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Danielle Alvarez’s flaky pastry

Name: Shortcrust pastry recipe
Yield: Makes enough dough for 1 large galette
Ingredients: 340g plain flour, plus extra for dusting; 20.00 ml white sugar; 250g cold unsalted butter, diced; 120-160ml ice-cold water

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by Danielle Alvarez

Oct 19, 2023

"This is the only flaky or shortcrust pastry recipe that I use: tarts, quiches, pies, flans – it does them all."

340g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tbs white sugar
250g cold unsalted butter, diced
120-160ml ice-cold water

Method

1.

Place the flour, sugar and 1 tsp fine sea salt in a mixing bowl and stir to combine. If it’s a hot day, put the bowl in the fridge or freezer to chill for 5-10 minutes.
2.

If your hands are very warm, dip them in ice water before proceeding. Add the cold, diced butter and use your fingertips to break it up. You’re not looking for an even consistency here, you want some large chunks of butter as well as some little pieces. Flatten the chunks of butter by crushing and smearing them between the palms of your hands to create little sheets. (Alternatively, you can dump everything onto your bench and press the butter down into the bench.)
3.

Make a well in the centre of the mixture. Pour 120ml cold water into the well and use your hands to mix the water into the flour, bringing the dough together to form a ball. If it still has some dry, floury spots, add another 1 tbs water, and work the dough until it feels like it will stick together without feeling sticky and wet.
4.

Cut the dough in half, stack one piece over the other and press down – this creates layers in your pastry. Repeat this once more, then press the dough into a disc. Wrap the disc in baking paper followed by aluminium foil (to ensure the dough doesn’t dry out) and leave it in your fridge for at least 2 hours, or up to 48 hours. If you’re not using the dough straight away, pop it into the freezer instead (you will need to thaw it in the fridge overnight before using).
5.

Pull the dough out of the fridge and place it on a well-floured bench. When it has warmed enough to be slightly pliable, use a rolling pin to roll it from the centre, turning as you go, to create a rough circle. Use a liberal amount of flour to prevent the dough from sticking to your bench. Continue rolling and rotating until the dough is about 3mm thick. Trim the dough and leave it on a baking-paper-lined baking tray (ideally a round pizza tray), rolled out, in your fridge until you’re ready to assemble and bake, or use it straight away.

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Recipe Notes

The ratio of butter to flour is important, as is not overworking the dough and keeping everything as cold as possible while you work. The moisture in the butter steams as the dough cooks, lending the pastry a rich flavour and a delicate, slightly crumbly texture. The only variable is the water needed. This depends on the flour you’re using (flours around the world are all so different) and the humidity in the air, thus the varying measurement. This recipe yields enough for one large galette, plus some trim, which can be frozen to be used at a later date. I keep a collection of trim in my freezer, and when I have enough, I thaw it all and press it together to form a new galette. It works a treat.

To make a great flaky pastry, you want to see pieces of butter in the dough when you roll it out. If the butter is diced too small, the pastry becomes short and crumbly, rather than flaky. Layered pieces of butter become the pockets where steam expands and pushes the sheets upward, creating a puff-pastry-like quality. Keeping everything – ingredients, bowl and your hands – as cold as possible while you work is really important here. This is much easier in winter; in summer, you’ll need to work faster and move the ingredients and bowl in and out of the fridge or freezer throughout the process, right up until the pastry goes in the oven.