Making Shortcrust Pastry Apple Pie

Crisp, light and easy to prepare, shortcrust is the most frequently used of all pie and tart pastries.

Shortcrust dough is made from flour, butter, water and a little salt-usually, half the amount of butter to flour.

The dough takes very little time to make. Indeed, to achieve perfect tender shortcrust pastry, speed is essential, overworking would only strengthen the gluten in the dough and make the butter oily- resulting in a mixture that will become hard and tough on baking.

To help keep the dough cool, chill the water and butter. Chilling any dough before use relaxes the gluten, making the dough less elastic and softer and easier to roll out.

For extra insurance, you can brush the bottom layer of pastry dough lightly with whisked egg white before adding the filling. In the oven the egg white will cook to a thin glaze that will prevent the filling's moisture from seeping into the dough.


Pastry Ingredients:

250g cold butter, cut to pieces
500g flour
pinch of salt
5-8 tablespoons iced water

Method

1).Rubbing the butter into the flour. add the salt to the flour and sift them into a large mixing bowl. Add all the butter cubes to the flour. Using the tips of your fingers and thumbs, pick up a small amount of butter and flour. Lightly rub them and together and let the mixture fall back into the bowl. Continue for 2 to 3 minutes, until all of the butter is incorporated and the mixture resembles very coarse breadcrumbs.

2).Adding water. Use a spoon to make a shallow well in the mixture, spoon in a little iced water. Because some flours absorb more water than others, the quantity of water you need may vary, always start with a minimum amount in order to avoid soggy result. Then, use your hands to lightly gather the dough together. Add a little more water if necessary, the mixture should cling together without being damp.


3). Finishing the dough. Lightly press the dough together and form it into a ball. Wrap the dough in cling wrap film, to prevent drying out, and chill the dough for about 15 minutes before use.

For Double-crust Apple Pie filling Ingredients:

1 kg apple (8 medium size)
2 tablespoons flour
pinch of salt
About 2/3 to1 cup of brown sugar ( if green apple use more sugar and less for red apple)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
30g butter
1/2 lemon

Method
1).Mixing the apple filling. Place the flour, salt, sugar and spices in a mixing bowl. Peel, core and slice the apples, and add them to the bowl. With your hands, toss the apples until they are evenly coated with the dry ingredients.

2). Preparing the dough. Divide the dough into halves, one for the top of the pie and one for the base.

3). To make the base, roll the dough into a round about 5mm thick. Lining the tin. To ensure that the round of dough is big enough to cover the base and overlap the side of the pan, the pastry should be slightly wider than the pan.

4). Filling and covering the pie. Filling the base with the apples and dot them with butter. If the apple are sweet, sprinkle them with lemon juice. Roll the remaining dough to the thickness of 5mm and place it over the filling.

5). Finishing the edges. Use a knife to trim away the excess dough. Using your thumb and index finger, pinch the dough firmly to seal the base and top. With knife, pierce the top in several places to allow steam to escape as the pie bakes. If you like, glaze it before baking by brushing the top with a lightly whisked egg.

6). Bake the pie in an oven preheated to 220C for 10 to 15 minutes, then at 180C for 40 to 45minutes, or until the pastry is firm and golden-brown.

7). Hot pastry crumble easily. Let it cool for a few minutes before cutting. Serve the pie warm or cold..:)

Yam Flaky Teochew Mooncake／芋泥千层酥

Ingredient for the skin
A
200g plain flour
30g icing sugar
50g shortening
120ml water
1/2 tsp white vinegar


Ingredient for the oil skin
B
180g plain flour
100g shortening
Few drops of purple colouring

For filling
C
5 shallots (chopped)
80ml cooking oil

D
500g yam(sliced, steamed, mashed while hot)
150g castor sugar
20g tang min flour

Method:
1.Fry shallots of (C) in oil till aromatic. Add in ingredient(D) and fry till mixture is thick. Turn off heat and cool. Divide mixture into 30g portions.

2.Combine flour, icing sugar and shortening of ingredient (A). Add in water and vinegar. Knead into a soft dough and roll into a square piece.

3.Combine ingredient (B) and roll into squarish, place in the centre of no(2).

4. Enclose both sides of no.(3) together. Rest for 20 minutes. Use a rolling pin to flatten all sides, turn over and roll flat. Next, roll into a swiss roll, repeat process. Cut into 20 pieces, wrap in no.(1), seal edge facing downwards.

