Fat shortbread dough. Shortcrust pastry (basic recipe)

shortcrust pastry has long been a favorite product in many families. Despite the variety of pastries on store shelves, which are produced by both large confectionery factories and private mini-bakeries, homemade cookies are still always tastier and better. The basis for treats, that is ready dough, you can easily buy in stores. This simplifies cooking, but, according to many caring mothers, it does not give confidence that baking can be offered to children without fear.

The history of the origin of shortcrust pastry goes back into the mists of time. The first mention of it can be traced back to the 12th century, and English confectioners came up with its recipe. At that time, products made from classic shortcrust pastry resembled crackers. The kind of delicacy familiar to us from such a dough was acquired only when sour cream, chicken eggs and baking powder were added to the batch. Beautiful pastries from shortcrust pastry was also a success in Russia. An interesting fact: the famous pastry chef of the 19th century, Elena Molokhovets, in her book A Gift to Young Housewives, devoted a whole section to creating all kinds of sweets, and actually preparing this delicious and simple dough, and in a wide variety of ways. Even then, shortcrust pastry products were popular and loved.

Shortbread dough got its name due to its structure. The classic version of the product looks like the one in the photo. Products from such a semi-finished product crumble into small crumbs, like real sand. A real sand product according to GOST consists of only three components, but recently this semi-finished product has been improved by culinary specialists to produce baked goods with new flavors and qualities. Real and false shortcrust pastry is very high-calorie product, which, when consumed in excess, leads to an increase in body weight. Nevertheless, the well-known French nutritionist Pierre Dukan found a way out of the situation in his famous system proper nutrition told how to make the perfect diet shortcrust pastry with a minimum of calories. By the way, this technique has become a favorite among many chefs.

Soft and tender dough in supermarkets can be found in the form of frozen layers of different thicknesses packed in polyethylene. It is stored exclusively in refrigerators and looks more than attractive. But still, not everyone willingly acquires it. The fact is that the price of the product, although not too high, still exceeds the cost of all the necessary ingredients. homemade dough it turns out cheaper and tastier, because you can easily experiment with its composition.

It is not difficult to prepare the dough, but this will require a little patience and knowledge of the specifics and technology of preparation. There are several secrets to getting a crumbly and truly shortcrust pastry, the essence of which we will definitely reveal in this article.

Composition and ingredients

The composition and ingredients of shortbread dough vary depending on the types, varieties and classification of the product, as well as the technology of its preparation. Distinguish the dough according to the following features:

• yeast and yeast-free;
• fresh (unsweetened), salty and sweet;
• with and without animal fats (vegetarian);
• regular and gluten free;
• classic (simple) and complex (sand-sour cream, sand-biscuit, sand-puff, sand-lemon and others).

Dividing the dough by composition, we can distinguish its following varieties:

• saber - suitable for baking classic sand products;
• breeze - harvesting without the use of sugar and other sweeteners;
• Sucre is fragile, sweet and very fatty.

By classifying the product by ingredients, the following main subspecies of dough can be distinguished:

• sour cream;
• vanilla;
• cottage cheese;
• potato;
• chocolate;
• lean (without eggs and animal fat);
• cheese;
• walnut;
• apple;
• pumpkin;
• on beer.

The basic recipes for the preparation of the workpiece are the following:

1. French. It is used when kneading dough for quiche (Laurent pie) - open baking with sweet berry or more satisfying fillings from boiled eggs, fish or meat products.
2. Swiss. Perhaps this method is the simplest. This method of preparing shortcrust pastry is appreciated by vegetarians. It is being prepared for hastily and does not require knowledge of wisdom, and the components for it are ice water, vegetable oil, salt and water. From such a test fast food false puffs are obtained, inside which you can hide absolutely any filling.
3. Vienna. The dough using this technology is used to make the world-famous and beloved Viennese biscuits with marmalade, as well as multilayer open pies. Such a delicacy is served in confectionery cafes with the famous Viennese coffee or fragrant black tea.
4. Tatar. This dough is used to bake the national pie, which bears an unusual and very interesting name Gubadia.
5. Breton. The peculiarity of the test lies in the fact that it is prepared with fatty and very cold milk, which is used instead of butter, and vinegar, chicken eggs and separately yolks are also added to it. The filling for the classic pie is steamed prunes.

All of the above methods of preparing dough are currently basic technologies preparation of shortcrust pastry, and are used by culinary confectioners as in industrial scale as well as in home cooking.

Main Ingredients

The main ingredients for kneading a simple dough according to the original recipe are wheat flour, granulated sugar and butter. Flour must be premium, it is preferable to use beetroot sugar, and the butter should be very fatty and always very frozen.

More recently, low-moisture margarine has been used in kneading in place of butter, and wheat bread flour is often substituted for whole grain flour. Most often, the dough is made on flour:

• rice;
• almond;
• peanut;
• oatmeal fine and medium grinding, as well as high quality flakes;
• rye.

