Step 1

Place your butter in the freezer for a minimum of 2 hours, but preferably overnight.

Step 2

In a jug, mix together your water and lemon juice and set aside.

Step 3

In a large bowl mix together the flour and salt. Now I’m going to sound like a home economics book, but you need everything to be cold to yield great pastry, so feel free to put the bowl of flour in the fridge to chill.

Step 4

On the larger side of a grater, grate the frozen butter directly into the flour mix. Stir the butter into the flour in with a knife. Frozen butter is my secret ingredient. The colder the butter the flakier the pastry. So remember, this is a shortcut short crust pastry, so we aren’t folding and doing that whole process. I’m all for process, but if you get a great result with less work, then I’m all for that too.

Step 5

Add in the liquid, holding a little back just in case you don’t need it all. Using your hand, bring your pastry together gently. You want to add just enough water to bring the pastry together. Too much water will not yield you a flakey dough.

Step 6

Bring the dough together to form a ball. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour. You can refrigerate it for up to 3 days or freeze to use at a later day.

Step 7

Note: Once you put pastry in the fridge and it relaxes it will get a little wetter so factor that in.

Step 8

To use your pastry: Follow instructions required by the recipe you are making. Alway bake in a HOT oven for best results.