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Shortcrust for Cornish Pasties - Issues

post #1 of 5
10/22/11 at 11:11am
Thread Starter 

Hi all Today I made shortcrust for Cornish Pasties.  First batch I went all experimental so:

 

4oz seeded bread flour

4oz plain flour

pinch of baking powder

4oz slightly salted butter

little water

 

well pleased but thought the pastry a fraction dry (but to be honest I have always found shortcrust a little dry smile.gif

 

Anyway then read a few recipes and taking on board lots of tips like using half veg fat and not using baking powder I went for a recipe with lots of good comments:

 

8oz plain flour

2oz vegetable fat (Cookeen)

2oz slightly salted butter

little water

 

Result too flaky, still a tad dry for me although perhaps a bit better than one above, fell apart mad.gif

 

Could anyone guide me as to the key elements that might lead to the second result?  Tx

 

I was hoping to freeze a few but in their broken state they will just have to be devoured.   

 

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post #2 of 5
10/22/11 at 9:57pm

Your second recipe is more suitable for a Cornish pasty.

 

Did you cool the filling before making the pastys? Pastry should be kept cold until it goes into the oven, if you put warm filling in uncooked pastry it will melt the pastry before you can do anything with it.

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post #3 of 5
10/23/11 at 12:08am
Thread Starter 

Bazza tx for the reply.  The contents were certainly cold being raw meat, potato, onion and carrot - yup I know trads think the carrot should be swede or turnip - c'est la vie cool.gif).  However you have made me think about temperature.  The first batch I cut the butter small and thus had less hand contact.  Perhaps I over worked the second recipe.

 

When I have munched through our 4 remaining pasties I'll give it a go focusing on cold and the second recipe again.

 

Still I'm a bit baffled by baking powder and if it helps hinders ....... ?

 

 


Edited by nigele2 - 10/23/11 at 12:19am
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post #4 of 5
11/1/11 at 3:46pm

Are Cornish pasties the same as Mowbray pies? I experimented with several crust types but found that I like pie dough (with less sugar and a bit more flour) for the crust the best. It's moist, flaky, and well-suited for the filling. I wish I took a picture so that I could show you, but they were devoured before I had the chance!

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post #5 of 5
11/2/11 at 3:39am

They aren't the same thing!

 

A Melton Mowbray pie is a pork pie with a hand-raised pastry case, and with gelatine poured into the hole in the top.  They also have to be prepared in the area of Leicestershire to be called Melton Mowbrays - otherwise their just plain or garden English pork pies!

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