Fetta Pie with Short Crust Pastry

I have had a few people ask me about pastry making and how to get good results. I really think that a good pastry flour makes a real difference and the butter also ... I always use Paris Creek BD butter... more expensive than others but the difference in the finished product is worth it. Also the health benefits of eating organic butter are so worth it!

Eggs....I have a ragga muffin bunch of chooks... each with thier own personality... Love my chooks! They free range around the orchard and produce the most lovely eggs... Rosie's eggs, you can get them at the Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers Market are really good and I use her's if I need more than my girls are laying...





 

Short Crust Pastry
For my short crust pastry recipe you will need...
2 cups plain flour
100g butter ~ softened
1 egg
water ~ about 100 ml



To make you place 2 cups of flour in a bowl, chop your softened butter and add...

Then using the tips of your fingers rub the butter into the flour until it is looking like this...

Lots of recipe books use the term fine breadcrumbs...I never work my pastry dough that much... Next make a well in the centre of flour butter mix and crack in your egg. This photo has two eggs as I was making a double batch...

using a knife gently start to mix through the egg...

and it will look like this....

I then tip out my almost pastry onto a floured surface and make a well...



pour in about 50 ml of water and gently combine...

add more water until it starts to pull together

your pastry will start to come together and will....

look like this!

place onto grease proof paper... and flaten out to about 2cm thick, wrap in grease proof and place in the freezer!!.. this helps the pastry chill fast and make rolling out WAY easier... and the less you hanle your pastry the better it will be!!

get your oven on to 200c

I usually get my filling ready while my pastry is chillin! But before we get to that  ~ a word on blind baking...

BLIND BAKING...

This just refers to the placing of something heavy like rice or beans into the pastry shell when you start to cook...this stops the pastry bubbling up and keeps it nice and flat...I have of late been using a single layer of almonds without baking paper in with loads of success... then having yummy roasted almonds after as well! I made this pie on the last day of our hoilday and had to improvise with what was in the kitchen so I did this...oh and remember to prick the base of the pastry... it lets the steam out!

Roll out you pastry dough after its had a good chillax in the fridge/ freezer...It needs to feel firm to touch before you roll it out... roll out to 3 -4 ml thick and place in a pie dish about 20 - 30 cms.

Then blind Bake...

After about 10 minutes pull out the blind filling and bake for another 5 mintues...

Then pour in your filling and finish....

The Filling...

This is the pie/ tart/ quiche filling I always use...

Its dead easy...

250ml cream

250ml milk

6 eggs

salt & pepper

= mix all together...

Now to this you can add just about anything... experiment and try!

For today's recipe I also used

1/2  bunch of spring onions

125g bacon

1 clove of garlic

a small hanful of thyme

200g fetta

ripe tomatoes ~ I used black russians

Chop finely your spring onions, garlic, bacon and thyme and fry them off on fairly high heat to get some caramelising going on...after about 5 minutes turn off and place into the pastry case...

Then crumble over the fetta and pour in the egg, cream milk mix...

and bake for 20 minutes @ 200c until starts to set and brown...

Then palce on your slices tomatoes and bake for a futher 20 minutes...until its set firm and is golden brown... yum!!!!

Its really important to let any pie this style rest and firm up... serve with salad ...

  

My tips for fabulous pasty every time are these..
1. good quality ingredients
2. cool hands - warm hands release the glutens in the flour and make the pastry tough
3. don't over work your pastry
4.chill baby chill ~ both you and the pastry!


Enjoy

Yours,

Honey Lady