Unfailing Shortcrust Pastry by the SIMILI Sisters
This shortcrust pastry by the Simili sisters is truly delicious and suitable for various uses, especially for cream tarts. I often use it for chocolate tart.
Twin sisters Margherita and Valeria Simili—universally known as “the Simili Sisters”—are renowned worldwide and hold courses in Europe, America, and Japan, always with great success. Every one of their recipes is a guaranteed success, so this shortcrust pastry recipe is a sure bet.
N.B.: The secret to successful shortcrust pastry is to use POWDERED sugar and COLD butter and water.
Once the shortcrust pastry is ready, use it as you wish, for example: I often use it to prepare my: “Nutella Tart that remains creamy after baking”.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 6 people
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for the Unfailing Shortcrust Pastry by the SIMILI Sisters
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (with low W value, I use Caputo pastry or Garofalo W170)
- 7 oz butter (quality, COLD)
- 6 tbsp water (COLD)
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar (important that the sugar is powdered)
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract (optional)
- 1 lemon zest (optional)
Steps for the Unfailing Shortcrust Pastry by the SIMILI Sisters
I must say that during their pastry lessons, the Simili sisters always stated that they don’t like to add aromas to the shortcrust pastry, as they believe the butter flavor should stand out, so grated lemon and/or vanilla are optional, but I personally always add a tablespoon of vanilla.
Rub the butter and flour between your hands, then make a well in the center and incorporate the egg yolks (one at a time) and sugar using a fork, beating like an omelet, add the cold water and mix everything quickly, the dough should not warm up (I actually do everything with the paddle attachment of the stand mixer) and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, but better yet for an hour.
Take a sheet of parchment paper, flour it, and roll out the shortcrust pastry with a rolling pin, not too thin. Then proceed according to the recipe you have chosen to use.
Shopping Tips !!!
To knead perfectly, I use my Titanium Chef Patissier XL stand mixer with 7L EasyWarm bowl, integrated scales, and blender, a faithful kitchen ally for: kneading, weighing, whisking, cooking, chopping, pasteurizing eggs.
You can find this stand mixer on Amazon at a special price, click HERE !
If you are looking for a more economical and smaller model with a 4-liter bowl, you can choose to buy the Kenwood KVC7300S Chef Titanium Stand Mixer, with integrated lighting and comes with a rubberized whisk and pastry spatula. #adv
