How to make shortbread dough crumbly and soft. Shortcrust pastry - a classic recipe

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Shortcrust pastry can be prepared quickly and easily. Products from it are crumbly, because they contain a lot of fat - butter or margarine, and therefore are called shortbread. In this test, sugar can be replaced with powdered sugar, then shortcrust pastry products become tender, soft and melt in your mouth. The most common products added to shortbread dough to give it a special taste or aroma are vanilla sugar, grated lemon or orange zest, chocolate, cocoa, crushed nuts, cinnamon. Shortbread dough is used for baking cookies, as well as for the base of pastries, cakes and pies. With a well-kneaded dough, you can completely refuse baking soda or use it very little (on the tip of a knife). Part of the flour can be replaced with starch. Since shortbread dough contains a large amount of fat in its composition, it must not be allowed to warm during kneading. All dough components and the rolling board must be chilled and kneading time reduced to a minimum.

The dough should come out smooth and matte, if it begins to shine, it means that the butter has melted. Such dough crumbles and rolls poorly. In this case, the dough must be cooled. Kneaded, "rested", chilled dough rolls out well on a floured board, takes and retains any shape.

Thick pieces of shortbread dough are poorly baked, so for cookies, cakes and pastries, the dough is rolled out into a layer no more than 4-8 mm thick. Thick layers are baked at a lower temperature, thin layers at a higher one. Layers of dough for each type of product should have the same thickness, since thin places can burn during baking, and thick ones cannot be baked. It is not necessary to grease the baking sheet or form when baking shortcrust pastry, as it is quite oily and does not stick to the baking sheet. To bake products from shortbread dough, they need to be laid out on a baking sheet or in a mold, pricked several times with a fork and baked in a preheated oven. Sand products should be baked on medium heat. If the products begin to burn on top, they should be covered with parchment paper.

The key to your success, of course, depends on how you prepare the dough: by hand or with a food processor. If kneading the dough with your hands, make sure that both your hands and the food are chilled. This is necessary so that the moisture in the oil evaporates only during the kneading process itself, and not before, since the evaporating steam makes the dough loose. Therefore, baking powder is not required for the preparation of shortcrust pastry. To shorten the dough preparation process, all components must be chopped with one or two knives into crumbs. All ingredients are moved from the edges to the center. Start kneading the dough with both hands from the edges, gradually capturing all the flour.

Remember: dry seasonings are always put in flour, and liquid seasonings are mixed with eggs. If the recipe does not call for eggs, add liquid seasonings to the dough. In some cases, half of the total amount of flour can be replaced with grated almonds or hazelnuts, after mixing them with flour. A third of the flour can be replaced with starch, but then you get a very crumbly dough, which not everyone likes. Chill the shortbread dough before rolling it out (dough prepared in a food processor takes longer to cool, about 30 minutes). For small pastries, take the dough in small portions, leave the rest in the refrigerator until use. Molds for baking and a baking sheet do not need to be greased, with the exception of the recipe for the third option for preparing the dough. Just in case, the form can be laid out with parchment paper. To prevent the formation of air bubbles in the dough during baking, after laying it out in the form, the dough must be repeatedly pricked with a fork. Shortbread dough can be frozen and stored in the freezer for 2-3 months.

Finished sand products should be light brown, with a golden hue. If, as a result of baking, the products stick to the baking sheet, it is necessary to cool it a little and lightly hit it on the edge of the table so that the products move from their place. Fruit fillings and custard can be lubricated with warm products, butter - only cold ones.

Basic shortcrust pastry recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 300 g butter or margarine
• 1 glass of granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• soda on the tip of a knife
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• vanilla sugar to taste

Cooking method:

Sift the flour on a cutting board or into a large bowl.

Pour sugar, soda slaked with lemon juice, vanilla sugar on top, put butter cut into pieces.

Chop the butter with a knife along with all the products, add the eggs.

Quickly knead the dough with your hands until a homogeneous mass is obtained. Then roll the dough into a ball, cover with a napkin and refrigerate for 1 hour. This dough can be made in advance and kept in the refrigerator until baking.

Before baking, knead the dough with your hands and roll it into a layer 4-8 mm thick, since thicker layers of shortbread dough are poorly baked. Put the layer or figures cut out of the layer on a dry baking sheet and bake in the oven at a temperature of 220-240 ° until golden brown.

