Flaky Pastry

This might sound complicated to make but once you get used to where to put the butter and the folding, it’s really very easy. I used this to top my Chicken Thigh Pie.


Ingredients for the Flaky Pastry:

• 100g plain flour
• 38g cold butter
• 38g cold lard
• 4-5 Tablespoons water

Directions for the Flaky Pastry:

1. Sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl, then add half the butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Add 4 Tablespoons of water to the mixture and blend lightly together with a palette knife. If the mixture isn’t coming together easily and there are dry bits in the bottom of the bowl then add more water a ½ Tablespoon at a time (there are many factors that affect pastry-making, so only use measurements as a guide).
3. Once you can bring the mixture together with your hands into a soft but not sticky dough, then you can roll it out into a long rectangle, about 30cm long, onto a lightly floured board until it is about 5mm thick.
4. Mark the rectangle of the dough into thirds, without cutting all the way through.
5. Dot the top two thirds with half of the lard, then fold the bottom third up to cover the middle third.
6. Fold the top third down to enclose all the fat. You should now have a small rectangle.
7. Using your rolling pin, seal the edges by pressing down firmly. Give the pastry a quarter turn clockwise.
8. Roll again to form a long rectangle and repeat steps 4 to 6 but this time use the remaining butter.
9. Fold and roll again, but this time use the remaining lard.
10. Fold and roll for the last time without any fat being added.
11. Cover the pastry with cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes in the fridge before using.

* I thought a diagram would be useful so here are my best efforts using Photoshop and Steve’s help! (click to enlarge):