How to make elastic shortbread dough. Secrets of making the right shortcrust pastry

I love and often cook shortbread and pies from shortcrust pastry. Traditionally, they are made using margarine or butter. The latter I respect and, moreover, love. But if you often cook on it, it will be greasy (in every sense of the word). A lot has already been said about margarine and spreads, but I consider it useful to recall that the transgenic fats they contain lead to an increase in the level of "bad" cholesterol in the blood, disrupt the normal functioning of cell membranes, contribute to the development of vascular diseases, etc. Therefore, I completely excluded these "products" from my kitchen. And now I make shortcrust pastry in vegetable oil. Completely safe, tasty and healthy. And what is important, even cheaper and faster than with margarine! And a couple of words about margarine. Margarine drinkers are more likely to develop angina, myocardial infarction, arrhythmias, and heart failure. It was invented in France to feed the army and the poor - a cheap product for sandwiches and fries. All this happened at the end of the century before last, people had different ideas about food and life. I want to warn you that products made from this dough are A LOT harder than those made from margarine or butter, but is it worth ruining your blood vessels for the sake of a small difference ???

Homemade cakes have always been valued above purchased products. One of these delicacies, which is popular with tea drinking, is homemade shortbread cookies. Preparing the dough is incredibly simple, moreover, the products are quickly baked, which is important in case of unexpected guests. A simple recipe for shortbread cookies, as well as several options for modifying it, is given below.

Shortbread cookies - a simple recipe

For simple shortbread cookies, you will need products that can be found in the kitchen of any housewife.

  • millet flour - 250 gr;
  • drain. oil - 180 gr;
  • yolks - 2 units;
  • sugar - 100 gr;
  • salt - a pinch.

Cooking shortbread dough for cookies is easy: the process begins with butter, salt and sugar - they need to be ground. To make it easier to grind, it is recommended to get the oil out of the refrigerator in advance - at least 20 minutes in advance.

When will it be more or less homogeneous mass, in small portions we introduce flour, kneading the dough. Roll the finished dough into a ball and send it to the refrigerator for half an hour.

Roll out the chilled dough into a sheet 5 mm thick. Using special curly molds or a simple glass, cut out cookies, put them on a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake for a quarter of an hour at 180 degrees.

How to cook with jam?

Filled biscuits are especially loved by children. Instead of jam, you can use jam or fruit jam.

  • egg;
  • ½ stack Sahara;
  • 1 tsp baking soda, slaked with vinegar;
  • 200 gr margarine;
  • 3 stack. sifted flour;
  • 200 gr of thick berry jam.

Beat the egg with sugar into a homogeneous mass.

Grind margarine and flour separately. We combine both masses, add soda. Knead homogeneous dough, wrap in a film or put in a bag, cool in the refrigerator for about half an hour.

Divide the dough into larger and smaller pieces. Roll out the larger part and put it on a baking sheet, evenly distribute the jam on top of the dough and grate the smaller part on a coarse grater. Bake at 220 degrees. within 20-25 minutes. Immediately after removing, cut into squares or diamonds, leave to cool.

On sour cream

Gentle sour cream cookies goes well with milk, tea, juice, herbal decoctions. You can sprinkle before serving powdered sugar, or cover with icing, melted chocolate.

Hello dear readers. Probably few people do not like shortbread cookies and shortbread pies. I am no exception, for me, even biscuit dough not as tasty as shortbread. Creamy, crispy, crumbly taste of cookies will not leave anyone indifferent. Children especially love cookies from shortcrust pastry. When I was little, my mother often made shortbread cookies. It was so delicious! There are many shortcrust pastry recipes, I have tried different recipes. Each recipe is interesting and original. Preparing the dough is very simple, quick and easy, and the result is always pleasing. Cookies and pies made from shortcrust pastry are loved by everyone, both children and adults.

Perhaps not everyone knows how to make shortbread dough for cookies or pie. The dough recipes are very different, but the meaning is the same, it is very tasty. Today I will share proven recipes and secrets.

Secrets of making shortcrust pastry

For the preparation of shortcrust pastry, sugar, flour, butter, sour cream, mayonnaise, egg, vanilla are used.

Secret #1 It is imperative that shortbread dough after cooking should be placed in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes, but the time can increase up to 1 hour. For the fastest cooling of the dough, it is placed in the freezer.

Secret #2 It is not recommended to knead the dough for a long time, sometimes it is enough to collect it into a ball and place it in the refrigerator. If you knead the dough for a long time, then the pastries can be tough, and not crumbly and tender.

baked ready product very quickly, the main thing is to monitor readiness and avoid burning.

Secret #3 The baking sheet on which the cookies or pie is baked can be greased with butter or margarine, in some recipes they are also sprinkled with flour. But you can cover it with parchment and that will be enough.

Secret #4 If you roll out the cookie dough thinly, the cookies may burn or dry out in the oven.

Secret #5 When baking one large cake, it must be pricked over the entire surface with a fork.

Now what about the ingredients for making the dough.