Soft shortbread dough

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 400 g butter or margarine
• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar
• soda on the tip of a knife
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• vanilla sugar to taste

Cooking method: Soften butter or margarine, grind with sugar and eggs. Then add flour; mixed with salt and soda slaked with lemon juice, quickly knead the dough and put it in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours. Since this dough is quite soft, it is spread on a baking sheet for baking layers, and for baking small products it is deposited with a pastry bag. Bake products from this dough in the same way as in the previous recipe.

Shortcrust pastry with sour cream

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 200 g butter or margarine
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream
• 1-3 tbsp. spoons of sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• vanilla sugar to taste

Cooking method: Cool butter or margarine, grate on a coarse grater and mix with sour cream. Add the sifted flour, salt, lemon juice and knead the dough. This soft dough needs to be cooled, after which it can be deposited from a pastry bag. If the dough needs to be rolled out, then it must be kept in the refrigerator at a temperature of 4-6 ° for 2-3 hours. Bake products from this dough in the same way as in the previous recipe.

Baskets with cream, Viennese cookies or kurabye, rings, a variety of pies that literally melt in your mouth - all this can be made from shortcrust pastry. It can be softer or denser. The amount of flour affects the consistency. The optimal ratio is 1:2:3. In this proportion, the first number is sugar, the second is butter, and the third is flour. Everything must be very precisely dosed in grams. You can use a measuring cup, a table of measures and volumes, and even better - a kitchen scale.

Attention! To prepare the correct shortcrust pastry, an approximate measurement of the amount of ingredients "by eye" is not suitable.

There are 2 ways to knead shortcrust pastry:

• sugar, eggs, soft butter or margarine are ground, then flour is added to them;
• a chilled piece of butter or margarine is chopped with flour, then a beaten egg-sugar mixture is poured into it.

Dough for pies or tender cookies, prepared according to the first method, is considered a classic soft shortbread. For him you need:

1. Lightly melt 200 g of butter over low heat.
2. Add 1 tbsp. sugar and mix everything.
3. When the mixture has cooled, beat 2 eggs into it, knead again.
4. Sifted 4 tbsp. combine flour with 1 tsp. baking powder.
5. Pour into a bowl with the egg-butter-sugar mixture and prepare the dough.

The second technology makes it possible to knead chopped shortbread dough, which, for example, in France is used for savory pastries with meat or vegetables. It is also suitable for closed pies. To implement this recipe, all ingredients must be very cold, even icy. Prepare chopped dough like this:

1. Take 125 g of butter or margarine and chop with a knife: into cubes or pieces of arbitrary shape. Can be grated.
2. Mixed with 250 g of sifted flour. It should be a small crumb.
3. Gradually add 50 ml of water.
4. Quickly knead the dough, form a ball out of it and put it in the refrigerator.

Advice. Such a base is sometimes called a "false puff". Experimenting with the proportions of water, flour, butter or margarine, you can bake layers for the Napoleon cake.

Another recipe for a similar dough, but with an egg. It is very easy to prepare:

1. A pack of butter / margarine (200 g) is rubbed on a grater.
2. Add 0.5 tbsp. Sahara.
3. Then pour 2 tbsp. flour.
4. Drive in 1 egg, add 1.5 tsp. baking powder.
5. Knead the dough. At first it will roll into crumbs, but then it will turn into a plastic mass.

Secrets of making the right shortcrust pastry

• To make the pastry tasty, it is advisable to use not margarine, but butter. Although some housewives recommend mixing these fats in equal proportions.
• If you replace sugar with powdered sugar, you get a more tender dough.
• Salt is required even if you are baking a sweet shortcake. It brings out the taste of sugar.
• When kneading chocolate shortbread dough, remember: cocoa is a full-fledged bulk ingredient. By adding, for example, 1 tbsp. of this powder, reduce the same amount of flour.
• It is desirable that during the cooking process it was not hot in the kitchen.

• After kneading, the dough should lie in the refrigerator for half an hour. After that, it will be convenient to roll it out.
• The work surface on which the dough is rolled out should be lightly sprinkled with flour.
• When placing the layer in the form, you need to press its edges well so that there are no empty spaces.
• The dough must not be stretched because it can shrink in the oven.
• For sand baking, glass or metal molds with smooth sides are suitable.
• Cakes and cookies are baked at the bottom of the oven. Then the bottom will turn out crumbly, and the top - ruddy.
• If the top is already covered with a delicious crust, and the inside of the pastry is still raw, cover the form with a sheet of food foil.

In addition to vanillin or vanilla sugar, lemon zest, ginger or cinnamon will add a special flavor to shortcrust pastry. Such pastries go well with cottage cheese or jam filling, as well as with nuts, dried fruits and chocolate pieces - it all depends on your taste preferences and culinary imagination.

