For the adventurous and purists out there, Gordon's here to show you how to make your own pastry
In this Cookalong video, Gordon shows you how to make your own shortcrust pastry. By following a few simple rules and clever tricks with a combination of butter, flour and water the lightest shortcrust pastry will be ready in no time.
Shortcrust pastry is the easiest of pastries to make but pastry, unlike general cooking, requires exact measurements and techniques.
Shortcrust pastry needs to be kept cool for best results, this means chilling the utensils before making the pastry, and working on a cool surface.
When making pastry you need to work quickly, this helps keep it cool and stops the pastry from over developing and becoming elastic, which makes it difficult to roll.
For the shortcrust pastry, you will need 400g of soft plain flour, 200g butter, pinch of salt and under 100ml of water. Make sure the butter is chilled then cut it into small cubes - this will make it easier to rub into the flour.
In a large mixing bowl sieve the flour and salt. Take your cubed butter and add to the flour. Using your fingertips, rub the fat into the flour, lifting the mixture up and dropping it back into the bowl - you want to keep the mixture light and airy. Keep going until all the fat is mixed with the flour and has reached a texture that resembles fine breadcrumbs. Alternatively you can speed up the process by blending the butter and flour in a food processor. This will also prevent your hands from heating the butter too much. If you do this stage in a food processor, tip it into a bowl before adding the water.
Sprinkle a little cold water into the bowl and mix through with a knife. Use your fingers to bring the pastry together: it's ready when and the sides of the bowl are clean and it's formed a solid ball. You shouldn't need to add much more than a tablespoon of water so be careful not to overdo it.
Cover the bowl with cling film and leave the pastry to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Now it's ready to roll.
