16th century
Shortcrust Pastry
Most medieval recipes for tarts and pies do not tell you anything about the kind of pastry that should be used for the crust. Recipes usually only describe how to make the filling. Contrary to what has been assumed, most pie and tart pastry was eaten and edible. Sometimes just the sides and top were removed.
This sixteenth century recipe is one of the earliest for making shortcrust pastry. The addition of eggs and saffron give it a wonderful flavour.
To make short paest for tarte. Take fyne floure and a cursey of fayre water and a dysche of swete butter and a lyttel saffron, and the yolckes of two egges and make it thynne and as tender as ye maye.
A Proper New Booke of Cookery, 1575, edited by Catherine Frances Frere, 1913
The recipe below is for a basic shortcrust pastry.
Makes enough for one 20–22 cm (8–8¾ inch) tart with a little left over
a pinch of saffron threads
1 tablespoon cold water
100 g (3½ oz) cold butter
180 g (6¼ oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
20 g (¾ oz) icing (confectioners’) raw sugar
tiny pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
Soak the saffron in the water so it can give off its colour. Cut the butter into small pieces.
Put the flour into a food processor and add the butter, sugar and salt. Pulse for 8 seconds until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. To mix by hand, simply use a blunt knife, cutting the knife through the butter and flour to work them together.
Add the saffron water and egg yolk and pulse until you get big lumps, then turn the pastry onto a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly until smooth.
Wrap the pastry in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until you are ready to use it.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead and press the dough into a flat disc, then roll it out to a circle larger than the base of the tart tin.
Place the pastry over the tart tin and let it sink in, pushing it nicely into the corners, then cut off the excess pastry and prick the pastry with a fork, making sure you don’t pierce through it.
To blind bake, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line the pastry with baking paper and weigh it down with baking beads, rice or dried beans. Bake for 25 minutes, remove the weights, then fill and bake at the required temperature.