How to make vanilla shortbread cookies: video

A novice cook often encounters such a problem: he wants to make a cake or cookies, 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 shortbread dough.” A novice cook takes to follow the recipe, throws everything into one bowl, but it turns out some kind of nonsense. The dough is not kneaded, and when baked it becomes hard. And all because the authors writing cookbooks for some reason believe that a person is born into the world with full knowledge of what the technology of making shortcrust pastry is. But this is a kind of skill that should be comprehended. And this article will help all beginners knead correctly. There are two types. And we will tell you in detail how they differ and how to cook them. And we will also reveal some of the subtleties and secrets of preparing this base for cakes, cookies and pastries.

A bit of history

Dough products appeared at the very dawn of the Neolithic revolution, when mankind had just mastered the cultivation and use of cereals. The grains were ground with a hand millstone, a little water was added to the powder ... It is believed that the first flour products looked 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 Persian Gulf region. The crusaders who fought in Palestine for the Holy Sepulcher brought to Europe a recipe for shortcrust pastry, as well as a fork and other benefits of civilization. Cookies from this base very quickly gained popularity. And the name of the dough - shortbread - was given by French chefs. After all, the consistency of the finished product is crumbly, fragile. You bite off a piece, and it crumbles into small “grains of sand” in your mouth. It is shortbread cookies that are served with the traditional English tea party at five o'clock in the afternoon. And now we will learn how to cook it.

Ingredients

The technology for making shortcrust pastry products 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 in order for the dough to turn out really crumbly, sandy. We have already said that it is divided into two types. The first is sand-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 products, another baking powder (soda, ammonium) is added. Sand-jigging dough has a more liquid consistency. For its preparation, in addition to basic products, eggs and (sometimes) sour cream are also used. Of course, you can and even need to add different seasonings to both types of shortcrust pastry. It can be chocolate pieces, cocoa powder, ginger, raisins, nuts, cinnamon, vanilla, grated lemon zest and more.

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 hot kitchen, you will not get a quality product. After all, it is based on fats. They melt at high temperatures. And 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 large amount of gluten, and for shortbread, on the contrary, with a small amount. But since in our conditions we don’t have much to choose, we will limit ourselves to buying white wheat flour of the highest quality. The butter should be very cold, but not from the freezer. For best results, margarine should also be used. The ratio of fats should be one to one. In order for the pastry to literally melt in your mouth, you must first turn it into powder. Eggs and sour cream, if we use them, should also be cold.

Shortcrust pastry: food preparation and technology

The main focus of kneading is to mix the fats into the flour as quickly as possible. Therefore, we first of all prepare bulk products. We need the flour particles to be coated with 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 sifted into a deep bowl through a fine sieve. Next, add other bulk ingredients: powdered sugar, salt, for cookies or soda with ammonium). If the recipe calls for cocoa powder, vanillin, cinnamon, grated ginger and other similar ingredients, we will also add them at this stage. Mix all dry ingredients. We take cold and hard butter with margarine (or quickly and quickly rub them on a coarse grater. We mix these chips with flour with our fingers. We work until the whole bowl is filled with 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 need to rely on the recipe. But still there is a certain formula for the ideal shortcrust pastry. It lies in the proportions of the base products. In general, flour should take twice as much as fat. But you should not immediately pour it all into a bowl. Leave some of it for later kneading. At the first stage, we put the basic products in the bowl in the following proportions: for three hundred grams of flour - two hundred butter with margarine and one hundred powdered sugar. Even in sweet products, do not forget to add a pinch of salt. So that the dough does not come out “clogged”, pour in a little soda and ammonium - literally at the tip of a knife, otherwise the products will get an unpleasant smell. Now it is important for us to achieve a kneading of a moderately elastic dough. The fat begins to melt, and the breadcrumbs stick together easily. We roll a bun in a bowl and knead it with our hands. All breadcrumbs should be part of the dough.

What is important to know when kneading

The temperature regime is very important at this stage. If the room temperature is below fifteen degrees, we will stop at the “breadcrumb” stage, since the fats will remain solid. And if the thermometer in the kitchen is above twenty-five, the butter 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 putting the cutting board in the refrigerator in advance and preparing a container of ice water, where you should dip your palms from time to time. We take out the bun from the bowl. Transfer it to a floured cutting board. We knead with our hands quickly and vigorously, rolling the edges inside the bun. The dough should be smooth, elastic, but matte. If the bun is shiny, it means that the butter has melted too much. To fix this, put the dough in the refrigerator.

rolling

At this stage, the same requirements are observed as during kneading. That is cool temperature and speed. The bun pulled out of the refrigerator should be lightly kneaded with your hands. But the longer you knead the shortbread dough, the harder the product from it will become. Sprinkle the board with flour. We put the dough in its center, giving it the shape of a brick. We take out the rolling pin from the refrigerator. Roll out from the center to the edges. At the same time, we move the rolling pin from and to ourselves 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. It's not biscuit cupcakes, and not pies. The layer of rolled shortbread dough should not exceed eight millimeters in height.

