Pastry tough

Why it goes tough

Flour proteins form gluten when they are wetted and worked. Gluten is elastic and chewy, which is exactly what you want in bread and exactly what you do not want in pastry.

Fat prevents it by coating the flour particles so water cannot reach them — that is what "short" means. So the more thoroughly the fat is rubbed in, and the less water you add, and the less you work the dough after the water goes in, the more tender the result.

It is also why pastry shrinks. A worked dough has an elastic gluten network under tension, and in the oven it contracts. Shrinkage and toughness have the same cause.

The causes

• Too much water. The commonest. Add it a tablespoon at a time and stop the moment the dough coheres when squeezed. It should look slightly too dry.
• Over-worked after the water. Bring it together, do not knead it. Ten seconds of handling, not two minutes.
• Warm fat. Butter that has melted into the flour coats it as oil rather than staying in pieces, and the dough needs more water to come together.
• Warm hands. Use fingertips only, lift the mixture high and let it fall, or use a processor in short pulses.
• Rolled too many times. Each re-roll works the dough further. Roll once if you can.
• Too much flour on the board. It gets worked in and changes the ratio.
• Not rested. Resting lets the gluten relax, which reduces both toughness and shrinkage.

Making tender shortcrust

1. Use cold butter, cut into cubes, straight from the fridge.
2. Rub it into the flour with fingertips until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs with some larger flakes remaining. Those flakes are worth having.
3. Add ice-cold water a tablespoon at a time, cutting it in with a knife rather than stirring.
4. Stop as soon as it holds together when pressed. It should look shaggy and underhydrated.
5. Press it into a flat disc — do not knead — wrap it and chill for at least 30 minutes.
6. Roll it out once, in one direction, turning it rather than flipping it, on a lightly floured surface.
7. Line the tin without stretching the pastry, then chill it again before baking. The second chill is what prevents shrinkage.

Things that help

A food processor

Faster than fingers and colder, since there is no hand heat. Pulse, do not run it.

Some lard or shortening

Shorter and more tender than all butter, though less flavourful. Half and half is a good compromise.

An egg yolk in place of some water

Fat and emulsifier rather than water. Richer and more tender, and easier to handle.

Vodka in place of some water

Alcohol wets the flour but forms far less gluten, and evaporates in the oven. It genuinely works.

A little icing sugar in sweet pastry

Interferes with gluten and gives a shorter, more biscuit-like result.

Common questions