Hello, our dear readers and guests of our site. Today I will tell you all the secrets of a successful shortbread dough. Depending on what kind of product you will bake, you will choose the recipe you need.

I'll tell you frankly, I wrote this post for a long time, for a very long time, because I got confused. I collected information on the Internet, clarified it in books and even from French bloggers. I tried to structure so as not to miss anything. The dough is kind of like dough - everything is simple, not just yeast, but the methods of preparation made me difficult.

Have you noticed in recipes how to make shortbread dough, everywhere two different options are described:

1. Grind the softened butter with sugar and eggs, then add flour.
2. Cold butter is ground (chopped) with flour, and then eggs beaten with sugar are added.

Sometimes we cook the same recipe with these different ways... Do you end up with the same baked goods? Let's figure it out.

So the first option is shortbread dough, and the second option is chopped.

But let's start with the basics of cooking. We will remember and lay out on the shelves the completely obvious properties of the products, known to you without me, and there will be nothing new here. The point is to further learn how to apply this knowledge about making the perfect shortcrust pastry.

The shortbread dough should be crumbly. How can this be achieved? It is necessary to know a little which component in the test possesses which properties.

• Flour. As you know, flour is different, but here the amount of gluten and gluten is important for us. Translated from Latin, gluten is glue; the less there is, the looser the dough. Sometimes starch is added to the flour. It is allowed to add another type of flour, for example, oatmeal is mixed with oatmeal.
• Butter. Butter is fat; it prevents flour from sticking together. The higher quality and fattier the butter, the tastier the baked goods will be. Oil in some recipes is replaced with cooking oil (such as lard). Previously, such fat was sold on a par with margarine and in the same packages of 250 g, now I have not seen it anywhere in stores. Can margarine replace butter? Probably you can. And in Soviet times, all the recipes in culinary notebooks were on margarine. See for yourself by your financial capabilities, but I still recommend using butter. Do not forget that margarine is a combination of fats that are difficult for the body to digest and poorly excreted from it.
• Eggs and water. It is the link between flour and butter. Depending on the recipe, it is added in a certain amount so that the mass is kneaded with dough, otherwise everything will not connect. The protein is like a glue, so for a grittier effect it is better to use only yolks.
• Sugar. Since the dough must be cooked quickly so that the butter does not have time to melt, it is best to replace it with powdered sugar. Alternatively, grind with eggs until the crystals are completely dissolved.
• Salt. Salt is a must in any dough, even in a sweet one, a small pinch is enough to set off the taste, salt shows the taste of sugar, makes it brighter. The dough won't taste bland with salt.
• Soda or baking powder. Soda is not put into shortbread dough, flowability is achieved by proper preparation, but some housewives who are not confident in their abilities resort to the help of a baking powder. With baking powder, baking from shortcrust pastry will certainly work. So it's your choice.
• Additional flavoring ingredients. By adding different components to taste, such as vanilla, cocoa, lemon peel, a variety of nuts, dried fruits, drops of chocolate, ground ginger, cinnamon, you will get a new exquisite taste and aroma.

Now you know how the components work, but there are still prerequisites, so to speak, a technological process that must be observed. These conditions are the same, no matter which recipe you cook below.

• All ingredients must be weighed on a scale. The recipe in cups, spoons is not suitable here, the recipe must be observed strictly in grams. Of course, you can use measuring cups, but be sure to follow the recipe more closely. Use the table of weights and volumes.
• Dry ingredients according to the recipe (flour, salt, baking soda or baking powder, cocoa powder, ground nuts) are mixed before cooking. But remember that cocoa is equated to free-flowing, i.e. to flour. Therefore, if you add cocoa powder to the dough, then subtract the same amount of flour in the recipe (for example, subtract 1 tablespoon of flour and add 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder).
• If you are preparing chopped dough, then all kitchen utensils (beating bowl, whisk, rolling board, rolling pin) must be cold.
• You cannot knead the shortbread dough for a long time, just combine all the crumbs into a lump and knead a couple of times. Strike out.
• The finished shortbread dough must be cooled, put in a plastic bag, tightly closed and sent to cool in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, and preferably an hour. To cool the dough faster and better, do not put it in a bun, flatten it slightly. Why refrigerate at all? Look, butter, when heated, stratifies into milk fat and liquid. You could observe this if you cooked ghee, and remaining cold in the mass with flour will prevent the flour from absorbing moisture, because the flour contains gluten, it combines with liquid and adds viscosity to the dough.
• Roll out the dough in a uniform layer, otherwise the thinner layers will be more dried in the oven. If one large crust is baked, it must be chopped over the entire surface with a fork. Bake shortcrust pastry cakes in a preheated oven at 200 ° C, placing the cakes in the middle of the oven in the standard top-bottom oven setting until slightly golden brown.

France is considered to be the founders and unsurpassed leaders of confectionery art. So in France, shortbread dough is divided into three types: pâte brisée (basic basic chopped dough), pate sablee (chopped sweet) and pate sukree (tender sweet shortbread dough). Completely unfamiliar names, incomprehensible to ordinary housewives, but familiar to everyone from the cooking technology.

Basic minced shortcrust pastry or pâte brisée

It is considered the most versatile, basic test. The Pathé Brize minced dough is mainly used for savory pastries such as meat pies, open pies with vegetables or Quiche.

Pate Brize is a chopped dough made with only flour, water and a moderate amount of butter; no sugar or salt is added to it.

• Flour - 250 g
• Butter - 125 g
• Ice water - 50 ml
• Salt - a pinch

As a rule, it is prepared using a combine-mixer, but you can easily do it with your hands.

Put well-chilled butter on flour and chop with a knife (grate or cut into small cubes), grind with flour until fine powdery crumbs are obtained. Gradually adding cold water, quickly combine the dough into a ball. Send to refrigerator.

Due to large grains of cold oil, when moisture evaporates during the baking process, the dough acquires the properties of lamination. Sometimes this dough is called false or pseudo-puff.

Depending on the proportions of water, flour and oil, you can even make a dough for the cakes of the famous and beloved Napoleon cake.

Chopped shortcrust pastry or pate sablee

This is the same chopped dough as the base dough, but with slightly different proportions of ingredients, or rather, with the addition of sugar, eggs and, if necessary, water.