Oil. You can use butter or margarine, in my opinion shortbread cookies taste better with butter. In some recipes, the butter needs to be grated or cut into cubes and used cold, while in others - room temperature.

In some recipes, butter is combined with flour to form crumbs, and may even be whipped into a fluffy foam.

Sour cream. Mayonnaise. Sometimes mayonnaise or sour cream is used to make shortcrust pastry. You can buy sour cream in the store or use homemade. As for mayonnaise, it is better to buy mayonnaise with at least 67% fat content

Sugar. Sugar is used to make cookies, sometimes sugar is replaced with powdered sugar in the recipe. Powdered sugar makes the cookies softer.

Eggs. Yolks. This is the link. Store-bought eggs can be used. And if you want to cook shortbread dough on yolks, then it is advisable to use homemade eggs. In such eggs, orange yolks and dough turn out to be very beautiful in color.

Salt. In recipes, salt is an obligatory component, but I do not exclude that the dough can be prepared without salt. Just salt sets off the taste of sugar and makes the taste of cookies brighter.

Soda. Baking powder. Baking powder is added to the shortbread dough, soda can be used, but do not forget to extinguish it with vinegar.

Flour. Flour is used to make shortbread cookies; in some recipes, starch can be added to shortbread dough.

Ground nuts. Nuts are added to taste and at will, but this is not at all necessary, nuts only add some piquancy to the dough, it turns out delicious. Especially interesting taste cookies with almonds. Almonds are crushed with a blender into dust, after removing the skin from it.

Vanilla. Vanilla is not a required component of shortcrust pastry, but it is desirable. Since vanilla gives a unique flavor to pastries. I do not advise using other spices, as you can spoil the taste of shortcrust pastry. The dough is unique in that it has a creamy aroma and taste with light hints of vanilla.

Additional components for the test. You can use cocoa, in which case you get chocolate shortbread dough. You can also add drops of chocolate, jam, jam, cottage cheese (for filling), dried fruits, lemon or orange zest are used.

Easy cookie dough recipe

Dough Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 250 grams of butter
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 sachet vanilla sugar
  • 0.5 teaspoon baking powder

1. Beat eggs and sugar until white, add immediately vanilla sugar. Add softened butter to this mixture.

If desired, you can add a few chopped nuts to the dough, for a piquancy of taste. I sometimes add 100 grams of almonds or walnuts. I grind the nuts with a blender into dust.

2. Mix flour and baking powder.

3. Combine butter, eggs, sugar, flour and knead the dough.

4. Knead the dough on the table, after sprinkling the table with flour. Knead the dough until elastic and smooth.

5. We place the dough, after wrapping it with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for 40 minutes.

6. Take the dough out of the refrigerator. We divide into several parts, roll out each part and cut out hearts, stars, circles, etc. figures with molds.

7. Bake for 20 minutes in a preheated oven. The oven is heated to 180 degrees.

Recipe for shortcrust pastry for cookies "Kurabie"

Ingredients:

  • 180 grams of butter (butter should be soft)
  • 75 grams of powdered sugar (preferably powdered, not sugar)
  • 1 egg white
  • a bag of vanilla sugar (you can just vanilla)
  • one pinch of salt
  • 220 grams of sifted flour

These cookies are very tasty with jam inside. Spread cookies on a baking sheet using a pastry bag. And in the center we put a little jam. You can replace the jam with chocolate drops or marmalade. I already prepared. It's very easy to prepare.

1. After preparing the ingredients, we begin cooking. Beat with a mixer softened butter with powdered sugar, vanilla, salt. Add protein. It turns out a homogeneous, smooth mass.

2. Now add flour and mix the dough. It is very convenient to do this with a spatula or spoon. Add flour in batches. Gather the dough into a ball. The dough turned out smooth, soft, tender, fragrant.

3. We place the dough in a bag with a nozzle and put the shortbread cookies on a baking sheet at a distance from each other. Put the jam in the center.

4. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. The cookies bake very quickly, so it's important that they don't burn.

Chocolate shortbread dough. Easy cocoa recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 egg
  • 80 grams of sugar
  • 125 grams butter
  • 225 grams of flour
  • 25 grams cocoa powder (I really like golden label cocoa)

Combine flour with cocoa.

1. Mix sugar and butter. Combine with cocoa and flour. Grind the mass into crumbs and add 1 egg. Form the dough into a ball and knead.

2. Before preparing cookies or a pie from chocolate shortbread dough, it must be placed in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.

You can cut out rhombuses, squares, hearts from cookie dough, or you can cook it, which is also quite interesting.

How to make delicious shortcrust pastry. Pie Recipes

In addition to cookies, we also love shortcrust pastry pies. They can be cooked with cottage cheese, berries, jam, etc. stuffing. If you haven't tried these pies yet, I highly recommend it, it's delicious.

Ingredients:

  • 200 grams of flour
  • 150 grams of butter
  • 100 grams of sugar
  • 1 small egg
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

Agree, the ingredients are quite simple, and the photos and step by step recipe facilitates the preparation of shortcrust pastry.

