The game-changer for homemade baking is to start making your own pastries, the shortcrust is a versatile pastry made from mainly 3 ingredients: butter, flour and eggs, but we made a version of our own that enhances the flavours and give a fun twist to this classic recipe.

The pasta Frolla can be used to make both sweet and savory pies like Crostata di Frutta, tarts, quiches, and many others.

Simple rules

There are a few simple rules to make a perfect shortcrust pastry:

1. Keep it cool

The main secret of this recipe is to always work with cold butter on a countertop (or a marble surface) and wash your hands with cold water, that way you don’t heat up the fats of the butter and the dough will not become soft and sticky.

2. Be cautious with the flour

When folding the dough, avoid adding too much flour, or it may dry out.

3. Chill

The dough always must be kept in the fridge wrapped in cling film.

4. Fillings must be cold

Assure the fillings are at least at ambient temperature, so the heat of the fillings doesn’t melt the fats and turn into a soggy pastry.

5. Preheat the oven

The most important rule of thumb for all bakers is to preheat the oven before baking the pastry.

6. Bake on the middle shelf

Placing it on the middle shelf of your oven will allow the heat to cook the pastry evenly on all sides.

Watch how to make this recipe!

Cooking Time

Cooking: 30 minutes
Preparation: 30 minutes
Total time: 1 hour

Servings

10 servings

Equipment

Cling film
Ceramic beans
Tart pan (8 inch)
Rolling pin

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Ingredients list

2 cups all-purpose flour type 00, sifted
½ cup caster sugar
½ cup unsalted cold butter, cubed
1 large egg, beaten
¼ tsp nutmeg, ground
¼ tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt

Instructions

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl and combine.
Add the butter cubes. With the tip of your fingers, break the butter into smaller pieces to form a crumbled mixture.
Add the beaten egg kneading the pastry with your hands until the mixture comes together into a smooth ball. Wrap with cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes or overnight.*
When ready to assemble the tart, preheat the oven at 350F/180C.
Remove dough from the fridge and roll with a rolling pin until ¼ inch (1/2 cm) thick.
Lay the pastry over the tart tin and tuck the sides to fit evenly. Using the rolling pin, or a knife, remove the extra dough from the edges.
Pierce the dough base with a fork and line a piece of parchment paper. Fill the crust with ceramic baking beans, dried rice or beans to weigh the pastry down.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown, remove from the oven and leave it at ambient temperature to cool down.
Now your pastry is ready to be filled with delicious filling! What about an Italian fruit tart?

Top Tips

*You can prepare the shortcrust pastry a day before and take the dough out of the fridge 15 minutes before using, as it will be very hard to unroll if it’s too cold.
Make sure to use ceramic baking beans, dried rice or normal beans when preparing the blind baking to avoid any lumps forming while it cooks.

Storage

Store the leftovers in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Suitable for home freezing. When ready to use, remove from the freezer a day before and leave in the fridge to thaw.

What is the difference between shortcrust pastry and pie crust?

There is no difference between shortcrust pastry and pie crust, it’s just called differently, but both are used to make sweet and savory pies.

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