• Flour - 250 g
• Salt - a pinch
• Butter - 125 g
• Sugar - 60 g Eggs - 1 pc.

Mix dry ingredients. Put well chilled butter on flour and chop with a knife, when there are small pieces of butter, grind them with flour until fatty flour is formed.

Separately grind the eggs with sugar and add the egg mass to the flour. Knead a firm dough.

Sweet or pastry shortbread pastry (pate sukree)

Shortcrust pastry is the simplest and easiest to make of all, in my opinion. Cookies from it are crumbly, they just melt in the mouth, and the shapes of cookies can be formed in a variety of ways. From shortcrust pastry, you can make, for example, kurabye and Viennese cookies, rings with nuts, baskets with protein cream and many, many different sweets. Shortcrust pastry is an excellent base for cakes with curd and fruit fillings, and is also suitable for pie with jam.

Depending on the amount of flour, the dough will be either softer or denser.

The ideal proportion is 1-2-3, i.e. 1 part sugar, 2 parts butter and 3 parts flour. And, mind you, this is in grams.

The recipe for one-two-three shortbread dough looks like this

• Sugar - 100 g
• Butter - 200 g
• Flour - 300 g
• Egg - 1 pc. whole or two yolks
• Salt - a pinch
• Baking powder - 1 tsp.

But sometimes a different proportion is more justified in a recipe, namely, there is twice as much flour as butter, especially if milk or sour cream is added to the dough.

How to make shortbread dough?

Combine flour, baking powder, salt.

The oil should be at room temperature, put it out of the refrigerator in advance, about one hour. Grind the butter with sugar until the grains disappear, or better with powdered sugar, then add the eggs, and, continuing to knead, gradually add flour, knead the not tight dough with a spoon.

At the end of kneading, you can help yourself to combine the whole mass into a lump with your hands.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

It is good to cook such a dough in advance, put it in the cold overnight, and in the morning quickly shape the cookies and be content with fresh pastries for breakfast for breakfast.

We noticed that during the cooking process there are no grains of oil, the butter is ground with sugar and eggs, and, therefore, large voids are not formed when heated in the oven, as in chopped. This will make the dough more tender.

I hope you figured out the specifics of cooking. Maybe I missed something, write in the comments, we will discuss it together.

Have a nice tasty day, dear readers! I really like shortcrust pastry products. As a child, my mother baked crumbly and tender cookies from it. And what is doubly pleasant - it can be used for both sweet and savory pastries. Today I will share with you a classic shortcrust pastry recipe that is suitable for making pies, cookies and even cake.

Have you ever wondered where the shortbread dough came from? And I became interested in the history of the emergence of a delicious recipe, and I started studying it. Unfortunately, there is very little information on this matter on the Internet.

It is only known that the recipe appeared somewhere in the 12th-13th centuries in Scotland and Britain. Initially, bread was baked, and small pieces of crackers or even crumbs were dried from the dough remnants at low temperatures. Then they began to add butter and sugar, and so gradually, the dough became as we know it now.

Moreover, the components of the dough can be varied - to do with or without eggs, add sour cream or cottage cheese, replace butter with margarine on fast days. The quality of the baked goods did not change. It is only necessary to take into account that if there is butter in the dough, the baked goods are very high in calories.

And if you are on a diet, then you should refrain from delicious, but adding volume to the waist, desserts. But if summer is still far away, and you have not joined the squad of losing weight, then you can treat yourself to delicious pastries. You will not regret.

Another interesting fact from history. They say that our Empress Catherine II was very fond of the crumbly and delicious dessert. And she started every morning with a cup of aromatic coffee and a sweet basket of dough melting in her mouth. Let's find out how to make shortbread dough.

Classic shortbread dough recipe

The classic recipe for shortcrust pastry consists of butter, flour and sugar taken in different parts.

For instance:

• 100 grams of sugar;
• 200 grams of butter;
• 300 grams of flour.

All foods must be cold to cook, otherwise they may conflict with each other and separate. At the same time, the dough will turn out to be tight and difficult to roll out, the pastries will become tough.

Mix sugar and butter in the first step. I cut the butter into pieces for convenience. Then add the sifted flour and use your hands to knead the dough until crumbs. Only this must be done quickly, until the butter has melted. At the last stage, knead the dough very quickly with our hands, roll it into a ball, wrap it with cling film and send it to the refrigerator to rest for 30-50 minutes.

This is the easiest shortbread dough recipe. Ideal for sweet cakes, biscuits and cakes.

Shortcrust pastry without eggs

My all-time favorite non-egg version of this recipe. I adjusted it to my taste preferences.

What you need:

• Butter - 170 grams;
• Sugar - 80 grams;
• Wheat flour - 210 grams.

I make it in a combine. In a bowl I beat the sugar and butter at high speed, cut into pieces for convenience. The oil has previously stood for a little until a slightly softened state, so that it is easier to whisk. Then I add flour. Beat at low speed just a little, until it starts to collect in lumps. After that, I transfer it to the form and tamp it. I use this recipe to make lemon bars, you can see the full recipe.

For other baking, roll the mass into a lump, into a bag and rest in the refrigerator.

Shortcrust pastry for tartlets

I like serving tart-shaped snacks. It is both aesthetically pleasing and tasty. But again, high in calories, because the composition includes butter. In this case, you can take a lighter filling to balance the health and calorie content.

What do we need? L

• Butter or margarine 200 grams;
• Flour 250 grams;
• Egg 1 piece;
• A pinch of salt.

This time we will cook unsweetened dough. It is ideal for tartlets and open cakes, such as quiches or tarts ... First, cut the butter into pieces. But it must be cold. Combine with flour until smooth.
Break the egg into a separate bowl and add a pinch of salt. Whisk everything and send it to a cup with flour and butter. Thoroughly and quickly knead a delicious dough for tartlets at home.

We wrap the finished lump of dough in plastic wrap or put it in a plastic bag and send it to rest in the refrigerator. During this time, you can prepare the filling.

Filling options for tartlets:

1. Egg, cheese and garlic;
2. Fry mushrooms with onions;
3. Ham with cheese and cucumber;
4. Olivier salad;
5. Crab sticks with egg;
6. Caviar;
7. Red fish with potatoes;
8. Liver paste.