1. To prepare the dough, you need to combine the flour with a baking powder, add the cold butter cut into cubes or grated on a grater.

2. We grind everything crumbs, you need to do this with your hands. To the resulting mass, add sugar, egg and knead the dough.

It turns out very elastic dough with a creamy aroma, and if vanilla is also added to the dough, then there will be a creamy vanilla aroma.

3. Place the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Just wrap the dough in plastic wrap or place it in a plastic bag.

After half an hour, you can already start cooking the shortcrust pastry pie.

The pie is usually prepared in detachable form or frying pan. I cook in split form. Again, any toppings can be used.

I like to cook with cottage cheese or jam, as well as with fresh berries and fruits.

You can leave some of the dough to decorate the top of the cake. You can make strips of dough and lay them out so that on the surface shortbread pie rhombuses have formed, and you can rub the dough on a grater.

This will be a grated pie. By the way, I have a dough recipe for grated pie.

How to make shortbread dough for grated pie

Dough Ingredients:

  • 300 grams of butter (can be replaced with margarine)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 st. Sahara
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda quench 9% vinegar
  • 4 cups flour
  • a pinch of salt

This pie is very easy to make. The first time I tried a grated pie at a friend's, I liked the pie, so I immediately copied the recipe from her cookbook. This recipe is for a large sheet, for a large family. And also, it can be prepared when you are waiting for guests. With tea, coffee, compote, very tasty.

1. Combine softened margarine or butter with egg and sugar. We repay a teaspoon of soda with vinegar and add to the dough, do not forget about the salt.

3. 1/4 of the dough is immediately removed in the freezer, and the rest of the dough for 20 minutes in the refrigerator.

4. We grease the baking sheet with margarine, sprinkle with flour, you can cover it with parchment. We take the dough out of the refrigerator. Distribute the dough on a baking sheet.

5. Spread jam or jam on top. Sprinkle with nuts and raisins if desired.

6. Take the dough out of the freezer and rub it in coarse grater on top of the pie.

7. The cake is baked for 20-25 minutes. Keep an eye on the pie.

Shortcrust pastry recipes are very simple, I think everyone will find a recipe they like. In addition, there are quite a few shortcrust pastry recipes. Here is another recipe for mayonnaise shortcrust pastry.

Shortcrust pastry with mayonnaise

Ingredients:

  • 200 grams of butter
  • 200 grams of mayonnaise
  • 200 grams of sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 400 grams of flour
  • 0.5 teaspoon soda quench with 9% vinegar
  • vanilla sugar

1. Before preparing cookies, remove all products from the refrigerator, they should be at room temperature.

2. Mix mayonnaise, sugar, butter, egg in a deep container. You can do this using a spoon or beat with a mixer. Add slaked soda.

3. Gradually, in small portions, you need to add flour. Pour the flour sifted through a sieve into half a glass and mix with the main mass.

4. Knead the dough and send it to the refrigerator, do not forget to wrap the dough with plastic wrap.

5. Be sure to place the dough in the refrigerator for an hour. We form cookies on mayonnaise by cutting out various figures. You can roll the shortbread dough into balls the size of Walnut and flatten them with a fork. This will make a very nice pattern.

6. Shortbread cookies are baked on mayonnaise for 15 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees. Cookies are tiny, tender, crumbly, crispy.

Shortcrust pastry on yolks - recipe

Dough Ingredients:

  • 200 grams of butter
  • 3-4 yolks
  • 150-200 grams of powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • a pinch of salt
  • 2 cups of flour

1. All foods must be at room temperature. To prepare the dough, beat soft butter with powdered sugar with a mixer. Add egg yolks to the mixture and beat until fluffy.

2. Gradually add the sifted flour mixed with the baking powder. Mix the dough with a spoon or spatula. Do not knead the dough for a long time otherwise the cookies will be tough. Place the dough in cling film and refrigerate.

3. Place the dough in the refrigerator for 40 minutes. We form cookies from the dough and put them on a baking sheet. The dough is baked for 10 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees. The cookies are very tiny, so after baking, remove the cookies from the baking sheet and let them cool.

I hope that the recipes will help you prepare delicious shortcrust pastry for cookies or pie.

1. Butter of cold temperature, not frozen, cut into pieces.


2. Combine the butter with the flour sifted through a sieve.


3. Chop the flour with quick movements with a knife to make fine flour crumbs. Add soda, salt and sugar and continue to move the knife so that the products are evenly distributed.


4. In the flour crumbs, make a small indentation into which beat the egg.


5. Stir the mass with a fork or knife so that the egg is evenly distributed throughout the mass.


6. Knead the dough with quick movements, collecting it into a lump. Here, in fact, you don’t need to knead anything, just rake the dough from the edges to the middle, forming it into one whole “bun”.


7. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for half an hour, or better an hour. The dough can be kept in the refrigerator for 1-2 days. It can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
After a certain time, you can start baking cookies, cakes, cakes, pies. But keep in mind that since the dough contains a large amount of fat, the board and rolling pin must be chilled, so I recommend keeping them in the refrigerator for some time in advance. It is also important to roll out the dough very quickly, because. it must not be allowed to warm up.

