Pastry making: Shortcrust Pastry Product: Quiche Lesson Objectives: To understand how to make a high quality Shortcrust pastry product. You will learn: How to make sc pastry The role of each ingredient How to line a flan tin to make a Quiche How to bake pastry blind Key vocabulary: shortening, gluten, baking blind, plasticity

Uses and examples of shortcrust pastry

Description of shortcrust pastry: Identify words which describe this type of pastry casing. Description of shortcrust pastry: Shortcrust pastry is a light, crisp, crumbly pastry that produces a thin, firm casing. It does not rise or have layers. It is called ‘shortcrust’ because of its crumbly, short, melt-in- the mouth texture. Now for the science bit……what happens during making and baking? During making, the pastry should be handled gently so the gluten is not developed and the gluten strands stay short. If the gluten strands become long, the pastry may be tough, hard and shrink when baked. Pastry should be baked in a hot oven to allow the starch in the flour to gelatinise and absorb the fat. The gluten will set the pastry in a solid shape. If the oven temperature is not hot or pre heated, the fat will melt out of the pastry before the starch has gelatinised and the gluten has set.

Functions of ingredients Plain flour – bulk, structure and texture Cold hard Butter or margarine No plasticity – colour, flavour & shortening (keeps gluten strands in the flour short). Forms a good waterproof layer on the starch and gluten. White fat or lard – shortening / texture Low fat spreads make less successful pastry due to a high water content and high level of plasticity – they cannot form a good waterproof layer and cannot keep the gluten strands short. Water – to bind ingredients together Salt - flavour

Questions on Shortcrust pastry 1. What is the ratio of fat to flour? 2. Why are the best results achieved if a combination of white fat and butter / margarine are used? 3. Write a brief description of this type of pastry using sensory words. 4. Why are low fat spreads unsuitable for making shortcrust pastry? 5. Why is it important to keep everything cool during the making process? 6. Why should shortcrust pastry be handled as little as possible? 7. What does baking blind mean? 8. Why should pastry products be baked in a hot oven? 9. Research and write a list of sweet and savoury products which can be made using shortcrust pastry.

Extension tasks Draw a star profile in preparation for you to evaluate your finished quiche. Choose 3 words for flavour 3 words for texture 2 words for appearance

Homework Complete questions of pastry making Complete the worksheet on functional properties of fat using your digital book pages 127 - 131.