My attempt to make mince pies (using sweet fruit mincemeat) is turning into a total disaster. Something went wrong with the dough - I think my kitchen scaled are fked - and I had to add about half a cup of water to get it to stick. Either that or could the butter have been too soft? Recipe was:
8oz flour
4oz butter
1oz sugar
2 egg yolks (I used three, because they were tiny free range orgnanic ones)
1 tbsp water
So this odd, dry pastry isn’t helping. But now the problem is the oven. On the lowest setting, it took ages and dried the pastry out to cardboard. On the next setting up (it’s a really crappy gas oven) the bottom burns withing fifteen minutes, but the pastry on top still isn’t done (even though I rolled it thin).
HELP HELP HELP HELP HELP PLEASE!
This is an absolute disaster because I promised to bring some mince pies to a friend’s Christmas Eve party, and shop-bought ones will feel like a real failure.
You’ve come to the right place (sorry, metric only). I just made some very successful mince pies using the following quantities, stolen off an Irish chef’s site:
100g icing sugar
300g flour
100g butter
2 eggs
Cube the cold butter into the sifted powders, then rub in until breadcrumby. Whisk the eggs together, then stir into the pastry until it’s nice and pliable. Then set aside in the fridge for at least an hour. It’s solid, workable, and doesn’t split when rolling. Don’t overfill the pies or the mincemeat will ooze out. Prick a hole in the top of the pie lid to prevent them bursting.
As for the oven… bit of a worry. Maybe put the baking tin on some sort of block or tray to distribute the heat a little more evenly. Did you originally put them at the bottom or the top of the oven? Maybe try a test bake of one pie with a big tray of water on the lower shelf?
20/25 minutes at a higher temperature - 200C or so - is better for the pastry. A low temperature will dry it out, as you’ve observed.
If your making a pie dough, then you only need to add enough water that it will just come together when you squeeze it. Then, roll it into a lump in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for 20 minutes. The gluten formation will magically give you a silky malleable dough. This is a common mistake for first time pie dough makers
OTOH, I’ve never seen egg yolks in a pie dough so maybe your doing something else.
My mincepie dough is my great grandmother’s shortcrust dough:
Granny Irvine’s Pastry
8oz plain flour
2oz self-raising flour
2 tsp fine white sugar
7oz butter
1 whole egg
pinch salt.
Cream sugar and butter, add egg, salt and sieved flour. Leave to rest for 15-30.
As mincepies: roll, cut, places in a suitable tray, fill with micemeat, seal edges with a fork and pierce top with fork tines. Bake in a 325F oven for 30 mins.
I also use a nice dough made with ground almonds, eggs and sugar, but I can’t find the recipe at the moment.
Mince pie pastry should be SHORT- not flaky or doughy but crumbly and light.