Note: the dough can be given a special taste and aroma. To do this, vanilla sugar, grated lemon or orange zest, crushed chocolate, cocoa powder, ground or chopped nuts, cinnamon, etc. are added to the composition. Additives should be put when kneading the dough and together with them it should be cooled in the refrigerator.

shortcrust pastry has long been a favorite product in many families. Despite the variety of pastries on store shelves, which are produced by both large confectionery factories and private mini-bakeries, homemade cookies It's always tastier and better anyway. The basis for treats, that is ready dough, you can easily buy in stores. This simplifies cooking, but, according to many caring mothers, it does not give confidence that baking can be offered to children without fear.

The history of the origin of shortcrust pastry goes back into the mists of time. The first mention of it can be traced back to the 12th century, and English confectioners came up with its recipe. At that time, products made from classic shortcrust pastry resembled crackers. The kind of delicacy familiar to us from such a dough was acquired only when sour cream, chicken eggs and baking powder were added to the batch. Beautiful pastries from shortcrust pastry was also a success in Russia. Interesting fact: the famous pastry chef of the 19th century, Elena Molokhovets, in her book "A Gift to Young Housewives" devoted a whole section to the creation of all kinds of sweets, and the actual preparation of this delicious and simple test, and in the most variety of options. Even then, shortcrust pastry products were popular and loved.

Shortbread dough got its name due to its structure. The classic version of the product looks like the one in the photo. Products from such a semi-finished product crumble into small crumbs, like real sand. A real sand product according to GOST consists of only three components, but recently this semi-finished product has been improved by culinary specialists to produce baked goods with new flavors and qualities. Real and false shortcrust pastry is very high-calorie product, which, when consumed in excess, leads to an increase in body weight. Nevertheless, the well-known French nutritionist Pierre Dukan found a way out of the situation in his famous system proper nutrition told how to make the perfect diet shortcrust pastry with a minimum of calories. By the way, this technique has become a favorite among many chefs.

soft and tender dough in supermarkets can be found in the form of frozen layers of various thicknesses packed in polyethylene. It is stored exclusively in refrigerators and looks more than attractive. But still, not everyone willingly acquires it. The fact is that the price of the product, although not too high, still exceeds the cost of all the right ingredients. homemade dough it turns out cheaper and tastier, because you can easily experiment with its composition.

It is not difficult to prepare the dough, but this will require a little patience and knowledge of the specifics and technology of preparation. There are several secrets to getting a crumbly and truly shortcrust pastry, the essence of which we will definitely reveal in this article.

Composition and ingredients

The composition and ingredients of shortbread dough vary depending on the types, varieties and classification of the product, as well as the technology of its preparation. Distinguish the dough according to the following features:

  • yeast and yeast-free;
  • fresh (unsweetened), salty and sweet;
  • with and without animal fats (vegetarian);
  • regular and gluten free;
  • classic (simple) and complex (sand-sour cream, sand-biscuit, sand-puff, sand-lemon and others).

Dividing the dough by composition, we can distinguish its following varieties:

  • saber - suitable for baking classic sand products;
  • breeze - harvesting without the use of sugar and other sweeteners;
  • Sucre is fragile, sweet and very fatty.

By classifying the product by ingredients, the following main subspecies of dough can be distinguished:

  • sour cream;
  • vanilla;
  • cottage cheese;
  • potato;
  • chocolate;
  • lean (without eggs and animal fat);
  • cheese;
  • walnut;
  • apple;
  • pumpkin;
  • on beer.

The basic recipes for the preparation of the workpiece are the following:

  1. French. It is used when kneading dough for quiche (Laurent pie) - open pastries with sweet berry or more satisfying fillings from boiled eggs, fish or meat products.
  2. Swiss. Perhaps this method is the simplest. This method of preparing shortcrust pastry is appreciated by vegetarians. It is being prepared for hastily and does not require knowledge of wisdom, and the components for it are ice water, vegetable oil, salt and water. From such a test fast food false puffs are obtained, inside which you can hide absolutely any filling.
  3. Vienna. The dough using this technology is used to make the world famous and beloved Viennese cookies with jam, as well as multilayer open pies. Such a delicacy is served in confectionery cafes with the famous Viennese coffee or fragrant black tea.
  4. Tatar. This dough is used for baking national pie bearing an unusual and very interesting name of gubadia.
  5. Breton. The peculiarity of the test lies in the fact that it is prepared with fatty and very cold milk, which is used instead of butter, and vinegar, chicken eggs and separately yolks are also added to it. Stuffing for classic pie is steamed prunes.

All of the above methods of preparing dough are today the basic technologies for preparing shortcrust pastry, and are used by culinary confectioners as in industrial scale as well as in home cooking.

Main Ingredients

The main ingredients for kneading a simple dough according to the original recipe are Wheat flour, granulated sugar and butter. The flour must be of the highest grade, it is preferable to use beet sugar, and the butter must be very fatty and must be very frozen.

