Shortcrust pastry is a neutral dough, simple and that we can use to prepare sweet and savory pies, snacks, and pastries. There are really few ingredients, flour, butter, and ice water. It is essential to knead them quickly to not heat the butter too much to have a final dough that is not sticky and perfect. Shortcrust pastry is similar to short pastry and puff pastry, but it does not contain eggs like short pastry and its preparation is much quicker than puff pastry.
Here is my fabulous and well-tested recipe over the years, perfect for preparing the famous Apple Pie and many other recipes. What are the other recipes you can make with shortcrust pastry?
Well, here they are below:

- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 5
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 396.07 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 42.01 (g) of which sugars 5.08 (g)
- Proteins 6.49 (g)
- Fat 23.29 (g) of which saturated 14.88 (g)of which unsaturated 8.45 (g)
- Fibers 1.58 (g)
- Sodium 74.16 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 100 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for the Shortcrust Pastry
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 5 oz butter (cold)
- 6 tbsp water (ice cold)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tsp sugar
You will need
- Bowl
- Plastic Wrap
Preparing the Shortcrust Pastry
At least an hour before starting the recipe, I put the water in the freezer.
In a bowl, I knead the cold butter with the flour with my hands, obtaining a crumbly mixture. I add a pinch of salt, the sugar, and the ice-cold water, knead quickly to not heat the butter, until the dough is smooth (If the dough becomes sticky, I put it in the fridge for about ten minutes), I compact it with my hands creating the classic dough ball that I wrap in plastic wrap and leave it to cool in the refrigerator for at least an hour before using it for the recipe I want to make.
Storage
We can prepare it in advance because it can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days wrapped in plastic wrap or in the freezer for a couple of months.
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See you soon, Susy
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