Just a quickie re pastry

[hammerman]

Can i use stork marg to make basic shortcrust pastry or at least 50/50 butter/stork

[atalanta]

You can. But my mother used to make the most magnificent pastry with half butter, half lard.

[daisya]

Stork all the time for me butter can be too salt and really quite honestly why pay for butter when stork does a brilliant job as I've found out for years.

[Barmaid]

I use half unsalted butter and half lard with great results.

[hammerman]

Thank you but unfortunately, i don't have any lard.....so can i use stork marg. ?

[silka]

Yes of course

[daisya]

YES hammerman, I've been using stork for years and my pastry is perfect according to those who have eaten it and liked it over the years. Stork is my favourite and I won;'t use anything else. Hope that helps. Lard is used more for puff and flaky pastry (with marg_).

[Barmaid]

Yes you can use stork, but I might be inclined to make it 75/25 with the stork to butter.

Daisya, I've never heard with lard being using with puff pastry, I only ever use butter!

[Barmaid]

Doh, I meant 75/25 the other way round!!! thick sod that I am. That'll be trying to cook two meals AND post on the tinternet.

[Barmaid]

FOr once I disagree with Delia on something!

I used very cold fat from the fridge. But I don't rub in using my finger tips, I use a pastry wire (I can't do the fingertips thing because I've got cack hands).

[Barmaid]

Tbh, I don't disagree with her on that recipe with ingredients, but all my cook books do have "notes" written on them. But then as I say to the OH, recipes are just a guide since the recipe writer can't cater for the quality of ingredients, the type of cookware, the type of heat etc.

I do make my puff pastry entirely with butter though.

Last time I had to make shortcrust pastry and I had no lard, I just did it entirely with unsalted butter and it was OK. I don't think I've ever actually used stork.

[hammerman]

Well i have made the pastry and it seems to have turned out fine. I've lined a deep pyrex dish with the pastry and blind baked it. Meanwhile, i browned off some chicken breast, sauted some leeks and mushrooms in butter and oil and then put it all in the pastry with a tin of homepride cream and white wine sauce. put a pastry top on and it smells absolutely delish.

I'll tell you what it's like later :-)

[EDDIE51]

Just make sure you use the Stork for cakes not the stork soft , the soft version is 58% fat the rest water.

[EDDIE51]

Agree about the pyrex dish but as the pie has ben blind baked it will not matter.

[heathfield]

You could have looked up the Stork website for recipes. It says for shortcrust pastry simply use one part Stork to two parts flour by weight.

http://www.bakewithst...om/MadeForBaking.aspx

[rowanwitch]

I do pastry in pyrex/pottery all the time without problems and so far as fat is concerned it tends to relate to what I am using as filling savoury fillings half lard half yellow fat of some kind or even all lard or suet crust...
Sweet fillings butter or hard marge if I an short of cash that week an egg yolk in the sweet crust too