Recently, cooks for kneading use margarine instead of butter with low content moisture, and wheat bread flour is often replaced with whole grain flour. Most often, the dough is made on flour:

  • rice;
  • almond;
  • peanut;
  • oatmeal fine and medium grinding, as well as high quality flakes;
  • rye.

In some types of shortcrust pastry, instead of flour, it is required at all potato starch, and among the list of ingredients needed for cooking in step-by-step recipes you can see:

  • dairy and dairy products:
  • milk;
  • cream;
  • sour cream;
  • kefir;
  • natural pure yogurt;
  • condensed milk;
  • cottage cheese and hard cheeses;
  • water;
  • cocoa powder and chocolate;
  • cinnamon;
  • walnuts and peanuts;
  • powdered sugar;
  • baking powder, soda and yeast;
  • beer;
  • lard;
  • chicken eggs and their yolks;
  • natural honey;
  • mayonnaise;
  • zest of citrus fruits, most often lemons, oranges, tangerines.

A huge number of options for filling shortcrust pastry products makes it easy and quick to diversify the menu even for the most inexperienced hostesses, and the tasty treats on the table will surely please the household.

Use in cooking

The use of shortcrust pastry in cooking can be found quite wide. Of course, all dishes prepared from it are pastries, but nevertheless their range is simply huge. The workpiece is used to prepare all kinds of desserts and snacks, simple and complex, for example:

  • shaped cookies:
  • hearts;
  • "nuts" and "mushrooms" in molds;
  • sticks and strips;
  • droplets (kurabye) and "shells";
  • "chrysanthemums" (through the grate of the meat grinder);
  • rings and horseshoes;
  • waffles;
  • cheesecakes;
  • sochnikov;
  • shortbread;
  • bagels;
  • gingerbread;
  • apple or pear share;
  • buns;
  • cupcakes
  • cakes, letters, figurines and flowers for decoration, as well as "roses";
  • baklava;
  • kurnikov;
  • lush puffs;
  • sour cream;
  • curd workers;
  • strudel;
  • fingers;
  • rolls and "turbines";
  • cream baskets, meat pate or julienne;
  • pretzels;
  • cheesecakes;
  • chaneg;
  • tartlets;
  • open and closed pies;
  • pies;
  • samsa;
  • tarts with various fillings;
  • tubules;
  • croissants;
  • white tank;
  • rolls;
  • bases for canapes or pizza;
  • koloboks or "peaches";
  • envelopes and triangles with all kinds of fillings;
  • cake layers such as:
  • cottage cheese "Napoleon";
  • "Woodpile";
  • "Hut";
  • "Rotten Stump";
  • "Curly Vanka";
  • "Artemon";
  • "Anthill";
  • cakes.

Shortcrust pastry is used to bake false gingerbread with a multi-colored coating and pictures on their surface, and then "erect" Christmas cities from them. The most beautiful products are locks.

For filling and decorating shortcrust pastry products, they most often use:

  • fruit:
  • apples;
  • pears;
  • quince;
  • berries and stone fruits:
  • strawberries;
  • lingonberries;
  • currant;
  • irgu;
  • blueberries;
  • viburnum;
  • raspberries;
  • cherries;
  • blackberry
  • cherries;
  • plums;
  • apricots;
  • peaches;
  • raisin;
  • dried apricots;
  • prunes;
  • citrus;
  • figs;
  • bananas;
  • canned and fresh pineapples;
  • jam;
  • jams;
  • sorrel;
  • rhubarb;
  • marmalade;
  • jelly;
  • carrot;
  • pumpkin;
  • cabbage;
  • mashed potatoes;
  • cottage cheese;
  • protein and custards, pure or flavored;
  • meringue;
  • poultry and animal meat and offal (liver, for example);
  • chicken pate;
  • fish and canned fish from saury, mackerel, trout,
  • hard, soft (for example, marscapone, cheese or mozzarella) and processed cheeses;
  • glaze.

All of the listed ingredients can either be added after the dough has already been baked until half cooked or ready, or participate in the baking process.

The dough itself can be divided by cooks according to the method of preparation. Most often, the product is classified as follows:

  • dense or aspic;
  • cooked in a "cold" way or custard;
  • chopped, grated or whipped.

Depending on the technology and method of preparing the dough, baking powder, natural yeast and soda can be added to it. special harm these components will not be applied, but such cookies are hardly suitable for children. caring mothers they study many recipes and reviews on them, but often they cannot choose one of the cooking options. We offer you to try in practice a proven step-by-step recipe for baking delicious and healthy cookies for toddlers and never look for better options again. About this wonderful and simple version read the next section.

And to all those who cook for older children, and also like to indulge their beloved men with sweets, we offer a video recipe for delicious and very beautiful cake with chocolate and hazelnut filling. Such an unusually beautiful flower will become a table decoration and will perfectly fit into the festive and everyday menu.

How to choose a quality product?

In this section of the article we want to tell you how to choose a quality product on the shelves.

The first thing you should pay attention to is the shelf life of the product. Naturally, the closer the date is to the time of its expiration, the less quality the baking from such a semi-finished product will be.

