A novice cook often encounters this problem: he wants to make a cake or cookie, opens a recipe book, and it says: “From two eggs, one hundred grams of butter, two tablespoons of sugar and 150 g of flour, knead shortcrust pastry.” The novice cook takes the recipe, knocks everything in one bowl, but it turns out some kind of nonsense. The dough does not knead, and when baked it becomes hard. And all because the authors of cookbooks for some reason believe that a person is born into the world with full knowledge of what is the technology of making shortcrust pastry. But this is a kind of skill that should be understood. And this article will help all beginners to knead the shortbread dough correctly . It is of two types. And we will tell you in detail how they differ and how to cook them. And also we will reveal some of the subtleties and secrets of preparing this basis for cakes, cookies and pastries.
A bit of history
Dough products appeared at the very dawn of the Neolithic revolution, when humanity only mastered the cultivation and use of cereals. The grains were ground with a manual millstone, a little water was added to the powder ... It is believed that the first flour products were like dumplings. But the technology for making shortcrust pastry is not so ancient. It is assumed that the first products from it began to be baked in the Gulf region. The crusaders who fought in Palestine for the Holy Sepulcher brought to Europe a recipe for making shortcrust pastry, as well as a fork and other benefits of civilization. Cookies from this base quickly gained popularity. And the name of the test - sand - was given by French culinary specialists. Indeed, the consistency of the finished product is friable, brittle. Take a bite and it crumbles into small "grains of sand" in your mouth. Shortbread cookies are served at the traditional English tea party at five in the afternoon. And now we will learn how to cook it.
Ingredients
The technology for preparing products from shortcrust pastry is quite simple. It is within the power of everyone, even a novice cook. But there are a few secrets that you need to know to make the dough really crumbly, sandy. We have already said that it is divided into two types. The first is a sand-dredged dough. For its preparation, only the so-called basic products are used. These are flour, fats (butter, margarine), sugar and a little salt. To achieve the splendor of the products, another baking powder (soda, ammonium) is added. Sand-dough dough has a more fluid consistency. For its preparation, in addition to basic products, eggs and (sometimes) sour cream are used. Of course, in both types of shortcrust pastry you can and even need to add different seasonings. It can be chocolate pieces, cocoa powder, ginger, raisins, nuts, cinnamon, vanilla, grated lemon peel and more.
The secrets of preparing ingredients
As we have already said, the technology for making shortcrust pastry is quite simple. But she also has her secrets. The first concerns the temperature regime. If you knead shortbread dough in a hotly heated kitchen, you will not get a quality product. After all, it is based on fats. From heat they melt. But we just don’t need it. Therefore, it is important to prepare the dough in a room where the temperature does not exceed eighteen degrees. Next is flour. For a good yeast dough, it should be with a lot of gluten, and for shortbread, on the contrary, with a little. But since in our conditions we don’t have to especially choose, we will limit ourselves to the fact that we will buy the highest quality white wheat flour. The oil should be very cold, but not from the freezer. For best results, margarine should be used. The ratio of fats should be one to one. To bake literally melted in your mouth, you must first turn the granulated sugar into powder. Eggs and sour cream, if we use them, should also be cold.
Shortcrust pastry: product preparation and technology
The main focus of kneading is to mix fats with flour as quickly as possible. Therefore, the first thing we do is prepare bulk products. We need particles of flour wrapped in fat. Then the gluten contained in it will not be able to come out, and the dough will not come out elastic, like yeast. Therefore, the flour must first be sieved in a deep bowl through a fine sieve. Next, add other bulk ingredients: powdered sugar, salt, baking powder (powder for cookies or soda with ammonium). If the prescription relies on cocoa powder, vanillin, cinnamon, grated ginger and other similar components, we will also pour them at this stage. Mix all the loose ingredients. We take cold and hard butter with margarine (or cooking oil) and quickly rub them on a coarse grater. We mix this shavings with flour and fingers. We work until the whole bowl is filled with the so-called bread crumbs.