I will not dwell on the fillings in detail - they are not difficult to prepare.
After the dough has rested, roll it out into a thin layer and cut it out with a mold or glass. If you have cake molds, then put our blanks there. You do not need to grease the walls, as the dough is very greasy in consistency due to the oil. We prick with a fork all over the bottom.

You can pour pre-washed peas, beans or other cereals on the bottom so that the dough does not heave and looks beautiful. You can, of course, just knead it with your hands in shape. But in this case, it is unlikely that it will be possible to achieve a flat surface, and this will be ugly. Therefore, I advise you to roll out the dough first.

If there are no molds, you can cut with a curly pizza knife or regular squares or rectangles, chop and bake, and then use them as crackers. You will also get an original presentation for decorating the table.

We bake in the oven (be sure to preheat) at a temperature of about 180-190 degrees for 7 - 12 minutes. Each oven has its own characteristics, so if you bake for the first time, monitor the temperature and condition of the tartlets. As soon as they are covered with an even tan, take out and let cool slightly. And only after that, release them from the mold, after gently prying them off the walls with a knife.

Shortcrust pastry with sour cream

The dough with the addition of sour cream is softer and more pliable. It makes excellent shortbread cakes and biscuits. And you can also cook tender.

What do you need?

• Flour 180 grams;
• Butter 75 grams;
• Sugar or powdered sugar 50 grams;
• Sour cream 75 grams;
• The yolk of one egg.

As always, food must be refrigerated for better and proper mixing. Cut cold butter into cubes, add sifted flour and sugar. We rub quickly with our hands to crumbs. If you plan to bake cakes more than 1 centimeter high, add half a teaspoon of baking powder. Add yolk and sour cream to a cup with crumbly crumbs.

The main thing here is not to overdo it with kneading your hands. I usually take a piece of dough, squeeze it in my hands and throw it back into the cup. And I do this several times until it gathers into one lump. In this case, contact with the dough is minimal, which is required. I wrap the resulting lump in film and send it to the refrigerator for the winter. Shortcrust pastry with sour cream is ready to use in 20-40 minutes.

It will make excellent cookies or pies with berries or jam in your mouth.

Curd shortbread dough

Shortcrust pastry with the addition of cottage cheese is suitable for pies, cookies and cake layers. It is lighter and healthier than the classic recipe. I like the taste of cottage cheese in the mass. Moreover, the consistency of the dough depends on the granularity of the curd. If the cottage cheese is dry, then the dough absorbs less flour. If wet, then correspondingly more. Here you already need to look, and adjust the amount of flour during the cooking process.

So, what we need for shortbread and curd dough:

• Cottage cheese of any fat content 200 grams;
• Butter 120 grams;
• Sugar 50-70 grams, depending on your preference (sweeter or not);
• Flour 200-250 grams;
• Half a pack of baking powder;
• 1 egg;
• A pinch of salt.

Cooking process:

1. Cut the butter into pieces, hold in the refrigerator, and then mix with sugar;
2. Add the egg and stir again thoroughly but quickly;
3. In a cup, overturn the cottage cheese and knead the mass with a fork until smooth;
4. Pour in some flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt. Here already see, if the mass sticks strongly to your hands, then add more flour. You should get a homogeneous piece of dough;
5. Wrap in cellophane and refrigerate for storage.

Shortbread and curd dough is ready for creativity. What to cook from it is limited only by your imagination.

Shortcrust pastry preparation technology

To properly prepare the dough, you need to follow certain rules. Now we will consider them.

1. All food must be chilled. Only under this condition is the correct elastic dough obtained;
2. Use only quality products. You can replace butter with margarine, but I would not recommend it. The quality of margarine is inferior to butter;
3. You cannot knead the dough for a long time - it will become dense, it is more difficult to roll it out and in finished form it turns out to be tough and rough;
4. If the oil is shifted, then it will be melted and the products will turn out to be too crumbly. The same can happen if too much yolks are added to the mass;
5. Excessive amount of flour and water leads to a deterioration in the quality of the product - it becomes tight and non-plastic. I don't add water.
6. The dough should be rolled out from 3 mm to one centimeter thick. If thicker, add baking powder.
7. If the cake is burnt in places, then you rolled it unevenly;
8. For a more uniform structure, it is better to use powdered sugar instead of sugar;
9. Bake on a baking sheet on baking paper without greasing. There is plenty of fat in the dough.

If these simple requirements are met, you will always get shortbread dough, and you will delight your loved ones with homemade cakes, using not only the classic shortbread dough recipe, but all the options listed above. Soon I will tell you what you can cook from it. If you want to stay informed, subscribe to updates! I wish you a pleasant tea party!

Shortcrust pastry has long become a favorite product in many families. Despite the variety of pastries on store shelves, which are produced both by large confectionery factories and private mini-bakeries, homemade cookies are always tastier and better. The base for treats, that is, ready-made dough, can be easily purchased in stores. This simplifies the preparation of food, but, according to many caring mothers, it does not give confidence that baked goods can be offered to children without fear.

The history of the origin of shortbread dough goes back centuries. The first mention of it can be traced back to the 12th century, and English pastry chefs invented its recipe. At that time, products made from classic shortcrust pastry resembled crackers. The usual kind of delicacy for us from such a dough was acquired only when they began to add sour cream, chicken eggs and baking powder to the batch. Beautiful shortcrust pastries were also popular in Russia. An interesting fact: the famous culinary pastry chef of the 19th century Elena Molokhovets, in her book "A Gift to Young Housewives", devoted a whole section to creating all kinds of sweets, and actually making this delicious and simple dough, and in a wide variety of versions. Even then, shortcrust pastry products were popular and loved.

The shortbread dough got its name due to its structure. The classic version of the product looks something like the photo. Products from such a semi-finished product are crumbled into small crumbs, like real sand. According to GOST, a real sandy product consists of only three components, but recently this semi-finished product has been improved by chefs to obtain baked goods with new tastes and qualities. Real and false shortbread dough is a very high-calorie product, which, if consumed excessively, leads to an increase in body weight. But nevertheless, the well-known French nutritionist Pierre Dukan found a way out and in his famous system of proper nutrition told how to make an ideal dietary shortbread dough with a minimum of calories. By the way, it is this technique that has become a favorite among many chefs.