How to make shortcrust pastry

As we remember, liquid products - eggs and sour cream - are added to this second type of base for cakes, pastries and cookies. Sometimes, if the dough turned out too steep and rolls poorly, cracks, add a little water. But it spoils the taste of baking. The technology for preparing shortcrust pastry of the jigging type is not much different from that described by us above. When we achieve “bread crumbs”, we enter the number of eggs and sour cream indicated in the recipe. Knead until you get an elastic ball. If it's slightly shiny, it's not a problem. Transfer the dough to a floured board and continue kneading there. It is important not to overdo it with eggs. Proteins can give products rigidity. Therefore, it is better to limit oneself to yolks. Sour cream, as an additional fat, gives the dough additional tenderness and friability. This ingredient should be of high quality, very thick.

Baking products

The oven must be preheated to the temperature indicated in the recipe. If we make recesses, we cut a layer of dough. We shift the blanks to a baking sheet covered with cooking paper. The thinner the layer of dough, the higher the temperature and the shorter the cooking time. Accordingly, the higher the cake, the colder the oven should be. We check the readiness of such products with a match: if the splinter comes out dry, it's ready. The technology for making shortcrust pastry cakes allows the use of metal or silicone baskets. The surface of such products must be pricked in several places with a fork so that it does not swell. Bake cakes and cookies until golden brown.

shortbread cupcakes

These products require liquid ingredients. The technology for making cakes 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. Optionally, you can add two handfuls of raisins, vanilla, grated lemon zest, dried apricots, chopped prunes into the dough. We start work with mixing bulk products. Then add crushed cold butter. Getting "bread crumbs". Put eggs and milk into a bowl. We beat the mass. Add raisins or other groceries. Beat again to saturate the dough with oxygen. Pour into a cake mold. We put in an oven preheated to one hundred and ninety degrees. Bake for about forty minutes.

Homemade shortcrust pastry is simply amazing! Crumbly cookies and cake layers, chestnuts and truffles ... There are so many delicious things you can cook!

Today I will tell you the simplest recipe for shortbread dough, on the basis of which I bake most of the crumbly goodies. The recipe is simply gorgeous: there is nothing at all, fuss too, and the taste of baking is amazing!

Initially, it was a recipe for Trufelki cookies that I read in the newspaper. But, after experimenting, I was convinced that the dough is also great for other culinary delights - like Chestnut cookies and Basket cakes.

There are, of course, other, more complex recipes for shortcrust pastry, for example, on yolks, or tart dough. They are also good and tasty, perhaps you will like some options even more. But it was this recipe that was the first one that I mastered, and cookies from it invariably delight the household. Therefore, I share with you! 🙂

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of margarine, or better - butter, especially if you cook for kids! (250g);
• 2 cups of flour;
• 2 tablespoons of sugar;
• 1 teaspoon of soda without top;
• 1 tablespoon of vinegar.

Shortcrust pastry recipe:

I share the main secret right away. It is very important which margarine you take for the test. Once I bought by weight, inexpensive - the dough turned out completely different. Not crumbly! So take margarine in packs, and the best effect is given by a special one, marked “for lush pastries” or “Pampushok for a fluffy biscuit”, because you live in Ukraine 🙂.

Better yet, buy good butter for baking. Not spread or margarine, namely butter - it will be more expensive, but better for health.

So, pour the flour into a bowl or on the table, as you prefer. Cut softened margarine into pieces of flour. To soften, do not melt it - just hold it for 20 minutes at room temperature.

We knead the margarine with flour with our hands, and soon we will get a “sand crumb”. Pour sugar, soda into it, quench with vinegar and continue to knead. If it seems that there is not enough flour, you can add a bit.

At one point, the crumbs will begin to stick together, and now you will have a whole lump of shortcrust pastry. Keep it in the fridge for 15 minutes before shaping. Then the dough will cool and will not soften sharply when placed in the oven.

We bake products from shortbread dough over medium heat for about half an hour, until dry dough with a stick and a golden color.