Shortcrust pastry: recipe and cooking technology
Of course, each product has its own set of products and their quantity. Here you really need to rely on the recipe. But still there is some formula for the perfect shortcrust pastry. It lies in the proportions of the base products. In general, flour should go off twice as much as fat. But you should not sprinkle it all at once in a bowl. Leave some of it for subsequent kneading. In a bowl at the first stage we put basic products in the following proportions: for three hundred grams of flour - two hundred butter with margarine and one hundred icing sugar. Even in sweet products do not forget to add a pinch of salt. So that the dough does not come out “clogged”, pour a little soda and ammonium - literally at the tip of the knife, otherwise the products will get an unpleasant smell. Now it is important for us to achieve a kneading to the extent of elastic dough. The fat begins to thaw, and the "breadcrumbs" easily stick together. We roll the bun in a bowl and knead it with our hands. All bread crumbs should be part of the dough.
What is important to know when mixing
The temperature regime is very important at this stage. If the room temperature is below fifteen degrees, we will stop at the “breadcrumbs” stage, since the fats will remain solid. And if the thermometer in the kitchen is above twenty-five, the oil will melt and stand out from the total mass of products. At the same time, it is important for us to quickly and thoroughly prepare shortcrust pastry. Reviews of experienced chefs advise you to put the cutting board in the refrigerator in advance and prepare a container of ice water, where you should lower your palms from time to time. We take out the gingerbread man from the bowl. Transfer it to a chopped wooden board floured. We knead with our hands quickly and energetically, rolling the edges inside the bun. The dough should be smooth, elastic, but matte. If the bun is shiny, it means the oil has melted too much. To eliminate this, put the dough in the refrigerator.
Rolling out
At this stage, the same requirements are observed as in the batch. That is, cool temperature and speed. The gingerbread man pulled out of the refrigerator should be slightly washed with his hands. But the longer you knead the shortbread dough, the harder the product from it will become. Sprinkle the board with flour. We put dough in its center, giving it the shape of a brick. We take out the rolling pin from the refrigerator. We roll from the center to the edges. At the same time, we move the rolling pin from and to itself at a right angle, turning the board in a circle. The technology for preparing dishes from shortcrust pastry is such that we need to roll out a rather thin layer. These are not biscuit muffins, and not pies. The layer of rolled shortcrust pastry should not exceed eight millimeters in height.
How to make Sand Dough
As we recall, in this second type of base for cakes, pastries and cookies, liquid products are added - eggs and sour cream. Sometimes, if the dough turned out to be too steep and rolls poorly, crack, add a little water. But it spoils the taste of baking. The technology for the preparation of the caddy sand dough is not much different from the one described above. When we get the “bread crumbs”, we enter the number of eggs and sour cream specified in the recipe. Knead until an elastic kolobok is obtained. If it shines slightly, this is not a problem. Transfer the dough onto a flour sprinkled board, continue kneading there. With eggs it is important not to overdo it. Proteins can stiffen products. Therefore, it is better to limit yourself to only yolks. Sour cream, as an additional fat, gives the dough additional tenderness and friability. This ingredient must be of high quality, very thick.
Baking products
The oven must be preheated to the temperature indicated in the recipe. If we make cookies, we cut a layer of dough with curly notches. We shift the blanks onto a baking sheet covered with cooking paper. Even the thinner the dough layer, the higher the temperature and the shorter the cooking time. Accordingly, the higher the cake, the colder the oven should be. The readiness of such products is checked by a match: if the speck comes out dry - done. The technology for making shortcake pastries allows the use of metal or silicone baskets. The surface of such products must be pricked with a fork in several places so that it does not swell. Bake pastries and cookies until golden brown.
Shortbread Cupcakes
Such products require liquid ingredients. The technology for making muffins from shortcrust pastry involves the use of milk. A full glass of this product will require three hundred grams of flour, 180 g of butter, 100 g of powdered sugar, two eggs, 10 g of baking powder and a pinch of salt. If desired, you can add two handfuls of raisins, vanilla, grated lemon zest, dried apricots, prune cut into pieces, into slices of dough. We start work by mixing bulk products. Then add the chopped cold oil. We achieve bread crumbs. Put eggs and milk in a bowl. Beat the mass. Add raisins or other groceries. Beat again to saturate the dough with oxygen. Pour into a cupcake mold. We put in the oven preheated to one hundred ninety degrees. Bake for about forty minutes.