Soft and tender dough in supermarkets can be found in the form of frozen layers of various thicknesses wrapped in polyethylene. It is stored exclusively in refrigerators and looks more than attractive. But still, not everyone is willing to acquire it. The fact is that the price of the product, although not too high, still exceeds the cost of all the necessary ingredients. Homemade dough is cheaper and tastier because you can easily experiment with its composition.

Making the dough is not difficult, but it will take a little patience and knowledge of the specifics and technology of preparation. There are several secrets to getting a crumbly and truly shortbread dough, the essence of which we will definitely reveal in this article.

Composition and ingredients

The composition and ingredients of the shortcrust pastry vary depending on the types, varieties and classification of the product, as well as the technology for its preparation. Dough is distinguished by the following features:

• yeast and yeast-free;
• unleavened (unsweetened), salty and sweet;
• with and without animal fats (vegetarian);
• regular and gluten-free;
• classic (simple) and complex (sandy sour cream, sandy biscuit, sandy puff, sandy lemon, and others).

Dividing the dough by composition, one can distinguish the following varieties:

• saber - suitable for baking classic sand products;
• breeze - preparation without the use of sugar and other sweeteners;
• sucre is a fragile, sweet and very fatty product.

When classifying a product by ingredients, the following main subtypes of dough can be distinguished:

• sour cream;
• vanilla;
• curd;
• potato;
• chocolate;
• lean (no eggs and animal fat);
• cheese;
• nutty;
• apple;
• pumpkin;
• on beer.

The following are considered the basic recipes for preparing the workpiece:

1. French. It is used to knead dough for quiche (Laurent pie) - open baked goods with sweet berry or more hearty fillings of boiled eggs, fish or meat products.
2. Swiss. Perhaps this method is the simplest. This method of making shortbread dough is appreciated by vegetarians. It is prepared in a hurry and does not require knowledge of wisdom, and the ingredients for it are ice water, vegetable oil, salt and water. From such an instant dough, false puffs are obtained, inside which you can hide absolutely any filling.
3. Vienna. The dough using this technology is used to make the world-famous and beloved Viennese jam biscuits, as well as multilayer open cakes. Such a delicacy is served in pastry shops-cafes to the famous Viennese coffee or aromatic black tea.
4. Tatarskaya. Such a dough is used to bake a national pie bearing an unusual and very interesting name gubadiya.
5. Breton. The unusualness of the dough lies in the fact that it is cooked in fat and very cold milk, which is used instead of butter, and vinegar, chicken eggs and, separately, yolks must be added to it. The filling for the classic pie is steamed prunes.

All of the above methods for preparing dough are today the basic technologies for preparing shortcrust pastry, and are used by pastry chefs both on an industrial scale and in a home kitchen.

Main ingredients

The basic ingredients for the original recipe for the simple dough are wheat flour, granulated sugar, and butter. Flour must be of the highest grade, preferably beet sugar, and butter must be very fatty and must be very frozen.

Recently, chefs have used low-moisture margarine instead of butter for kneading, and wheat bakery flour is often replaced with whole grain flour. Most often, the dough is made with flour:

• rice;
• almond;
• peanut;
• oatmeal of fine and medium grinding, as well as on high quality flakes;
• rye.

In some types of shortcrust pastry, instead of flour, potato starch is required at all, and among the list of ingredients necessary for cooking in step-by-step recipes you can see:

• dairy and fermented milk products:
• milk;
• cream;
• sour cream;
• kefir;
• natural pure yogurt;
• condensed milk;
• cottage cheese and hard cheeses;
• water;
• cocoa powder and chocolate;
• cinnamon;
• walnuts and peanuts;
• icing sugar;
• baking powder, soda and yeast;
• beer;
• lard;
• chicken eggs and their yolks;
• natural honey;
• mayonnaise;
• citrus zest, most often lemons, oranges, tangerines.

A huge number and options for filling shortcrust pastry products allows you to easily and quickly diversify the menu even for the most inexperienced hostesses, and the sweets on the table will certainly delight households.

Cooking use

The use of shortcrust pastry in cooking can be found quite wide. Of course, all the dishes made from it are baked goods, but nevertheless, their assortment is simply huge. The blank is used to prepare all kinds of desserts and snacks, simple and complex, for example:

• cookies in the form:
• hearts;
• "Nuts" and "mushrooms" in molds;
• sticks and strips;
• droplets (kurabye) and "shells";
• "Chrysanthemum" (through the grill grill);
• rings and horseshoes;
• waffles;
• cheesecakes;
• ossnikov;
• biscuits;
• bagels;
• gingerbread;
• apple or pear share;
• buns;
• cupcakes;
• cakes, letters, figures and flowers for decoration, as well as "roses";
• baklava;
• kurnikov;
• lush puffs;
• sour cream;
• cottage cheese makers;
• strudel;
• fingers;
• rolls and "turbines";
• baskets with cream, meat pâté or julienne;
• pretzels;
• cheesecakes;
• shaneg;
• tartlets;
• open and closed pies;
• pies;
• samsa;
• tart with all kinds of fillings;
• tubules;
• croissants;
• whitewash tank;
• rolls;
• bases for canapes or pizza;
• koloboks or "peaches";
• envelopes and triangles with all kinds of fillings;
• cakes for cakes such as:
• curd "Napoleon";
• "Woodpile";
• "Hut";
• "Rotten tree stump";
• "Curly Vanka";
• "Artemon";
• "Anthill";
• pastries.

False gingerbread with multi-colored coating and pictures on their surface is baked from shortcrust pastry, and then Christmas cities are "built" from them. The most beautiful products are locks.

