Michel Roux’s Shortcrust (Flan) Pastry.

Pencil and Fork » Michel Roux’s Shortcrust (Flan) Pastry:
Pastry is a dough!
Shortcrust pastry is really quick and easy to make.
Often, it’s simply made of plain flour, butter or lard, water and a pinch of salt.
The shortcrust recipe I’m using is for flan pastry, otherwise known as pâte à foncer, from Michel Roux’s Pastry.
It has the addition of an egg, and happily it’s still very quick and easy to make.
Pâte à foncer is one of Michel’s basic shortcrust pastry recipes in the book, the other being pâte brisée.
The flan pastry, he says, is crispier and less delicate.

Shortcrust flan pastry lining a pie dish.
Ingredients (makes 480 g):
125 g unsalted butter
250 g plain flour
1 egg
1 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
40 ml cold water
Sieve the flour and mix it with the salt and sugar. Place the four into a work surface, and make a well in the middle. Place the butter and egg into the well.

Cubed butter and an egg with flour, ready to make shortcrust pastry dough.
It helps to slightly soften the butter first.
Mix the butter and egg together with your fingers, and gradually incorporate the flour into the mixture to form a sticky dough.

Fingers rubbing together butter, an egg and four to make shortcrust flan pastry.

Fingers rubbing flour into butter and egg to make shortcrust flan pastry dough.
Yes, your hands should be so cold they’re about to turn blue for this to work!
The dough should start looking like breadcrumbs/grains. Add the water and keep mixing/rubbing to form a firm pastry dough.

Flan pastry dough coming together.

Ball of firm shortcrust flan pastry dough.Roll the pastry dough into a ball, wrap in cling-film and refrigerate until you’re ready to use it. I rolled my shortcrust pastry out thin and used it for the bottom of a chicken and cheese pie.

Rolling pin rolling out shortcrust flan pastry dough.
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