Which pastry should I use for which job?

Shortcrust, puff, filo, choux and hot water crust compared by what each is structurally, and what each is therefore good at.

Difficulty: beginner
Time: 5 min
Read: 3 min

Short answer

Shortcrust for anything that must hold a filling. Puff for lids, wraps and anything that should rise. Filo for crisp light layers. Choux for hollow buns. Hot water crust for standing pies you slice cold.

Pastries are different structures, not different recipes for the same thing. Once you know what each one is doing physically, choosing between them stops being a matter of taste.

Shortcrust, puff and filo compared in cross-section

Step by step

Use shortcrust when the pastry has to support something.Fat is rubbed into flour so it coats the grains and blocks gluten, giving a short, crumbly, strong-enough shell. Quiches, tarts, pie bases, pasties.
Use sweet shortcrust for dessert tarts.Pâte sucrée — shortcrust with sugar and egg yolk. Sturdier and biscuit-like, so it holds a wet filling such as lemon or frangipane without softening.
Use puff when you want lift.Layers of dough and butter; steam forces them apart. Pie lids, sausage rolls, tarte tatin, vol-au-vents, palmiers. It is a poor choice for a tart base, which needs to stay put.
Use filo when you want crisp without weight.Separate paper-thin sheets brushed with fat. It crisps rather than rises. Strudel, baklava, spanakopita, light pie toppings.
Use choux for hollow shells.A cooked paste with a very high water content that steams itself into a balloon. Profiteroles, éclairs, gougères. It is not a lining pastry at all.
Use hot water crust for raised pies.Flour with boiling water and lard, worked warm and moulded by hand. Strong, waterproof and eaten cold — pork pies and game pies.
Match the pastry to the filling's wetness.Wet fillings need shortcrust blind-baked, or a hot tray underneath. Filo and puff both collapse under a wet filling unless it is cooked down first.
Be honest about what to buy.Puff and filo are worth buying ready-made — homemade puff is a project. Shortcrust takes ten minutes and homemade is genuinely better than shop-bought.

Tips

Buy puff and filo, make shortcrust. That is the sensible division of effort.
Every pastry hates warmth except choux and hot water crust, which are made warm on purpose.
If the filling is wet, blind-bake or use heat from below whatever the pastry.

Common mistakes

Using puff pastry to line a tart tin — Puff is engineered to rise, so it lifts away from the tin, distorts the case and gives an uneven base that cannot hold a set filling neatly. Shortcrust is designed to stay where it is put.
Putting a wet filling straight onto filo — Filo has no fat or structure to resist moisture, so it goes limp within minutes. Reduce the filling first or line the base with breadcrumbs to absorb liquid.

If it doesn't work

Tart case distorted

Cause: Puff used instead of shortcrust — Fix: Use shortcrust for lined cases, blind-baked with beans up the sides.

Filo topping soggy

Cause: Wet filling underneath — Fix: Cook the filling down first, and scatter breadcrumbs between filling and pastry.

Shortcrust tough

Cause: Overworked or too much water — Fix: Handle it as little as possible, keep everything cold and rest it before rolling.

Choux collapsed

Cause: Oven opened, or underbaked — Fix: Keep the door shut and bake until deep golden and hollow-sounding.

Questions people ask

What is rough puff and when should I use it?

A quicker puff made by folding butter into dough in a few turns rather than laminating properly. It rises about two-thirds as much as full puff and takes about a quarter of the time, which is a good trade for pie lids and sausage rolls.

Can I substitute one pastry for another?

Within limits. Puff can replace shortcrust on a pie lid but not in a tart case. Filo can replace puff as a topping but not as a wrap. Shortcrust cannot replace either where lift or crispness is the point.