For filling and decorating shortcrust pastry products, the following are most often used:

• fruit:
• apples;
• pears;
• quince;
• berries and stone fruits:
• strawberries;
• lingonberries;
• currants;
• irgu;
• blueberries;
• viburnum;
• raspberries;
• cherries;
• blackberries;
• cherries;
• plums;
• apricots;
• peaches;
• raisins;
• dried apricots;
• prunes;
• citrus;
• figs;
• bananas;
• canned and fresh pineapples;
• jam;
• jams;
• sorrel;
• rhubarb;
• marmalade;
• jelly;
• carrot;
• pumpkin;
• cabbage;
• mashed potatoes;
• cottage cheese;
• protein and custard creams, pure or flavored;
• meringue;
• poultry and animal meat and offal (liver, for example);
• chicken pate;
• fish and canned fish from saury, mackerel, trout,
• hard, soft cheeses (for example, marscapone, feta cheese or mozzarella) and processed;
• glaze.

All of the listed ingredients can either be added after the dough has already been baked until half cooked or cooked, or participate in the baking process.

The dough itself can be divided by chefs according to the method of preparation. Most often, a product is classified as follows:

• dense or jellied;
• cooked "cold" or custard;
• chopped, grated, or whipped.

Depending on the technology and method of preparing the dough, baking powder, natural yeast and soda can be added to it. These components will not do much harm, but such cookies are hardly suitable for children. Caring mothers study many recipes and reviews on them, but often they cannot opt \u200b\u200bfor any one of the cooking options. We suggest trying a proven step-by-step recipe for baking delicious and healthy cookies for toddlers and never look for better options again. Read about this wonderful and simplest option in the next section.

And to all those who cook for older children, and also like to pamper their beloved men with sweets, we offer a video recipe for a delicious and very beautiful cake with a chocolate-nut filling. Such an unusually beautiful flower will decorate the table and will perfectly fit into the festive and everyday menu.

How to choose a quality product?

In this section of the article, we want to tell you how to choose a quality product on the shelves.

The first thing to pay attention to is the shelf life of the product. Naturally, the closer the date is to the time of its expiration, the less quality the baked goods from such a semi-finished product will be.

If the date suits you, then you should carefully examine the packaging. First of all, its integrity: the presence of punctures in the film may indicate inadequate quality. Then pay attention to the manufacturer: try to purchase blanks from manufacturers that indicate not only the composition and belonging to the quality certification system, but also do not hide the location of the production. Reputable manufacturers are always open to consumers.

Examine the product in the package carefully. The dough should be smooth, without inclusions (if they are not specified in the recipe), shiny and evenly cut. There should be no condensation, no mold, no darkened edges of the dough in the package.

If possible, try to buy a product with ingredients familiar to you in the composition, or even better, learn how to cook shortbread dough yourself!

How to make shortbread dough at home?

Making shortbread dough at home is actually very easy. In this section, we will try to reveal all the secrets and describe the most favorite methods of cooking. For convenience, classic and modified cooking methods are collected in separate subsections. And the first, of course, will be a story about a real, time-tested and hosted method. The following sections describe the methods and recipes for making mock dough, which is used to bake most of the tempting treats on store shelves. Do not forget to write down the recipe you like in your personal cookbook!

Classic dough

All three recipes described below refer to the classic kneading methods, and the dough does not contain eggs, milk, sour cream, or other fatty ingredients or baking powder. Our grandmothers baked cookies according to this recipe, and it is he who is the most common.

Immediately, we note that according to the first method, you will get an elastic and resilient dough, which can be rolled out into a thin layer without effort. In the second case, the dough will turn out to be liquid, and products from it are formed exclusively with the help of a confectionery syringe.

So, to knead the classic version of the cookie dough, you will need:

• one glass of wheat flour;
• one hundred and fifty grams of quality margarine or peasant butter;
• one tablespoon of ice water;
• one pinch of fine salt;
• a third of a glass of sugar or a quarter of a glass of powdered sugar.

Dough preparation consists of three main steps.

1. Quickly mix cold butter, salt and sugar. This is best done by grating the butter and adding small portions of granulated sugar. An important condition: the product must not "float". If you notice this, then immediately send the workpiece to the freezer, and then just proceed to the next step.
2. First add water to the butter-sugar mass, then flour, and then quickly knead the dough. Shortcrust pastry doesn't need to be kneaded, so don't put too much effort into it. Long kneading can cause the dough to thicken and the baked goods will be too dry.
3. Wrap the dough with cling film, then send the dough into the freezer for an hour, and after this time, divide it into pieces. Take them out of the refrigerator one at a time and roll them into a layer no more than 10 mm thick.

Use a cookie cutter or knife to cut out the cookies, and then proceed to the last step - baking. To do this, put the finished figures on a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake for fifteen to twenty minutes in an oven heated to one hundred and sixty degrees. The readiness of the product is determined by the bakedness of the dough, but do not expect the dough to brown! If you use a multicooker for baking, then do not close the lid on it too tightly. Ignoring this advice will lead to the fact that the gathering steam will not allow the workpiece to cook properly. Before serving or decorating baked goods, be sure to cool them down to room temperature!

But everyone's favorite "shells" or kurabye cookies cannot be made according to the above method, but all because they are squeezed onto a baking sheet from a pastry bag. This opportunity is provided by a dough that is more liquid in consistency, for the preparation of which cooks will need to have in stock:

• butter - 1 pack (200 grams);
• potato starch - four tablespoons;
• table salt - a pinch;
• granulated sugar - two-thirds of a glass;
• bakery flour of the highest grade - half a glass;
• vanilla sugar - 4 grams.

The dough kneading and subsequent shaping should be done according to the following algorithm:

1. Mix the butter with vanilla and regular sugar, and then beat with a mixer, whisk or blender until airy.
2. Mix flour and starch, and then add them to the sweet butter mass.
3. Turn the mixer or blender to low speed, and then knead the dough as thick as pancakes.
4. Put the finished dough in a pastry bag, and then place the cookies of the desired shape on a baking sheet with parchment.
5. At the end, the sheets with the blanks need to be taken out in the cold for one hour, and after the time has elapsed, they must be rearranged into an oven preheated to one hundred and eighty degrees Celsius.
6. Baking biscuits from liquid shortbread dough lasts no more than twenty-five minutes.

Take note that the finished baking is not removed from the parchment until it cools down, and its decoration begins no earlier than an hour after removing it from the paper. Decent quality cookies according to this recipe will also be obtained when using buckwheat, coconut, corn or rice flour.