If the date suits you, then you should carefully examine the packaging. First of all, its integrity: the presence of punctures in the film may indicate inadequate quality. Then pay attention to the manufacturer: try to purchase blanks from manufacturers that indicate not only the composition and belonging to the quality certification system, but also do not hide the location of production. Manufacturers who care about their reputation are always open to consumers.

Carefully examine the product in the package. The dough should be smooth, without inclusions (unless they are specified in the recipe), shiny and evenly cut. There should be no noticeable condensation, no mold, no darkened edges of the dough in the package.

If possible, try to buy a product with ingredients that are familiar to you in the composition, and even better, learn how to make shortcrust pastry yourself!

How to make shortcrust pastry at home?

Making shortcrust pastry at home is actually very easy. In this section, we will try to reveal all the secrets and describe the most favorite methods of its preparation. For convenience, classic and modified cooking methods are collected in separate subsections. And the first, of course, will be a story about a real method that has been proven over the years and by housewives. The following sections show methods and recipes for the preparation of mock dough, which is used to bake most of the delicacies that are temptingly lying on store shelves. Do not forget to write down the recipe you like in your personal cookbook!

classic dough

All three manufacturing recipes described below refer to classical ways kneading, and the dough does not contain any eggs, milk, sour cream, or other fatty ingredients or baking powder. According to this recipe, our grandmothers baked cookies, and it is he who is the most common.

We note right away that according to the first method, you will get an elastic and elastic dough that can be rolled out into a thin layer without effort. In the second case, the dough will turn out to be liquid, and products from it are formed exclusively with the help of a confectionery syringe.

So, for kneading classic version cookie dough you will need:

  • one glass of wheat flour;
  • one hundred and fifty grams of high-quality margarine or peasant butter;
  • one tablespoon of ice water;
  • one pinch of fine salt;
  • a third cup of sugar or a quarter cup of powdered sugar.

The preparation of the dough consists of three main steps.

  1. Quickly mix cold butter, salt and sugar. This is best done by rubbing the butter on a grater and adding small portions of granulated sugar. Important condition: the product should not "float". If you notice this, then immediately send the workpiece to the freezer, and then just proceed to the next step.
  2. To the creamy-sugar mass, first add water, then flour, and then quickly knead the dough. Shortbread dough does not need to be kneaded, so do not put too much effort into it. Long kneading can compact the dough, and then the baked goods will be too dry.
  3. Wrap the dough with cling film, then send the workpiece to the freezer for an hour, and after this time, divide it into pieces. Take them out of the refrigerator one at a time and roll them into a layer no more than 10 mm thick.

Use a cookie cutter or a knife to cut out the cookies, and then proceed to the last step - baking. To do this, lay out the finished figures on a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake for fifteen to twenty minutes in an oven heated to one hundred and sixty degrees. The readiness of the product is determined by the baked dough, but do not expect the dough to brown! If you are using a slow cooker for baking, then do not close the lid on it too tightly. Ignoring this advice will lead to the fact that the gathering steam will not allow the workpiece to cook well. Before serving or decorating baking, be sure to cool it to room temperature!

But everyone’s favorite “shells” or kurabie cookies cannot be made according to the above method, but all because they are squeezed onto a baking sheet from a pastry bag. This opportunity is provided by a more liquid dough, for the preparation of which cooks will need to have in stock:

  • butter - 1 pack (200 grams);
  • potato starch - four tablespoons;
  • table salt - a pinch;
  • granulated sugar - two thirds of a glass;
  • baking flour of the highest grade - half a glass;
  • vanilla sugar - 4 grams.

Dough kneading and subsequent molding should be carried out according to the following algorithm:

  1. Mix butter with vanilla and regular sugar, and then beat with a mixer, whisk or blender until airy.
  2. Mix flour and starch, and then add them to the sweet butter mass.
  3. Turn the mixer or blender to low speed mode, and then knead the dough with a density, like on pancakes.
  4. Put the finished dough into a pastry bag, and then put the cookies desired shape on a baking sheet with parchment.
  5. At the end, the sheets with blanks must be taken out for one hour in the cold, and after the time has elapsed, rearranged in an oven preheated to one hundred and eighty degrees Celsius.
  6. Baking cookies from shortcrust pastry lasts no more than twenty-five minutes.

Take note that the finished baking is not removed from the parchment until it cools, and its decoration begins no earlier than an hour after being removed from the paper. Good quality cookies according to this recipe will be obtained when using buckwheat, coconut, corn or rice flour.

third among basic recipes preparation of shortcrust pastry, as promised, we present an easy-to-execute and uncomplicated recipe for gluten-free "children's" dough. It is prepared without the usual flour for many. For one serving of healthy lean and at the same time tender dough you need to prepare:

  • vegetable (sunflower, corn or olive) oil - 100 ml;
  • powdered sugar - 100 grams;
  • gluten-free flour - 300 grams;
  • lemon juice - 2 tablespoons.

Cooking process healthy baking, of course, long, at first glance, but simple.