In some types of shortcrust pastry, potato starch is required instead of flour, and among the list of ingredients needed for cooking in step-by-step recipes, you can see:

• dairy and dairy products:
• milk;
• cream;
• sour cream;
• kefir;
• natural pure yogurt;
• condensed milk;
• cottage cheese and hard cheeses;
• water;
• cocoa powder and chocolate;
• cinnamon;
• walnuts and peanuts;
• powdered sugar;
• baking powder, soda and yeast;
• beer;
• lard;
• chicken eggs and their yolks;
• natural honey;
• mayonnaise;
• zest of citrus fruits, most often lemons, oranges, tangerines.

A huge number of options for filling shortcrust pastry products makes it easy and quick to diversify the menu even for the most inexperienced hostesses, and the tasty treats on the table will surely please the household.

Use in cooking

The use of shortcrust pastry in cooking can be found quite wide. Of course, all dishes prepared from it are pastries, but nevertheless their range is simply huge. The workpiece is used to prepare all kinds of desserts and snacks, simple and complex, for example:

• shaped cookies:
• hearts;
• "nuts" and "mushrooms" in molds;
• sticks and strips;
• droplets (kurabye) and "shells";
• "chrysanthemums" (through the grate of the meat grinder);
• rings and horseshoes;
• waffles;
• cheesecakes;
• sochnikov;
• shortbread;
• bagels;
• gingerbread;
• apple or pear share;
• buns;
• cupcakes
• cakes, letters, figurines and flowers for decoration, as well as "roses";
• baklava;
• kurnikov;
• lush puffs;
• sour cream;
• curd workers;
• strudel;
• fingers;
• rolls and "turbines";
• baskets with cream, meat pate or julienne;
• pretzels;
• cheesecakes;
• chaneg;
• tartlets;
• open and closed pies;
• pies;
• samsa;
• tarts with various fillings;
• tubules;
• croissants;
• white tank;
• rolls;
• bases for canapes or pizza;
• koloboks or "peaches";
• envelopes and triangles with all kinds of fillings;
• cake layers such as:
• cottage cheese "Napoleon";
• "Woodpile";
• "Hut";
• "Rotten Stump";
• "Curly Vanka";
• "Artemon";
• "Anthill";
• cakes.

False gingerbread with a multi-colored coating and pictures on their surface are baked from shortcrust pastry, and then Christmas cities are “built” from them. The most beautiful products are locks.

For filling and decorating shortcrust pastry products, they most often use:

• fruit:
• apples;
• pears;
• quince;
• berries and stone fruits:
• strawberries;
• lingonberries;
• currant;
• irgu;
• blueberries;
• viburnum;
• raspberries;
• cherries;
• blackberry
• cherries;
• plums;
• apricots;
• peaches;
• raisin;
• dried apricots;
• prunes;
• citrus;
• figs;
• bananas;
• canned and fresh pineapples;
• jam;
• jams;
• sorrel;
• rhubarb;
• marmalade;
• jelly;
• carrot;
• pumpkin;
• cabbage;
• mashed potatoes;
• cottage cheese;
• protein and custards, pure or flavored;
• meringue;
• poultry and animal meat and offal (liver, for example);
• chicken pate;
• fish and canned fish from saury, mackerel, trout,
• hard, soft (for example, marscapone, cheese or mozzarella) and processed cheeses;
• glaze.

All of the listed ingredients can either be added after the dough has already been baked until half cooked or ready, or participate in the baking process.

The dough itself can be divided by cooks according to the method of preparation. Most often, the product is classified as follows:

• dense or aspic;
• cooked in a "cold" way or custard;
• chopped, grated or whipped.

Depending on the technology and method of preparing the dough, baking powder, natural yeast and soda can be added to it. These components will not cause any particular harm, but such cookies are hardly suitable for children. Caring mothers study many recipes and reviews on them, but often they cannot choose one of the cooking options. We invite you to try the proven step by step recipe baking delicious and healthy cookies for kids and never look for better options again. About this wonderful and simple version read the next section.

And to all those who cook for older children, and also like to spoil their beloved men with sweets, we offer a video recipe for a delicious and very beautiful cake with chocolate and nut filling. Such an unusual beautiful flower will become a decoration of the table and will perfectly fit into the festive and everyday menu.

How to choose a quality product?

In this section of the article we want to tell you how to choose a quality product on the shelves.

The first thing you should pay attention to is the shelf life of the product. Naturally, what closer date by the time it expires, the less quality the baked goods from such a semi-finished product will be.

If the date suits you, then you should carefully examine the packaging. First of all, its integrity: the presence of punctures in the film may indicate inadequate quality. Then pay attention to the manufacturer: try to purchase blanks from manufacturers that indicate not only the composition and belonging to the quality certification system, but also do not hide the location of production. Manufacturers who care about their reputation are always open to consumers.

Carefully examine the product in the package. The dough should be smooth, without inclusions (unless they are specified in the recipe), shiny and evenly cut. There should be no noticeable condensation, no mold, no darkened edges of the dough in the package.

If possible, try to buy a product with ingredients that are familiar to you in the composition, and even better, learn how to make shortcrust pastry yourself!

How to make shortcrust pastry at home?

