten-free products. For such a gentle and very healthy test, you will need the following ingredients:
- gluten-free flour - 300 g;
- icing sugar - 100 g;
- vegetable oil (corn, olive, sunflower) - 100 ml;
- lemon juice - 2 tbsp. l
To make the dough soft and tender, you must carefully follow the cooking technology:
- Vegetable oil must be placed in the freezer for at least 8 hours, preferably at night. Of course, it will not freeze to a solid state, but it will become very viscous and viscous.
- Now the oil needs to be mixed very quickly with powdered sugar. It is important that the process takes as little time as possible, and the oil does not have time to regain its former consistency.
- Add half of the prepared flour in small parts to the resulting mass, knead soft dough.
- Add lemon juice and, gradually adding the remaining flour, knead the dough.
- You do not need to part or cool this dough. So you can immediately start cooking.
Shortcrust pastry for Ducane pies
Those who monitor their weight call this dough sand. But, if you look at the recipe, this product has nothing to do with it. However, we will still consider the process of its preparation, since in many baking diet recipes the designation is “Ducane shortcrust pastry”. To cook it, you will need these products:
- oat bran - 8 tbsp. l .;
- wheat bran - 2 tbsp. l .;
- chicken egg - 1 pc.;
- egg yolk - 1 pc.;
- fat-free cottage cheese - 70 gr.;
- baking powder - 2 tsp;
- salt - 1 pinch.
The cooking process is extremely simple. You just need to mix all the ingredients and leave for 20 minutes, so that the bran is slightly swollen. It is necessary to roll out such a dough through a cling film, since it sticks very strongly to your hands. Such a “shortbread” dough for pies with meat in the oven can be used even on a very rigid diet.
Pie with meat filling, mushrooms and cheese
You can make shortcrust pastry for pies with meat and mushrooms according to any recipe described above. You can also use the option that we describe below.
Components for the test:
- frozen butter - 100 g;
- wheat flour, sifted - 200 g + a little for adding;
- chicken egg - 1 pc.;
- salt - 1 pinch.
To prepare the filling, you will need the following ingredients:
- minced meat - 200 g;
- fresh mushrooms (e.g. champignons) - 300 g;
- onions - 1 pc.;
- chicken egg - 1 pc.;
- hard cheese - 100 g;
- spices, salt, pepper - to taste.
Cooking process
Shortcrust pastry for pies with meat is not difficult to prepare, any housewife, even not too experienced, can cope with this.
The process looks like this:
- Sift flour on a table surface with salt, salt.
- Grate a frozen piece of butter on a coarse grater.
- Chop the mass with the blunt side of the knife, and then grind with your hands until you get oil crumbs.
- Again, collect the flour with a slide, and in the center make a depression.
- Beat in a chicken egg and knead a soft dough. Try not to knead the mass for too long so as not to “clog” the product.
- Collect the mass in a lump, wrap in several layers of cling film and place in a refrigerator for 30 minutes.
While the dough is “resting”, you should prepare the filling. It is very simple:
- rinse and finely chop mushrooms;
- peel the onion and cut into small pieces (cubes or thin half rings);
- beat the egg;
- grate the cheese.
Now we proceed directly to the preparation of meat pie from shortcrust pastry:
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it into a layer with a thickness of 8-10 mm;
- take a detachable form and place the layer there, level with your hands and form the sides;
- preheat the oven to 180 ° C;
- put a piece of parchment on the dough and pour a layer of beans or peas, this will avoid the formation of bubbles;
- put the mold in the oven and bake the cake for 10-12 minutes;
- make sure that the dough is not dry.
Remove the dough pan and place the filling. You can lay meat, onions and mushrooms in layers, or you can simply mix the components. Top the pie with the egg and cheese mixture and place it in the oven again. Bake for 20–25 minutes, guided by the readiness of the minced meat. Before serving, you can sprinkle the pie with herbs.
Cooking options
There are many varieties of such a pie. It can be not only open, but also closed. For this, the dough is divided into 2 parts in a ratio of 2: 1. A base is made of a larger piece, and a “lid” is made of a smaller piece, which is placed on top of the filling. In this case, the top layer of the dough should be pierced with a knife in several places to let off steam.
In some recipes, the "cap" is made with grated. To do this, 1/3 of the dough is placed in the freezer, and then rubbed over the filling on a coarse grater. In this case, you do not need to pierce anything, between the pieces of dough there will still be small holes.
The filling for such a pie can be both raw and boiled meat. In the latter case, bake the dish for 15 minutes, until the dough is ready. The meat can be anything, chicken, pork, veal are suitable. It all depends on your preferences.