5. Place no.(4) on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 20-25 minutes till cooked through but not golden looking. cool well.

Tua Sar Bing ( Tambun Biscuit)／豆沙饼

Ingredients

For the filling

•250g split green peas, soaked for several hours and drained
•160g castor sugar
•2–2½ tbsp fried shallot oil
•2 tbsp deep fried shallot crisps or more
•3/4 tsp salt
.1/2 tsp pepper



For the pastry

Water dough
•150g plain flour
•1 tbsp icing sugar
•1/2 tsp salt
•30g corn oil & 30g shortening
•80g water
•1 tbsp lemon juice

Oil dough
•100g plain flour
•60g shortening / margarine

Egg glaze
•1 egg yolk
•1 tbsp water
•A pinch of salt


Method

To prepare the filling: Steam the well-drained split green peas until soft and cooked through. Blend in a food processor until fine.

Remove blended green pea paste into a non-stick wok and add in sugar, salt, pepper, shallot oil and shallot crisps. Cook over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Keep stirring until the mixture is well combined. Remove and leave to cool completely.

Water dough: Put flour, salt, icing sugar, shortening and oil into a mixing bowl. Combine water and lemon juice in a cup and pour into the flour. Mix well to blend until dough is smooth. Leave aside to rest for 25–30 minutes.

Oil dough: Combine flour and shortening / margarine and mix into a smooth dough. Set aside to rest for 25–30 minutes.

Roll out both water dough and oil dough into long sausage shapes and cut each into 40–42 equal sized pieces. Roll out a piece of water dough and wrap in a piece of oil dough. Roll out flat and roll up into a Swiss roll.

Repeat the rolling and flattening of the piece of dough three times. Do this for the rest of the pieces of dough.

To each piece of prepared pastry skin, add a heaped teaspoonful of filling. Gather up the sides and roll into a ball. Place each ball on a lightly greased tray.

Brush the biscuits with egg glaze and bake in preheated oven at 160°C for 15–20 minutes or until biscuits turn golden brown.




For water dough, oil dough and how to assemble the chinese pastry, please refer to this chinese video.

Lao Por Bing ( Wife Cake)／老婆饼

Wife Cakes are actually made by men for their wives. It seems that long ago a wife sold herself as a servant to get money to pay for medical treatment for her father-in-law. The husband was so impressed by her dedication and wanting his wife back that he created the Wife Cake which he sold in the market. They became very popular so he was able to earn enough money to buy his wife back.

Lao Por Bing ( Wife Cake) has a long history and is popular in Hong Kong, and among Chinese. My Family loves this cake.

For the water dough, oil dough and how to assemble the pastry, please refer to this chinese video








This recipe is from Do What I Like
Water Dough:
100g top flour
25g icing sugar
20g margarine
20g sunflower oil
20g water



Oil Dough:
100g top flour
45g sunflower oil

Filling:
55g candied winter melon, chopped to bite size( I rinsed off some of the sugar)
55g castor sugar
70g cooked glutinous rice flour (Koh Fun)
18g margarine
15g roasted white sesame seeds
12g dessicated coconut
120g boiled drinking water (at room temp.)

Egg wash
1 yolk + 1 tsp. water + pinch of salt

Method:

1. Put all Filling ingredients into a big bowl, mix until combined. Divide into 14 equal portions.

2. Water Dough: Rub butter into sieved flour and icing sugar till bread crumb state. Add in the water till a pliable dough is formed. Cling wrap dough and rest for 30 minutes. Divide dough into 14 equal portions.

3. Oil Dough: Pour oil into flour and rub into an oily dough. Cling wrap and leave aside to rest for 30 minutes. Divide dough into 14 equal portions.

4. To Assemble: Flatten a piece of water dough and wrap in the oil dough. Press and roll out dough into a longish flar piece with a rolling pin. Roll it up Swiss roll-style. Turn the dough 90 degrees and then roll it into a longish flat piece. Roll it up Swiss roll-style again. Pinch the 2 side edges and shape it into a flat circular shape. Put a piece of filling in the center of the dough and wrapped it. Flatten it. Apply egg wash.


5. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake in preheated oven at 200C for 9 minutes. Apply egg wash again. Bake for another 5 minutes or until golden brown.