The first thing to do is to freeze the vegetable oil in freezer. To achieve the desired consistency of the product, it is enough to keep it in the cold for eight hours. I would like to say that vegetable oil never completely freezes, so don't expect it to become a hard lump.

The most important step is mixing powdered sugar with thickened vegetable oil. This must be done very quickly so that the oil does not return to its original consistency. Upon completion of mixing, pour half the measured amount of flour into the resulting mass in fractional parts and knead the uncooked dough. The last step in kneading the dough is to add lemon juice, the rest of the flour and the punching of the finished product.

charm and hallmark This method of preparing dough is that it does not need proofing. That is why the finished dough is immediately cut, rolled out, cut out figures and placed in the oven to bake. The finished treat is cooled and stored in paper bags. Such cookies are suitable for diabetics, as well as those who have decided to adhere to food restrictions on religious fasting days.

Regarding whether it is possible to knead not manually, I would like to note that neither a dough mixer, nor a blender bowl, nor a combine, nor a bread machine is suitable for making real dough.

Recently, more and more often you can hear the statement that shortbread dough can be prepared without oil. In fact, this opinion is erroneous, because only butter, be it butter or vegetable, allows you to give a recognizable structure to baking, and it cannot be replaced in the recipe with cream, milk, sour cream, or any other high-fat dairy products. An alternative can only be mayonnaise or lard. Products based on these ingredients can have a specific taste, and the dough itself is most often used to make snack pies or muffins with savory filling. Also, it mixes with the minimum amount Or no sugar at all.

Butter dough

Butter shortcrust pastry in its composition has components used in kneading dough for ordinary wind pies and cake layers. AT without fail this dough contains:

  • chicken eggs and separately yolks - three and two, respectively;
  • butter in half with lard - only two hundred grams;
  • salt - a pinch;
  • powdered sugar - half a glass;
  • flour - three glasses;
  • baking powder or soda - one teaspoon.

The kneading technique is slightly different from that described above. When making such a test, proceed as follows:

  1. The butter heated to room temperature is ground with chicken eggs kept warm for an hour, powdered sugar, and then the yolks are introduced.
  2. The flour is mixed with soda or baking powder, and then in small portions is introduced into the butter-egg mixture.
  3. The finished compacted dough is wrapped with a film and placed in the refrigerator for proofing, after which small pieces are separated and products of the desired shape are made.

The dough prepared according to this method is very elastic and pleasant to the touch, but it should not be warm for a long time, so the baking sheet with the products is placed in the oven without delay and kept there at a temperature of about one hundred and eighty degrees Celsius for twenty minutes. I would like to draw the attention of readers that products made from dough of this method of preparation differ in some characteristic features, for example, they are always ruddy, and also remain soft for a long time after baking.

Custard

Another of the unusual types of shortcrust pastry is its custard version. Such a product is used for making pies and closed pies. Even the most inexperienced housewives will master this kneading method, and often this particular cooking option becomes a favorite for many for many years.

For a serving of dough, which will make twelve small pies, you will need:

  • baking flour - 350 grams;
  • creamy margarine - 200 grams;
  • granulated sugar - 3-4 tablespoons;
  • water - 5 tablespoons;
  • sunflower oil - 4 tablespoons;
  • salt - to taste.

Brewing and subsequent kneading of the dough must be done in the same container, so it is advisable to choose a bowl with wide edges that can be heated on the stove.

  1. Boil water, and then add a pinch of salt and a norm of granulated sugar to it and dissolve them. After that, carefully pour the vegetable oil into the water and put the margarine grated on a coarse grater there.
  2. Bring water to a boil while stirring constantly.
  3. Wait until the margarine is completely dissolved, and then proceed to kneading. To do this, add flour in fractional parts to boiling water (without removing the container from the fire).
  4. Stir the dough with a spoon until the spoon turns, and then remove the bowl from the stove.
  5. Add the rest of the flour to the mass and knead a dense dough with your hands.
  6. Put the workpiece on the table, mash without flour, and then cover it with a dry towel. Let the dough cool down, and then roll it out and form products of the desired shape.
  7. Upon completion of the production of the selected flour products bake them right away.

In order for, for example, pies from such a dough to turn out shiny, be sure to grease them with yolk before placing them in the oven. chicken egg, whipped with a few drops of vegetable oil.

According to Dukan's recipe

Dough prepared according to Ducan's recipe is nothing supernatural. Baking from it can be made both ordinary white and colored. To obtain the desired color, add to the dough natural dyes: carrot juice, beetroot juice or decoction, cocoa powder and other ingredients that can add shade.

To prepare three servings of cookies, you will need to mix oat and wheat bran with powdered milk, salt and baking powder, and then combine them with cottage cheese, chicken egg and yolk. After that, with wet hands, you need to form a dense dough, wrap it in a film and send it to the cold for a couple of hours. You need to roll out such a dough in a film, because it sticks strongly to a rolling pin, and flour cannot be used for dusting.