Making shortcrust pastry at home is actually very easy. In this section, we will try to reveal all the secrets and describe the most favorite methods of its preparation. For convenience, classic and modified cooking methods are collected in separate subsections. And the first, of course, will be a story about a real method that has been proven over the years and by housewives. The following sections show methods and recipes for the preparation of mock dough, which is used to bake most of the delicacies that are temptingly lying on store shelves. Do not forget to write down the recipe you like in your personal cookbook!

classic dough

All three manufacturing recipes described below refer to classical ways kneading, and the dough does not contain any eggs, milk, sour cream, or other fatty ingredients or baking powder. According to this recipe, our grandmothers baked cookies, and it is he who is the most common.

We note right away that according to the first method, you will get an elastic and elastic dough that can be rolled out into a thin layer without effort. In the second case, the dough will turn out to be liquid, and products from it are formed exclusively with the help of a confectionery syringe.

So, for kneading classic version cookie dough you will need:

• one glass of wheat flour;
• one hundred and fifty grams of high-quality margarine or peasant butter;
• one tablespoon of ice water;
• one pinch of fine salt;
• a third cup of sugar or a quarter cup of powdered sugar.

The preparation of the dough consists of three main steps.

1. Quickly mix cold butter, salt and sugar. This is best done by rubbing the butter on a grater and adding small portions of granulated sugar. Important condition: the product should not "float". If you notice this, then immediately send the workpiece to the freezer, and then just proceed to the next step.
2. To the creamy-sugar mass, first add water, then flour, and then quickly knead the dough. Shortbread dough does not need to be kneaded, so do not put too much effort into it. Long kneading can compact the dough, and then the baked goods will be too dry.
3. Wrap the dough with cling film, then send the workpiece to the freezer for an hour, and after this time, divide it into pieces. Take them out of the refrigerator one at a time and roll them into a layer no more than 10 mm thick.

Use a cookie cutter or a knife to cut out the cookies, and then proceed to the last step - baking. To do this, lay out the finished figures on a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake for fifteen to twenty minutes in an oven heated to one hundred and sixty degrees. The readiness of the product is determined by the baked dough, but do not expect the dough to brown! If you are using a slow cooker for baking, then do not close the lid on it too tightly. Ignoring this advice will lead to the fact that the gathering steam will not allow the workpiece to cook well. Before serving or decorating baking, be sure to cool it to room temperature!

But everyone’s favorite “shells” or kurabie cookies cannot be made according to the above method, but all because they are squeezed onto a baking sheet from a pastry bag. This opportunity is provided by a more liquid dough, for the preparation of which cooks will need to have in stock:

• butter - 1 pack (200 grams);
• potato starch - four tablespoons;
• table salt - a pinch;
• granulated sugar - two thirds of a glass;
• baking flour of the highest grade - half a glass;
• vanilla sugar - 4 grams.

Dough kneading and subsequent molding should be carried out according to the following algorithm:

1. Mix butter with vanilla and regular sugar, and then beat with a mixer, whisk or blender until airy.
2. Mix flour and starch, and then add them to the sweet butter mass.
3. Turn the mixer or blender to low speed mode, and then knead the dough with a density, like on pancakes.
4. Pour the finished dough into pastry bag, and then deposit the cookies of the desired shape on a baking sheet with parchment.
5. At the end, the sheets with blanks must be taken out for one hour in the cold, and after the time has elapsed, rearranged in an oven preheated to one hundred and eighty degrees Celsius.
6. Baking cookies from shortcrust pastry lasts no more than twenty-five minutes.

Take note that the finished baking is not removed from the parchment until it cools, and its decoration begins no earlier than an hour after being removed from the paper. Good quality cookies according to this recipe will be obtained when using buckwheat, coconut, corn or rice flour.

The third among the basic recipes for making shortcrust pastry, as promised, we present an easy-to-use and uncomplicated recipe for a gluten-free "children's" dough. It is prepared without the usual flour for many. For one serving of healthy lean and at the same time tender dough, you need to prepare:

• vegetable (sunflower, corn or olive) oil - 100 ml;
• powdered sugar - 100 grams;
• gluten-free flour - 300 grams;
• lemon juice - 2 tablespoons.

The process of preparing healthy pastries, of course, is long, at first glance, but simple.

The first thing to do is to freeze the vegetable oil in freezer. To achieve the desired consistency of the product, it is enough to keep it in the cold for eight hours. I would like to say that vegetable oil never completely freezes, so don't expect it to become a hard lump.

The most important step is mixing powdered sugar with thickened vegetable oil. This must be done very quickly so that the oil does not return to its original consistency. Upon completion of mixing, pour half the measured amount of flour into the resulting mass in fractional parts and knead the uncooked dough. The last step in kneading the dough is to add the lemon juice, the rest of the flour and punch down the finished product.

The beauty and distinguishing feature of this method of preparing dough is that it does not need proofing. That is why the finished dough is immediately cut, rolled out, cut out figures and placed in the oven to bake. The finished treat is cooled and stored in paper bags. Such cookies are suitable for diabetics, as well as those who decide to stick to food restrictions on days of religious fasting.