The third among the basic recipes for making shortbread dough, as promised, is an easy-to-use and generally uncomplicated recipe for a gluten-free "baby" dough. It is prepared without flour familiar to many. For one serving of healthy, lean yet tender dough, you need to prepare:

• vegetable (sunflower, corn or olive) oil - 100 ml;
• icing sugar - 100 grams;
• gluten-free flour - 300 grams;
• lemon juice - 2 tablespoons.

The process of making healthy baked goods is, of course, lengthy, at first glance, but not complicated.

The first thing to do is freeze the vegetable oil in the freezer. To achieve the desired consistency of the product, it is enough to keep it in the cold for eight hours. I would like to say that vegetable oil never freezes completely, so don't expect it to become a solid lump.

The most crucial step is mixing the powdered sugar with the thickened vegetable oil. This must be done very quickly so that the oil does not return to its previous consistency. At the end of mixing, half the measured amount of flour should be added to the resulting mass in fractional parts and the dough is not cool. The last step in kneading the dough is adding lemon juice, remaining flour and kneading the finished product.

The beauty and distinguishing feature of this dough preparation method is that it does not need to be proofed. That is why the finished dough is immediately cut, rolled out, figures are cut out and placed in the oven to bake. The finished treat is cooled and stored in paper bags. These cookies are suitable for the diet of diabetics, as well as those who have decided to adhere to dietary restrictions on religious days.

Regarding whether it is possible to knead not by hand, I would like to note that neither a kneading machine, nor a blender bowl, nor a combine, nor a bread maker are suitable for making a real dough.

Recently, more and more often you can hear the statement that shortbread dough can be prepared without oil. In fact, this opinion is erroneous, because only butter, be it butter or vegetable, makes it possible to give a recognizable structure to baked goods, and it cannot be replaced in the recipe with cream, milk, sour cream, or any other high-fat dairy products. An alternative might be mayonnaise or lard. Products based on these ingredients can have a specific flavor, and the dough itself is most often used to make snack pies or muffins with savory filling. It is also kneaded with minimal or no sugar.

Butter dough

Butter shortbread dough in its composition contains components used when kneading dough for ordinary oven pies and cake layers. Without fail, such a dough contains:

• chicken eggs and separately the yolks - three and two, respectively;
• butter in half with lard - only two hundred grams;
• salt - a pinch;
• powdered sugar - half a glass;
• flour - three glasses;
• baking powder or baking soda - one teaspoon.

The kneading technique is slightly different from the one described above. When making such a test, proceed as follows:

1. The butter heated to room temperature is ground with chicken eggs kept warm for an hour, powdered sugar, and then the yolks are added.
2. The flour is mixed with baking soda or baking powder, and then added in small portions to the butter-egg mixture.
3. The finished compacted dough is wrapped in foil and placed in the refrigerator for proofing, after which small pieces are separated and products of the desired shape are made.

The dough prepared according to this method is very elastic and pleasant to the touch, but it should not stay warm for a long time, so the baking sheet with the products is placed in the oven without delay and kept there at a temperature of about one hundred and eighty degrees Celsius for twenty minutes. I would like to draw the attention of readers that dough products of this method of preparation differ in some characteristic features, for example, they are always ruddy, and also remain soft for a long time after baking..

Custard

Another of the unusual types of shortcrust pastry is its brewed version. Such a product is used for making pies and closed pies. Even the most inexperienced housewives will master this kneading method, and often this particular cooking option becomes a favorite with many for many years.

For a portion of dough, which will make twelve small pies, you will need:

• bakery flour - 350 grams;
• creamy margarine - 200 grams;
• granulated sugar - 3-4 tablespoons;
• water - 5 tablespoons;
• sunflower oil - 4 tablespoons;
• salt to taste.

Brewing and subsequent kneading of the dough must be carried out in the same container, therefore it is advisable to choose a vessel with wide edges that can be heated on the stove.

1. Boil water, and then add a pinch of salt and a standard of granulated sugar to it and dissolve them. After that, carefully pour the vegetable oil into the water and put the margarine grated on a coarse grater there.
2. Bring the water to a boil with constant stirring.
3. Wait until the margarine is completely dissolved, and then start kneading. To do this, in fractional parts, add flour to boiling water (without removing the container from the fire).
4. Stir the dough with a spoon until the spoon rotates, then remove the bowl from the stove.
5. Add the rest of the flour to the mass and knead the firm dough with your hands.
6. Put the workpiece on the table, crush it without flour, and then cover it with a dry towel. Soak the dough until it cools, and then roll it out and shape the products into the desired shape.
7. When finished making the selected flour products, bake them immediately.

In order for, for example, pies from such a dough to turn out shiny, before placing in the oven, be sure to grease them with the yolk of a chicken egg, beaten with a few drops of vegetable oil..

According to Ducan's recipe

The dough prepared according to Ducan's recipe is nothing supernatural. Baking from it can be made both ordinary white and colored. To obtain the desired color, natural dyes are added to the dough: carrot juice, beet juice or decoction, cocoa powder and other ingredients that can add color.

To prepare three servings of cookies, you will need to mix oat and wheat bran with milk powder, salt and baking powder, and then combine them with cottage cheese, chicken egg and yolk. After that, with wet hands, you need to form a dense dough, wrap it in foil and send it for a couple of hours in the cold. You need to roll out such dough in a film, because it sticks strongly to the rolling pin, and you cannot use flour for dusting.

The proportions of the ingredients are as follows:

• oat bran - 8 tablespoons;
• wheat bran - 2 tablespoons;
• chicken egg (40 grams) - 1 piece;
• chicken egg yolk - 1 piece;
• cottage cheese - 70 grams;
• baking powder - 2 teaspoons;
• salt to taste.

This dough can be used to bake vegetable pizza, tart with berry fillings, tartlets and even delicate baskets with protein cream.

How to cut?

We will tell you how to properly cut the dough for baking in this small section of the article. As such, products from real and false shortbread dough are not subject to sculpting. One of the basic methods of dough cutting is already described in the section above, but it only applies to liquid product. For a semi-finished product that is standard in consistency, the preparation of the dough before baking consists in rolling out and forming the products of the desired shape and size.

