Puff or short crust pastry??

[~max~]

Hi all! I want to start making my own savoury quiches, and just had a look online for recipe.... I always thought puff pastry was for savoury fillings and shortcrust for sweet ones? However, most recipes tell me to use shortcrust for a quiche....
What exactly is the difference please? thank you!

[lindapinda]

Hi Max :-).Puff pastry is done with thin layers and bits of butter in between,to make it puff up! It is used for sweet and savoury dishes. Shortcrust is always used for quiches as far as i know,it's not layered,just plain old pastry. Are you going to make your own,or buy ready made? If i make anything i take the easy way out! Can't be doing with all that messy flour that gets everywhere lol

[~max~]

lol! Thanks Linda, me neither....Ready-made is the way to go! I guess I just got a bit confused...Doesn't take much! :O)
Shortcrust it is then!

[weeal]

Hi Max, deffo shortcrust for quiches as puff pastry crumbles and flakes and shortcrust holds together better.
I used to make my own, life is too short lol, buy ready-to-roll shortcrust pastry, line your quiche dish, poke pastry all over with a fork and fill till yer heart's content.

Enjoy

[~max~]

Ah! So no need to bake it first then? I just fill it and bung in the oven?

[weeal]

some recipies will say 'bake blind' but I never did

make sure tho that the pastry is higher than the edge of the dish cos it might shrink in a bit when baking and the filling will fall over

[ethandron]

yes, definately shortcrust for a quiche.
i'm not a puff pastry lover at all to be honest, i don't like the way it sticks to your lips and drops everywhere. don't much like croissants for the same reason.
you get mincemeat puffs and cream puffs, and you also get puff pastry pasties, and of course vol-au-vents and sausage rolls, so i don' think the sweet/savory thing is right.
more down to the way the pastry is for the thing you're making.

[~max~]

Thanks everyone! :O)

[Jugglering]

Puff pastry rises up (like a croissant) when baked because of the trapped air in the folds, plus it can be a bit greasy due to the extra butter. If you used puff pastry in the base of a quiche or flan, then it wouldn't rise much due to the weight of fillings above, but it would just be a greasy blob ! However, if you used puff pastry over the top of something, then you would have a light flaky pastry topping. I always use shortcrust pastry when I am making a dish that will have a lot of filling above it. I also do tend to bake it *blind* for 10 minutes or so, just to ensure that the filling (esp when the filling is liquid - egg etc) doesn't make the base soggy. The sweet/savoury distinction is definitely not the difference ! When making an apple pie, I often add a little brown sugar to the (shortcrust) pastry. I also never bother even trying to make puff pastry from scratch - far too much effort when you can so easily buy it.