Regarding whether it is possible to knead not manually, I would like to note that neither a dough mixer, nor a blender bowl, nor a combine, nor a bread machine is suitable for making real dough.

Recently, more and more often you can hear the statement that shortbread dough can be prepared without oil. In fact, this opinion is erroneous, because only butter, be it butter or vegetable, allows you to give a recognizable structure to baking, and it cannot be replaced in the recipe with cream, milk, sour cream, or any other high-fat dairy products. An alternative can only be mayonnaise or lard. Products based on these ingredients can have a specific flavor, and the dough itself is most often used to make snack pies or muffins with savory fillings. And it is kneaded with minimal or no sugar.

Butter dough

Butter shortcrust pastry in its composition has components used in kneading dough for ordinary wind pies and cake layers. AT without fail this dough contains:

• chicken eggs and separately yolks - three and two, respectively;
• butter in half with lard - only two hundred grams;
• salt - a pinch;
• powdered sugar - half a glass;
• flour - three glasses;
• baking powder or soda - one teaspoon.

The kneading technique is slightly different from that described above. When making such a test, proceed as follows:

1. The butter heated to room temperature is ground with chicken eggs kept warm for an hour, powdered sugar, and then the yolks are introduced.
2. The flour is mixed with soda or baking powder, and then in small portions is introduced into the butter-egg mixture.
3. The finished compacted dough is wrapped with a film and placed in the refrigerator for proofing, after which small pieces are separated and products of the desired shape are made.

The dough prepared according to this method is very elastic and pleasant to the touch, but it should not be warm for a long time, so the baking sheet with the products is placed in the oven without delay and kept there at a temperature of about one hundred and eighty degrees Celsius for twenty minutes. I would like to draw the attention of readers that products made from dough of this method of preparation differ in some characteristic features, for example, they are always ruddy, and also remain soft for a long time after baking.

Custard

Another of the unusual types of shortcrust pastry is its custard version. Such a product is used for making pies and closed pies. Even the most inexperienced housewives will master this kneading method, and often this particular cooking option becomes a favorite for many for many years.

For a serving of dough, which will make twelve small pies, you will need:

• baking flour - 350 grams;
• creamy margarine - 200 grams;
• granulated sugar - 3-4 tablespoons;
• water - 5 tablespoons;
• sunflower oil - 4 tablespoons;
• salt - to taste.

Brewing and subsequent kneading of the dough must be done in the same container, so it is advisable to choose a bowl with wide edges that can be heated on the stove.

1. Boil water, and then add a pinch of salt and a norm of granulated sugar to it and dissolve them. After that, carefully pour the vegetable oil into the water and put the margarine grated on a coarse grater there.
2. Bring water to a boil while stirring constantly.
3. Wait until the margarine is completely dissolved, and then proceed to kneading. To do this, add flour in fractional parts to boiling water (without removing the container from the heat).
4. Stir the dough with a spoon until the spoon turns, and then remove the bowl from the stove.
5. Add the rest of the flour to the mass and knead a dense dough with your hands.
6. Put the workpiece on the table, mash without flour, and then cover it with a dry towel. Let the dough cool down, and then roll it out and form products of the desired shape.
7. Upon completion of the preparation of the selected flour products, immediately bake them.

In order for, for example, pies from such a dough to turn out shiny, be sure to grease them with yolk before placing them in the oven. chicken egg, whipped with a few drops of vegetable oil.

According to Dukan's recipe

Dough prepared according to Ducan's recipe is nothing supernatural. Baking from it can be made both ordinary white and colored. To obtain the desired color, add to the dough natural dyes: carrot juice, beetroot juice or decoction, cocoa powder and other ingredients that can add shade.

To make three servings of cookies, you will need to mix oatmeal and wheat bran with milk powder, salt and baking powder, and then combine them with cottage cheese, chicken egg and yolk. After that, with wet hands, you need to form a dense dough, wrap it in a film and send it to the cold for a couple of hours. You need to roll out such a dough in a film, because it sticks strongly to a rolling pin, and flour cannot be used for dusting.

The proportions of the ingredients are:

• oat bran - 8 tablespoons;
• wheat bran - 2 tablespoons;
• chicken egg (40 grams) - 1 piece;
• chicken egg yolk - 1 piece;
• cottage cheese - 70 grams;
• baking powder - 2 teaspoons;
• salt - to taste.

Such a dough can be used for baking vegetable pizza, tart with berry fillings, tartlets and even delicate baskets with protein cream.

How to cut?

We will tell you how to properly cut the dough for baking in this small section of the article. As such, products from real and false shortcrust pastry are not subject to modeling. One of the basic techniques for cutting dough has already been described in the section above, but it only applies to a liquid product. For a semi-finished product with a standard consistency, preparing the dough before baking consists in rolling and forming products of the desired shape and size.

The following devices are currently in use:

• molds of various subjects: stars, crescents, animals, flowers, cars and others;
• curly knife, allowing you to quickly create the right geometric figures with wavy or zigzag edges;
• meat grinder with a regular or curly grate-nozzle.