The following devices are currently used:

• molds of various themes: stars, crescents, animals, flowers, cars and others;
• a curly knife that allows you to quickly create regular geometric shapes with wavy or zigzag edges;
• a meat grinder with a regular or shaped grate-attachment.

When rolling, be sure to dust the table with flour, otherwise the dough will stick and tear. The thickness of the rolling depends not only on the desired result. A real classic dough should never be set aside more than one centimeter thick, while sour cream or sandy yeast should not be made too thin.

Kneading and rolling out the shortcrust pastry does not take much time. That is why it is most often prepared at home. Particular attention should be paid to the fact that when using molds, they should be placed as close as possible to each other when cutting. Otherwise, you will have to collect the remains many times, crumple and roll them out. As a result, each subsequent batch of finished baked goods will become more dense, and the cookies themselves will become hard and will not melt in your mouth.

How to store shortbread dough?

How to store shortbread dough is probably interesting for many novice confectioners to know. We note right away that there are no difficulties in this. Any of the subtypes of the product must be kept cold. That is why the finished dough, rolled into layers, is stored in refrigerators in grocery stores. Even yeast slows down in coolness, and after getting into the heat, they easily restore their qualities.

The best way to preserve the shortbread dough for a long time is to freeze the product to a temperature of minus eighteen degrees Celsius, which corresponds to the marking of three snowflakes. With constant cold and humidity, the product can be stored for about six months.

You should know and remember that defrosted dough should be used immediately, because repeated freezing will worsen the quality of the finished product, and the dough itself will become tough and too elastic.

Homemade dough can be stored both in layers (as in the store) and in portions. A mandatory requirement is to wrap the workpiece with several layers of cling film, which helps prevent the outer layer of the semi-finished product from drying out.

If the hostess does not intend to store the dough for a long time, then you should know that the dough will be suitable for baking for three days, provided that it lies in a plastic bag on the top shelf of the refrigerator.

How to fix shortbread dough?

How to fix shortbread dough? This is a fairly common question, the answer to which is needed not only for young cooks, but also for quite experienced housewives.

Let's start in order, and for convenience we will arrange the existing knowledge in the form of a small plate.

Another question regarding why the finished dough is bitter does not give rest to many chefs. We will answer it too. This happens very rarely and happens due to the inability to choose the right ingredients. Always remember that only fresh ingredients are needed to make a great dough: flour, butter, sour cream and other products. Also, always pay attention to the amount of vanillin in the recipe, which is used to give the baked goods a pleasant aroma, and in no case do not put more of it than you should. Be aware that if you overdose on this flavoring, you run the risk of getting bitter cookies.

Benefit and harm

The benefits and harms of shortcrust pastry are due to the composition of the product. A variety of recipes with a variety of components allows you to saturate the human body with vitamins and trace elements contained in the original ingredients.

Shortcrust pastry is very high in calories and therefore, if consumed uncontrolled, can lead to rapid weight gain. A large amount of sugar can cause diabetes mellitus, and a high fat content of the product negatively affects the work of the gallbladder and intestines.

In general, shortcrust pastry baking is an excellent solution for family tea drinking, especially if it is prepared with your own hands. And yet, cutting out cookies from such a delicate material is a wonderful opportunity to keep your favorite fidgets for a long time!

I love and often make shortbread cookies and shortbread dough pies. Traditionally, margarine or butter is used for their preparation. I respect the latter very much and, moreover, I love it. But if you often cook on it, it will be a bit fat (in every sense of the word). Much has been said about margarine and spreads, but I think it is useful to remind you that the transgenic fats they contain lead to an increase in the level of "bad" cholesterol in the blood, disrupt the normal functioning of cell membranes, contribute to the development of vascular diseases, etc. Therefore, I completely excluded these "products" from my kitchen. And now I make shortbread dough in vegetable oil. It is completely safe, tasty and healthy. And what is important, even cheaper and faster than with margarine! And a few more words about margarine. Margarine lovers are more likely to develop angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, arrhythmias and heart failure. It was invented in France to feed the army and the poor - a cheap product for sandwiches and frying. All this happened at the end of the century before last, people had different ideas about food and life. I want to warn you that products made from this dough are A LITTLE tougher than those made from margarine or butter, but is it worth ruining your vessels for the sake of a little difference ???

A novice cook often faces such a problem: he wants to make a cake or cookies, opens a recipe book, and there it says: "Knead shortbread dough out of two eggs, one hundred grams of butter, two tablespoons of sugar and 150 g of flour." A novice cook starts to follow the recipe, throws everything into one bowl, and it turns out some kind of nonsense. The dough does not knead, but becomes hard when baked. And all because the authors writing cookbooks for some reason believe that a person is born with full knowledge of what the technology of making shortbread dough is. But this is a kind of skill that should be mastered. And this article will help all beginners to knead correctly.It can be of two types. And we will tell you in detail how they differ and how to prepare them. We will also reveal some of the subtleties and secrets of preparing this base for cakes, cookies and pastries.

A bit of history

Dough products appeared at the very dawn of the Neolithic revolution, when mankind had just mastered the cultivation and use of cereals. The grains were ground with a hand millstone, a little water was added to the powder ... It is believed that the first flour products were similar to dumplings. But the technology for making shortbread dough is not so ancient. It is assumed that the first products from it were baked in the Persian Gulf region. The crusaders who fought in Palestine for the Holy Sepulcher brought to Europe a recipe for making shortbread dough, as well as a fork and other benefits of civilization. Cookies made from this base quickly gained popularity. And the name of the dough - shortbread - was given by French chefs. Indeed, the consistency of the finished product is crumbly, fragile. You bite off a piece, and it crumbles into small "grains of sand" in your mouth. It is shortbread cookies that are served for traditional English tea at five o'clock in the afternoon. And now we will learn how to cook it.

Ingredients

The technology for preparing products from shortcrust pastry is quite simple. Everyone can do it, even a novice cook. But there are also several secrets that you need to know in order for the dough to turn out to be really crumbly, sandy. We have already said that it is divided into two types. The first is a shortbread dough. For its preparation, only the so-called basic products are used. These are flour, fats (butter, margarine), sugar and a little salt. To achieve the splendor of the products, another baking powder (soda, ammonium) is added. Sand dough has a thinner consistency. For its preparation, in addition to basic products, eggs and (sometimes) sour cream are also used. Of course, it is possible and even necessary to add different seasonings to shortbread dough of both types. These can be chocolate pieces, cocoa powder, ginger, raisins, nuts, cinnamon, vanilla, grated lemon zest, and more.

