Why is my pastry tough or shrinking?
Overworking, warmth and no resting — the three causes of tough, shrunken pastry, and how to avoid each.
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Time
- 20 min
- Read
- 2 min
Short answer
Handle it as little as possible, keep everything cold, and rest it in the fridge before baking. Toughness comes from developed gluten and shrinkage comes from stretched pastry relaxing in the oven.
Pastry wants the opposite treatment to bread. Bread needs gluten developed; pastry needs it left alone. Almost every pastry fault comes from working the dough too much, or from it being too warm when it goes in.
Step by step
- Keep everything cold.Cold butter, cold water, cold hands if you can. Warm butter blends into the flour instead of staying in pieces, which is what gives flakiness.
- Handle it as little as possible.Rub or cut the butter in until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs, then stop. Bring it together with as few movements as you can manage.
- Use as little water as it needs.Add it a spoonful at a time until the dough just comes together. Excess water develops gluten and makes it tough.
- Rest it in the fridge before rolling.At least 30 minutes. The gluten relaxes and the butter re-firms. Skipping this is the main cause of tough pastry.
- Roll gently, and do not stretch it.Lift and turn rather than pulling. Pastry stretched into the tin will contract back in the oven — that is exactly what shrinking is.
- Rest it again after lining the tin.Another 20-30 minutes in the fridge once it is in the tin. This is the step that prevents shrinkage more than any other.
- Bake blind properly.Baking paper and beans or rice, filling the tin fully to support the sides. Underfilled beans let the sides slump.
Tips
- A food processor makes shortcrust reliably, precisely because it handles the dough less than hands do. Pulse rather than run it.
- Leave a slight overhang when lining a tin and trim it after baking. Pastry contracts slightly no matter what.
- Bought pastry is genuinely good and nobody will know. It is a reasonable choice when the filling is the point.
If it doesn't work
Tough and hard when baked
Cause: Overworked, or too much water — Fix: Handle less and add water sparingly. Rest before rolling.
Shrinks down the sides in the oven
Cause: Stretched when lining, or not rested — Fix: Ease it into the tin rather than pulling, and chill it in the tin before baking.
Greasy and heavy
Cause: Butter melted into the flour before baking — Fix: Keep everything colder and work faster. Chill the mixture if it warms.
Soggy base
Cause: Not baked blind, or wet filling added to raw pastry — Fix: Blind bake, and brush the base with egg white to seal it before filling.
Questions people ask
Why does my pastry shrink in the tin?
It was stretched while being lined, and then relaxed back in the oven. Ease it in gently and chill it in the tin for half an hour before baking.
Can I fix tough pastry?
Not once it is baked. Next time handle it less, use less water, and rest it in the fridge before and after rolling.