When rolling out, be sure to dust the table with flour, otherwise the dough will stick and tear. The thickness of the rolling depends not only on the desired result. The present classic pastry you should never set aside more than one centimeter thick, while sour cream or shortbread and yeast should not be made too thin.

Kneading and rolling shortcrust pastry does not take much time. That is why it is most often cooked at home. Particular attention should be paid to the fact that when using molds, they should be placed as close as possible to each other when cutting. Otherwise, you will have to collect the leftovers many times, crush and roll them out. As a result, each subsequent batch of finished baking will become denser, and the cookies themselves will become hard and will not melt in your mouth.

How to store shortcrust pastry?

How to store shortcrust pastry is probably interesting to know for many novice confectioners. We note right away that there are no difficulties in this. Any of the subspecies of the product must be stored in the cold. That is why the finished dough, rolled into layers, is stored in refrigerators in grocery stores. In coolness, even yeast slows down its vital activity, and after getting into heat, they easily restore their qualities.

The best way to save shortcrust pastry for a long time is to freeze the product to a temperature of minus eighteen degrees Celsius, which corresponds to the marking of three snowflakes. With constant cold and humidity, the product can be stored for about six months.

You should know and remember that thawed dough must be used immediately, because re-freezing will degrade the quality. finished products, and the dough itself will become stiff and too elastic.

Homemade dough can be stored both in the form of layers (as in a store) and in portions. A mandatory requirement is wrapping the workpiece with several layers of cling film, which helps prevent the outer layer of the semi-finished product from drying out.

If the hostess does not intend to store the dough for a long time, then you should know that the dough will be suitable for baking for three days, provided that it is in a plastic bag on the top shelf of the refrigerator.

How to fix shortcrust pastry?

How to fix shortcrust pastry? It's pretty frequently asked question, the answer to which is needed not only for young chefs, but also for quite experienced housewives.

Let's start in order, and for convenience, we will draw up the existing knowledge in the form of a small plate.

Another question regarding why the finished dough is bitter haunts many cooks. We will answer it too. This happens very rarely and occurs due to the inability to choose the right ingredients. Always remember that only fresh ingredients are needed to make a great dough: flour, butter, sour cream and other products. Also, always pay attention to the amount of vanillin in the recipe, which is used to give baked goods a pleasant aroma, and in no case put more than it should be. Remember that if you overdose on this flavoring, you risk getting a bittersweet cookie.

Benefit and harm

The benefits and harms of shortcrust pastry are determined by the composition of the product. Many recipes with the most various components allows you to saturate the human body with vitamins and microelements contained in the original ingredients.

Shortcrust pastry is very high in calories and therefore, with uncontrolled use, it can lead to rapid weight gain. Too much sugar can cause diabetes, and the high fat content of the product will adversely affect the functioning of the gallbladder and intestines.

In general, shortcrust pastry is perfect solution for a family tea party, especially if it is prepared with your own hands. And yet, cutting cookies from such a delicate material is a wonderful opportunity to keep your favorite fidgets busy for a long time!

I love and often cook shortbread cookies and pies from shortcrust pastry. Traditionally, margarine or butter is used for their preparation. The latter I respect and, moreover, love. But if you often cook on it, it will be greasy (in every sense of the word). A lot has already been said about margarine and spreads, but I consider it useful to recall that the transgenic fats they contain lead to an increase in the level of "bad" cholesterol in the blood, disrupt the normal functioning of cell membranes, contribute to the development of vascular diseases, etc. Therefore, I completely excluded these "products" from my kitchen. And now I'm making shortcrust pastry on vegetable oil. Completely safe, tasty and healthy. And what is important, even cheaper and faster than with margarine! And a couple of words about margarine. Margarine drinkers are more likely to develop angina, myocardial infarction, arrhythmias, and heart failure. It was invented in France to feed the army and the poor - a cheap product for sandwiches and fries. All this happened at the end of the century before last, people had different ideas about food and life. I want to warn you that products made from this dough are A LOT harder than those made from margarine or butter, but is it worth ruining your blood vessels for the sake of a small difference ???

Any housewife knows that shortcrust pastry products have a very delicate taste, and not many people are able to refuse pleasure, enjoy such pastries. However, not everyone is able to cook a truly delicious shortcrust pastry. But it is prepared without much difficulty, just for this you need to know some tricks.

Soft shortbread dough contains a large number of butter, which makes it so tender. From it you can bake cakes, pies with various fillings, various gingerbread cookies and the like. Depending on the ingredients, shortcrust pastry can be divided into several types. Let's say traditional recipe includes flour, water and butter, which can be substituted for margarine. If you add an egg instead of water, then it will already be egg dough. But if you replace the water with sour cream, then it will already be sour cream. In order for the pastries to have a more pleasant aroma, you can add various spices to the dough: vanilla, cardamom, lemon zest or At the same time, note that if you plan to make pastries with filling, then add aromatic additives no need.

Cooking. Shortcrust pastry - the little secrets of a good housewife.