Secrets of preparing ingredients

As we already said, the technology for making shortbread dough is quite simple. But she also has her secrets. The first concerns the temperature regime. If you knead shortbread dough in a hot, heated kitchen, you will not get a quality product. Indeed, it is based on fats. They melt from high temperatures. And we just don't need this. Therefore, it is important to prepare the dough in a room where the temperature does not exceed eighteen degrees. Next is flour. For a good yeast dough, it should be with a lot of gluten, and for shortbread, on the contrary, with a small amount. But since in our conditions one does not have to choose much, we will restrict ourselves to buying white wheat flour of the highest quality. The oil should be very cold, but not from the freezer. For best results, margarine should also be used. The ratio of fat should be one to one. For baked goods to literally melt in your mouth, you must first turn into powder. Eggs and sour cream, if we use them, must also be cold.

Shortcrust pastry: product preparation and technology

The main focus of kneading is mixing the fat and flour as quickly as possible. Therefore, the first thing we do is prepare bulk products. We want the flour to be coated in fat. Then the gluten contained in it will not be able to come out, and the dough will not come out elastic like yeast. Therefore, the flour must first be sifted into a deep bowl through a fine sieve. Next, you should add other bulk ingredients: icing sugar, salt, for cookies or soda with ammonia). If the recipe relies on cocoa powder, vanillin, cinnamon, grated ginger and other similar components, we will also add them at this stage. Mix all the loose ingredients. We take cold and hard butter with margarine (or quickly and quickly rub them on a coarse grater. Mix these chips with your fingers with flour. We work until the whole bowl is filled with so-called bread crumbs.

Shortcrust pastry: recipe and cooking technology

Of course, each product has its own set of products and their quantity. Here you have to rely on the recipe. But still there is a certain formula for the perfect shortbread dough. It lies in the proportions of the base products. In general, flour should go twice as much as fat. But you should not pour it all into a bowl at once. Let's leave some of it for the next batch. At the first stage, we put the basic products in the bowl in the following proportions: for three hundred grams of flour - two hundred butter with margarine and one hundred powdered sugar. Even in sweet products, do not forget to add a pinch of salt. So that the dough does not come out "clogged", pour in a little soda and ammonium - literally on the tip of a knife, otherwise the products will get an unpleasant odor. Now it is important for us to achieve kneading to a measure of elastic dough. The fat begins to melt, and the bread crumbs easily stick together. We roll the bun around the bowl and knead it with our hands. All bread crumbs should be included in the dough.

What is important to know when mixing

The temperature regime is very important at this stage as well. If the temperature in the room is below fifteen degrees, we will stop at the "bread crumbs" stage, since the fats will remain solid. And if the thermometer in the kitchen is above twenty-five, the butter will melt and stand out from the total mass of food. At the same time, it is important for us to prepare the shortcrust pastry quickly and thoroughly. Reviews of experienced chefs are advised to put a cutting board in the refrigerator in advance and prepare a container of ice water, where you should lower your palms from time to time. We take out the bun from the bowl. We transfer it to a chopping board sprinkled with flour. We knead with our hands quickly and vigorously, rolling the edges inside the bun. The dough should be smooth, elastic, but matte. If the bun is shiny, then the butter has melted too much. To fix this, put the dough in the refrigerator.

Rolling out

At this stage, the same requirements are met as for mixing. That is cool temperature and speed. The kolobok pulled out of the refrigerator should be slightly wrinkled with your hands. But the longer you knead the shortbread dough, the harder the product will become. Sprinkle flour on the board. We put the dough in its center, giving it the shape of a brick. We take out the rolling pin from the refrigerator. Roll out from the center to the edges. At the same time, we move the rolling pin from and to ourselves at a right angle, turning the board in a circle. The technology for preparing shortcrust pastry dishes is such that we need to roll out a rather thin layer. These are not biscuit cakes, or pies. The layer of rolled shortcrust pastry should not exceed eight millimeters in height.

How to make sandy dough

As we remember, liquid products such as eggs and sour cream are added to this second type of base for cakes, pastries and cookies. Sometimes, if the dough is too steep and does not roll out well, cracks, add a little water. But it spoils the taste of the baked goods. The technology for preparing sand dough of the jigging type is not much different from the one described above. When we achieve "bread crumbs", enter the amount of eggs and sour cream indicated in the recipe. Knead until an elastic bun is obtained. If it is slightly shiny, this is not a problem. Transfer the dough to a floured board and continue kneading there. It's important not to overdo it with eggs. Proteins can make foods hard. Therefore, it is better to limit yourself to yolks alone. Sour cream, as additional fat, gives the dough additional tenderness and crispiness. This ingredient should be of high quality, very thick.

Baking products

The oven must be preheated to the temperature indicated in the recipe. If we make grooves, we cut a layer of dough. We transfer the blanks to a baking sheet covered with cooking paper. The thinner the dough layer, the higher the temperature and the shorter the cooking time. Accordingly, the higher the cake, the colder the oven should be. We check the readiness of such products with a match: if the splinter comes out dry, it's done. The technology for making shortcrust pastry cakes allows the use of metal or silicone baskets. The surface of such products must be pricked in several places with a fork so that it does not swell. Bake cakes and cookies until golden brown.

Sand cakes

These products require liquid ingredients. The technology for making cakes from shortcrust pastry involves the use of milk. A full glass of this product will require three hundred grams of flour, 180 g of butter, 100 g of powdered sugar, two eggs, 10 g of baking powder and a pinch of salt. If desired, you can add two handfuls of raisins, vanilla, grated lemon zest, dried apricots, prunes cut into pieces into the dough. We start work with mixing bulk products. Then add the chopped cold oil. We achieve "bread crumbs". Add eggs and milk to a bowl. Beat the mass. Add raisins or other groceries. Beat again to oxygenate the dough. Pour into a muffin tin. We put in an oven preheated to one hundred and ninety degrees. We bake for about forty minutes.