The proportions of the ingredients are:

  • oat bran - 8 tablespoons;
  • wheat bran - 2 tablespoons;
  • chicken egg (40 grams) - 1 piece;
  • chicken egg yolk - 1 piece;
  • cottage cheese - 70 grams;
  • baking powder - 2 teaspoons;
  • salt - to taste.

Such a dough can be used for baking vegetable pizza, tart with berry fillings, tartlets and even delicate baskets with protein cream.

How to cut?

We will tell you how to properly cut the dough for baking in this small section of the article. As such, products from real and false shortcrust pastry are not subject to modeling. One of the basic techniques for cutting dough is already described in the section above, but it only applies to liquid product.For a semi-finished product with a standard consistency, preparing the dough before baking consists in rolling and forming products of the desired shape and size.

The following devices are currently in use:

  • molds of various subjects: stars, crescents, animals, flowers, cars and others;
  • curly knife, allowing you to quickly create the right geometric figures with wavy or zigzag edges;
  • meat grinder with a regular or curly grate-nozzle.

When rolling out, be sure to dust the table with flour, otherwise the dough will stick and tear. The thickness of the rolling depends not only on the desired result. The present classic pastry you should never set aside more than one centimeter thick, while sour cream or shortbread and yeast should not be made too thin.

Kneading and rolling shortcrust pastry does not take much time. That is why it is most often cooked at home. Particular attention should be paid to the fact that when using molds, they should be placed as close as possible to each other when cutting. Otherwise, you will have to collect the leftovers many times, crush and roll them out. As a result, each subsequent batch finished baking will become denser, and the cookies themselves will become firm and will not melt in your mouth.

How to store shortcrust pastry?

How to store shortcrust pastry is probably interesting to know for many novice confectioners. We note right away that there are no difficulties in this. Any of the subspecies of the product must be stored in the cold. That is why the finished dough, rolled into layers, is stored in refrigerators in grocery stores. In coolness, even yeast slows down its vital activity, and after getting into heat, they easily restore their qualities.

The best way to save shortcrust pastry for a long time is to freeze the product to a temperature of minus eighteen degrees Celsius, which corresponds to the marking of three snowflakes. With constant cold and humidity, the product can be stored for about six months.

You should know and remember that thawed dough must be used immediately, because re-freezing will degrade the quality. finished products, and the dough itself will become stiff and too elastic.

Homemade dough can be stored both in the form of layers (as in a store) and in portions. A mandatory requirement is wrapping the workpiece in several layers food film, which helps prevent the outer layer of the semi-finished product from drying out.

If the intentions of the hostess are not long-term storage dough, you should know that the dough will be suitable for baking for three days, provided that it lies in a plastic bag on the top shelf of the refrigerator.

How to fix shortcrust pastry?

How to fix shortcrust pastry? This is a fairly common question, the answer to which is needed not only for young chefs, but also for quite experienced housewives.

Let's start in order, and for convenience, we will draw up the existing knowledge in the form of a small plate.

Problem

How to fix?

Dough breaks when rolling

Excess flour.

Place the dough in a bowl, and then add melted or softened butter or sour cream to it in small pieces.

The dough is too warm.

Put the product in the refrigerator for a while and let it harden there.

The dough is spreading (turned out liquid)

Lack of flour

Enter flour or starch in fractional parts and mix gently.

The room is too hot.

The optimum temperature for making dough is about 20 degrees Celsius. Knead in a cool room, and be sure to hide the finished dough for an hour in the refrigerator.

The dough crumbles (crumbles) during kneading

Too soft or warm margarine (butter, lard, cooking oil) is used.

Cool the fat base of the dough to the desired temperature, and then add a few tablespoons of ice water to the dough while kneading.

Be sure to sift the flour before kneading, then it will be better combined with butter or dairy products.

The dough is too tight when cutting

Mismatched proportions of ingredients.

Try:

  • use flour with less gluten;
  • reduce the amount of flour or sugar and at the same time increase the amount of butter;
  • use high-quality margarine intended for baking;
  • increase the amount of baking powder (if it is present in the list of ingredients);
  • do not use trim.

Another question regarding why the finished dough is bitter haunts many cooks. We will answer it too. This happens very rarely and occurs due to the inability to choose the right ingredients. Always remember that only fresh ingredients are needed to make a great dough: flour, butter, sour cream and other products. Also, always pay attention to the amount of vanillin in the recipe, which is used to give baked goods a pleasant aroma, and in no case put more than it should be. Remember that if you overdose on this flavoring, you risk getting a bittersweet cookie.

Benefit and harm

The benefits and harms of shortcrust pastry are determined by the composition of the product. Many recipes with a variety of ingredients allow you to saturate the human body with vitamins and minerals contained in the original ingredients.

Shortcrust pastry is very high in calories and therefore, with uncontrolled use, it can lead to rapid weight gain. A large number of sugar can cause diabetes, and the high fat content of the product will adversely affect the functioning of the gallbladder and intestines.

In general, shortcrust pastry is an excellent solution for family tea party especially if it's handmade. And yet, cutting cookies from such a delicate material is a wonderful opportunity to keep your favorite fidgets busy for a long time!