If you don't want shortcrust pastry to be tough, then you should cook it very quickly until the butter or margarine included in it has melted. The whole process of its preparation should last no more than 10 minutes.

Butter or margarine for shortcrust pastry should be added only when chilled. It is chilled, not frozen. The optimal proportion of flour and butter should be 2:1, because if you add a lot of flour to the dough, the products will burn during baking and may turn out to be completely tasteless.

It is best to knead shortbread dough in a room whose temperature does not exceed 15 degrees. In this case, it is necessary to carefully ensure that the dough itself is in contact with the hands as little as possible. Therefore, you need to sift the flour in a slide on the table, make a recess in the middle, add butter, egg and sugar to it, then chop everything into small pieces and knead with your hands.

When the shortbread dough is ready, it will need to be rolled into a ball and placed in the refrigerator for half an hour. At the same time, you can not keep it in the refrigerator for too long, because it can become hard. The dough must be stored in or Otherwise, it can dry out very quickly.

Shortbread dough must be rolled out very thinly. Each cake should be no more than 4 mm, otherwise it can be baked for a long time. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that you need to roll out the cakes only when the dough becomes

If you want the product to be beautiful color, you can brush the shortcrust pastry with egg white or butter just before baking.

After you take the product out of the oven, take a brush and brush it with water. This must be done so that the pastry remains soft for a long time and does not harden.

When you put the dough into the mold, press it as tightly as possible so that no air space forms under it, otherwise the product may deform during baking.
In order for shortcrust pastry to be more baked, tasty and not hard, the oven temperature should be 220-250 degrees.

Ready shortbread dough can be stored for about 10 days. If you follow all the above tips, you will be able to prepare the perfect shortcrust pastry in minutes and delight your loved ones with delicious pastries that will melt right in your mouth.

Make good shortcrust pastry at home, not everyone succeeds the first time, so in our article we will try to tell you in more detail how to make soft, tasty and beautiful shortbread dough on your own.

Many hostesses know that dishes made from shortcrust pastry are very airy and literally melt in your mouth. This type of test is different from the usual topics that it contains a lot of fat. Of course, shortcrust pastry dishes are probably not suitable for diet breakfasts, but for those who are not used to counting calories, such yummy will be just right!

If the dough is well kneaded, then it will be possible not to add edible salt, which will best affect palatability baking.

Another secret of high-quality shortcrust pastry is not to let it heat up.

During the kneading process, try to open the windows and ventilate the room well, make sure the table or board is cool enough before kneading the dough on it. And one more thing: try to minimize the time during which you will knead your shortbread dough, as this will limit its heating.

Structure ready dough should be smooth, matte and in no case shine. If, nevertheless, it so happened that the dough shines a little, then send it for a while to the refrigerator or to any other cool place. When it cools a little, it will begin to knead better and stop sticking to your hands.

Take Special attention rolling out the dough, since the thicker the layer is, the worse it will bake. Carefully roll out the dough until its thickness is no more than 8 millimeters. Otherwise, do not complain that your dish is hopelessly spoiled.

When baking products from shortbread dough, you can not lubricate the baking dish with oil, since a sick amount of it is already contained in the dough itself. The oven must be preheated before baking, and the dough itself must be pricked several times with a fork before being sent to the oven.

If you are going to make shortbread dough much earlier than you will bake it, then we advise you to send it to the freezer until the very moment of baking. Shortbread dough can be stored in the freezer for about three months.

Before preparing the dough, sift the flour well and mix it thoroughly with chilled butter or margarine so that something resembling a crumb comes out. In this case, the dough will turn out crumbly and airy.

Some hostesses recommend kneading shortbread dough only with your hands, and not using special electrical appliances. This way you can control the temperature of the dough and refrigerate it the moment it starts to heat up. And, besides, any dish cooked with your own hands, and not with the help of a machine, turns out to be much tastier and more beautiful.

And now let's take a closer look at the most popular recipes with which you can make delicious shortcrust pastry at home.

Classic recipe

In order to independently make the perfect shortbread dough according to the classic recipe, you will need the following set of products:

flour: 3 tbsp.;

butter: 300 g;

powdered sugar: 1 tbsp.;

chicken eggs: 2 pcs.;

soda: ¼ tsp;

First, carefully sift the flour, then pour all the other ingredients on top. Remember that the oil must be chilled. It should be added last, cut into small pieces.

Now we knead the dough very, very quickly, achieving its uniformity, after which we send it to the refrigerator for an hour, after covering it with cling film.

Before you make something from the finished shortcrust pastry, it must be removed from the refrigerator, kneaded and rolled out well. The thinner the dough comes out, the better. Bake such a dough at a temperature of at least 200 degrees.

Soft shortbread dough

Shortcrust pastry prepared according to this recipe is incredibly soft and airy, and after cooking it literally melts in your mouth. To make shortbread dough soft, we need the following set of products:

flour: 3 tbsp.;

chilled butter: 450 g;

chicken eggs: 3 pcs.;

granulated sugar: 2/3 tbsp.;

soda: ¼ tsp;

lemon juice: 1 tsp;

Eggs and sugar are thoroughly mixed with butter, then we mix flour with salt and soda, which must first be quenched with pre-prepared lemon juice. Now we mix all the ingredients as quickly as possible, knead the dough and send it to the refrigerator for one hour.

