Making Your Own Pastry
When you look at the cost of buying ready made pastry from the supermarket compared with the cost of the ingredients for pastry making yourself, it’s obviously a money saver.
Most pastries are quite simple to make although some of the fancier ones do need skill. With filo pastry, the exception that proves the rule, it’s a lot easier to buy ready made. If you come across it reduced, it does freeze well.
Yes, it takes more time making your own pastry but most pastry will freeze well so why not make double or even four times what you need straight away and freeze the rest to save time in the future?
See these methods for making your own pastry
Basic Guide to How to Make Pastry - Tips for Better Pastry Making
This basic pastry making guide and tips applies to all types of pastry. It will help those who have never made pastry before and a few tips that will help even experienced cooks. For details of how to make specific types of pastry, see the articles listed...
Cheese Pastry Recipe - How to Make Cheese Pastry
Cheese pastry can be used to make savoury biscuits and straws, savoury tarts, pies, flans, patties and turnovers. It can really lift a quiche. Use a hard cheese like cheddar but go for a mature, strong flavour for the best flavour. It can be made by ...
Choux Pastry Recipe - How to Make Choux Pastry
Choux pastry is light and airy with a hollow centre cavity that is usually shaped through a piping bag to make both sweet and savoury dishes. Used for Ă©clairs, cream buns, cheese puffs etc. It isn't the simplest pastry to make but choux pastry ...
Filo Pastry Recipe - How to Make Filo Pastry
Also called Fillo Pastry or Phyllo Pastry Filo pastry, also called fillo pastry or phyllo pastry is a paper-thin translucent pastry used in Greek, Eastern European and Middle Eastern recipes. It’s ideal for making savoury parcels, greek style cheese p...
Flaky Pastry Recipe - How to Make Flaky Pastry
A delicious and rich pastry used for sweet and savoury pies, eg sausage rolls and cream slices. A little harder to make than most pastries as the flaky texture is achieved by kneading lightly, then folding and rolling the dough with dabs of the fat between...
Fleur Pastry Recipe - How to Make Fleur Pastry
Fleur pastry is a rich pastry usually used for sweet flans such as peach and apricot. It can also be used in place of short-crust pastry, minus the sugar, for a slightly richer savoury flan or quiche base. The recipe for fleur pastry is quite simple and...
Hot Water Pastry Recipe - How to Make Hot Water Pastry
Similar in texture to short-crust pastry but the dough is stiff enough to stand alone without the support of a dish. The pastry is shaped by hand whilst still warm and then filled and the top put on. Prepare the filling before making the pastry. It’s b...
Lemon Shortcrust Pastry Recipe - How to Make Lemon Shortcrust Pastry
Lemon Shortcrust Pastry is a variation on shortcrust pastry, the most common type of pastry. It is easy to make but it does need to be kept cool and handled as little as possible. Use for sweet and savoury flans, pies, tarts and tartlets, pasties, quiches...
Nut Pastry Recipe - How to Make Nut Shortcrust Pastry
Nut pastry is a variant on Shortcrust Pastry and just as easy to make. Use for savoury flans, pies, tarts and tartlets, pasties, quiches and turnovers etc. It is especially good with fillings of chicken, eggs and white fish. The nuts add valuable protein...
Potato Pastry Recipe - How to Make Potato Pastry
An easy to make pastry that is used for savoury vegetable, meat and fish pies. Potato pastry was very popular in World War 2 as rationing was tightened and it enabled the harassed housewife to stretch her flour ration with potatoes from the garden or...
Puff Pastry Recipe - How to Make Puff Pastry
Puff pastry is noted for being difficult. True, it's even harder than flaky pastry and does require a lot of patience! Having said that, just follow the recipe carefully and after the first time it will seem simple. It's all in the technique. Puff pastry...
Rough Puff Pastry Recipe - How to Make Rough Puff Pastry
Easier to make than flaky pastry or puff pastry but has larger flakes and is not as light. It does, however, give a nice crispy crust. Uses include sweet and savoury pies, patties, turnovers and as an alternative pastry for sausage rolls. This...
Shortcrust Pastry Recipe - How to Make Shortcrust Pastry
Short Crust Pastry is the most commonly used type of pastry and easy to make though it does need to be kept cool and handled as little as possible. Use for sweet and savoury flans, pies, tarts and tartlets, pasties, quiches and turnovers etc. There...
Suet Pastry Recipe - How to Make Suet Pastry
Suet pastry is a good, old fashioned British pastry used for steamed and boiled sweet and savoury puddings, roly-poly puddings and dumplings. Similar to short-crust in texture but tougher and more elastic. It's very quick and simple to make which is good...