Such a dough is much softer than the classic shortbread dough, so in order to cook it, such a dough should be spread on a baking dish.

Dough with sour cream

Shortcrust pastry with the addition of sour cream turns out to be very lush and has a very pleasant aftertaste, which gives a dairy product. To make the dough according to this recipe, you should stock up on the following ingredients:

flour: 3 tbsp.;

chilled butter: 250 g;

sour cream: 1 tbsp.;

granulated sugar: 2 tbsp. l.;

lemon juice: 1 tsp;

salt: 0.5 tsp;

Grind the chilled butter with a grater, then mix it with sour cream. In the same container, sift the flour, add the rest of the ingredients and start kneading the dough. You need to do this as quickly as possible so that it does not have time to heat up.

When the shortbread dough is ready, send it to the refrigerator for at least two hours, after which you can cook delicious pastries from it.

Using the recommendations from our article, you can always quickly make delicious and proper shortcrust pastry at home. From such a dough, very tasty bagels, cookies and pies are obtained, which your family and friends will surely like. See the video below for more information.

good have a delicious day, dear readers! I really like shortcrust pastry. As a child, my mother baked crumbly and tender cookies from it. And what is doubly nice - it can be used for both sweet and savory pastries. Today I will share with you a classic shortbread dough recipe that is suitable for making pies, cookies and even a cake.

Have you ever wondered where shortcrust pastry came from? And I became interested in the history of the origin delicious recipe and I started studying it. Unfortunately, there is very little information about this on the Internet.

It is only known that the recipe appeared somewhere in the 12th-13th centuries in Scotland and Britain. Initially, bread was baked, and small pieces of crackers or even crumbs were dried from the remnants of the dough at low temperatures. Then they began to add butter and sugar, and so gradually, the dough became the way we know it now.

Moreover, the components of the dough can be varied - do with or without eggs, add sour cream or cottage cheese, replace butter with margarine in fast days. The quality of baking did not change. It is only necessary to take into account that if there is butter in the dough, the baking turns out to be very high-calorie.

And if you are on a diet, then you should refrain from tasty, but adding volume to the waist, desserts. But if summer is still far away, and you have not joined the team of those who are losing weight, then you can treat yourself to delicious pastries. You will not regret.

Another interesting fact from the history. They say that our Empress Catherine II was very fond of a crumbly and tasty dessert. And every morning she started with a cup of aromatic coffee and a sweet basket of dough that melts in her mouth. Let's learn how to make shortcrust pastry.

Classic shortcrust pastry recipe

The classic shortcrust pastry recipe consists of different parts butter, flour and sugar.

For example:

• 100 grams of sugar;
• 200 grams of oil;
• 300 grams of flour.

For cooking, all foods must be cold, otherwise they may come into conflict with each other and separate. At the same time, the dough will turn out to be tight and poorly rolled out, baking will become tough.

First, mix sugar and butter. I cut the butter into pieces for convenience. Then add the sifted flour and knead the dough with your hands until crumbly. Just do it quickly before the butter melts. At the last stage, knead the dough very quickly with your hands, roll it into a ball, wrap it with cling film and send it to the refrigerator to rest for 30-50 minutes.

This is the easiest shortcrust pastry recipe. It is ideal for sweet pies, cookies and cakes.

Shortcrust pastry without eggs

My all-time favorite version of this recipe without the use of eggs. I tweaked it to my liking.

What you need:

• Butter - 170 grams;
• Sugar - 80 grams;
• Wheat flour - 210 grams.

I make it in a combine. In a bowl, beat sugar and butter, cut into pieces for convenience, at high speeds. The oil has previously stood for a little while until it is slightly softened, so that it whips more easily. Then I add flour. Beat on low speed just a little bit, until it begins to gather in lumps. After that, I transfer it to the form and ram it. This is the recipe I use to make lemon bars, you can see the full recipe here.

For other pastries, roll the mass into a lump, into a bag and rest in the refrigerator.

Shortcrust pastry for tartlets

I like to serve appetizers in the form of tartlets. It is both aesthetically pleasing and delicious. But again, high in calories, because the composition includes butter. In this case, you can take a lighter filling to balance the usefulness and calorie content.

What do we need?l

• Butter or margarine 200 grams;
• Flour 250 grams;
• Egg 1 piece;
• A pinch of salt.

This time we will cook savory dough. It is ideal for tartlets and open pies, such as quiche or tart... First cut the butter into pieces. But it must be cold. Combine with flour until smooth.
Break the egg into a separate bowl and add a pinch of salt. We beat everything and send it to a cup with flour and butter. Mix thoroughly and quickly delicious dough for tartlets at home.

We wrap the finished lump of dough in cling film or put it in a plastic bag and send it to rest in the refrigerator. During this time, you can prepare the filling.

Options for fillings for tartlets:

1. From eggs, cheese and garlic;
2. Overcook mushrooms with onions;
3. Ham with cheese and cucumber;
4. Olivier salad;
5. Crab sticks with egg;
6. Caviar;
7. Red fish with potatoes;
8. Liver paste.

I will not dwell on the fillings in detail - they are not difficult to prepare.
After the dough has rested, roll it into a thin layer and cut it out with a shape or glass of notch. If you have cupcake molds, then we put our blanks there. You can not lubricate the walls, since the dough is very fatty in consistency due to oil. Prick all over the bottom with a fork.

You can pour pre-washed peas, beans or other cereals on the bottom so that the dough does not rise and looks beautiful. You can, of course, just knead it into shape with your hands. But in this case, it is unlikely that it will be possible to achieve a flat surface, and this will be ugly. Therefore, I advise you to first roll out a layer of dough.

If there are no molds, you can cut squares or rectangles with a curly pizza knife or a regular one, chop and bake, and then use them like crackers. You will also get an original serving for decorating the table.

Bake in the oven (be sure to preheat) at a temperature of about 180-190 degrees for 7 - 12 minutes. Each oven has its own characteristics, so if you are baking for the first time, keep an eye on the temperature and condition of the tartlets. As soon as they are covered with an even tan, take them out and let them cool a little. And only after that, release them from the mold, after gently picking them from the walls with a knife.

Shortcrust pastry with sour cream

The dough with the addition of sour cream is softer and more pliable. It makes excellent shortbread cakes and cookies. You can also cook tender ones.

What will be needed?

• Flour 180 grams;
• Oil 75 grams;
• Sugar or powdered sugar 50 grams;
• Sour cream 75 grams;
• Yolk of one egg.

As always, food needs to be refrigerated for best and correct kneading. Cut the cold butter into cubes, add the sifted flour and sugar. Grind quickly with your hands to crumbs. If you plan to bake cakes more than 1 centimeter high, add half a teaspoon of baking powder. Add yolk and sour cream to a cup with crumbly crumbs.

The main thing here is not to overdo it with kneading by hand. I usually take a piece of dough, squeeze it in my hands and throw it back into the cup. And I do this several times until it gathers into one lump. At the same time, contact with the test is minimal, which is required. I wrap the resulting lump in a film and send it to winter in the refrigerator. Shortbread dough on sour cream is ready for use in 20-40 minutes.

It will make excellent melt-in-your-mouth cookies or pies with berries or jam.

Shortcrust curd dough

Shortbread dough with the addition of cottage cheese is suitable for pies, cookies and cake layers. It is lighter and healthier than the classic recipe. I like the taste of cottage cheese in bulk. Moreover, the consistency of the dough depends on the granularity of the cottage cheese. If the cottage cheese is dry, then the dough absorbs less flour. If wet, then correspondingly more. Here you already need to look, and in the process of cooking, adjust the amount of flour.

So, what do we need for shortcrust curd dough:

• Cottage cheese of any fat content 200 grams;
• Butter 120 grams;
• Sugar 50-70 grams depending on your preference (sweeter or not);
• Flour 200-250 grams;
• Half a pack of baking powder;
• 1 egg;
• A pinch of salt.

Cooking process:

1. Cut the butter into pieces, keep in the refrigerator, and then mix with sugar;
2. Add the egg and mix again thoroughly, but quickly;
3. Pour the cottage cheese into a cup and knead the mass with a fork until smooth;
4. Add some flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt. Here, already look, if the mass sticks strongly to your hands, then add more flour. You should get a homogeneous piece of dough;
5. Wrap in cellophane and refrigerate.

The shortbread-curd dough is ready for creativity. What to cook from it is limited only by your imagination.

Shortcrust pastry technology

To properly prepare the dough, you need to follow certain rules. Now we will consider them.

1. All products must be refrigerated. Only under this condition is the correct elastic dough obtained;
2. Use only quality products. You can replace the butter with margarine, but I would not recommend it. The quality of margarine is inferior to butter;
3. You can not knead the dough for a long time - it will become dense, it is more difficult to roll it out and in ready-made it turns out hard and rough;
4. If you shifted the oil, then it will melt and the products will turn out to be too crumbly. The same thing can happen if too many yolks are added to the mass;
5. An excessive amount of flour and water leads to a deterioration in the quality of the product - it becomes tight and non-plastic. I don't add water.
6. The dough should be rolled out with a thickness of 3 mm to one centimeter. If thicker, add baking powder.
7. If the cake is burnt in places, it means that you rolled it unevenly;
8. To obtain a more uniform structure, instead of sugar, it is better to use powdered sugar;
9. Bake on a baking sheet on baking paper, without greasing anything. There is a lot of fat in the dough.

Subject to these simple requirements, shortcrust pastry will always turn out for you, and you will delight your loved ones with homemade cakes, using not only classic recipe shortcrust pastry, but all of the above options. Soon I will tell you what you can cook from it. If you want to be in the know, subscribe to updates! I wish you a pleasant tea!