Pastry made Easy for RSG
Posted on May 1, 2013 by nerinatimm in beef, rsg
Pastry is a problem for so many cooks and again this weekend at the SA Cheese Festival, I was asked so many times, what the secret to good pastry is! My answer is simple: Know the basic stuff and you are halfway there.
Pastry making does not have to be that difficult. As with so many other processes, life is to short to sweat about stuff. I will show you the easy pastry recipes, the recipes that will make your life easier, not more difficult. O f course we all want to, at some stage, try our hand at the integrate processes of real puff pastry, but I am talking about life here…… mom comes home at 5 and has to serve supper at 6. Yes, you can stop at the shop and buy some puff pastry… or you can make your own. It cost less and it tastes way better!
The cottage cheese recipe was given to me yesterday in a coffee shop by my dear friend and chair lady of the Fynproewersgulde, Retha Cronje. I made little Spanish Empanadas with the pastry today and it was delicious. Flaky, crumbly and rich pastry, just the way I like it. So in this post I will aim to share a whole variety of easy pastry recipes. Recipes that have been passed down through generations on little scraps of paper. I love those recipes, because they work.
First recipe for pastry has to be our “Slap Degie vir menige gebruik” ( Soft all-purpose batter)
Slap Degie
Ingredients
250 ml self-raising flour
1 egg
125 ml milk
125 ml vegetable oil
salt/pepper
Method
Place flour in a mixing bowl. Break egg in a cup, fill halfway with milk and then to the top with oil. Beat the egg, milk and oil mixture and add to the flour. Use this batter/pastry to cover sweet or savory pies.
Easy Puff-pastry
Ingredients
550 g flour
500 g butter
5 ml cream of tartar
5 ml salt
250 ml boiling water
Method
Place the flour and cream of tartar in a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into cubes and pour the boiling water over it and allow to melt to lumpy consistency. Pour over the flour and mix. The mixture will look like thick sour milk, but just pour it out onto some cling film, cover and leave in fridge until set, a few hours. Roll out and use as needed.
Gluten-free Almond Pastry
Ingredients
500 ml ground macadamia nuts (or almonds )
45 ml butter
1 egg
½ t salt
½ t dry mustard
Method
Place all the ingredients for the crust in a food processor and mix well. Press the dough into a 23cm loose bottom tart pan and make holes in the pastry with a fork. Place in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180 C and bake the tart crust until lightly browned. Refrigerate.
Choux Pastry
Ingredients
250 ml boiling water
125 ml butter
250 ml cake flour
3 jumbo eggs or 4 large
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Prepare a baking sheet by spraying it with non-stick spray or lining it with baking paper. Boil the water in a small pot and add the butter and allow to melt. Add all the cake flour in at once and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes away from the sides of the pot. Remove from the heat and place the mixture in the bowl of your mixer. Beat the flour mixture for about 1 minute so that it can cool and then add the eggs one by one, beating in between each addition of eggs. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag and pipe 10cm long choux buns on the baking paper. Bake for 25 minutes, remove from the oven and make a small cut on the side of each choux bun to release the steam. Place back in the oven, with heat now reduced to 160C. Bake for another 5 minutes or until choux buns have now hardened. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
Sweet Short Crust Pastry
Ingredients
300 g(2 cups) self-raising flour
50 g caster sugar
125 g butter – cold and cubed
3 extra large egg yolks
Ice water
Method
Place flour and sugar into a food processor and pulse until mixed. Add the butter cubes and pulse a few times to cut the butter into the flour mixture. Beat the egg yolks and add it to flour mixture. Pulse a few more times until the dough starts to form a ball. Add a little ice water if too stiff. Remove from the processor and throw out on a floured surface. Bring together with your hands and cover with cling film. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
Cottage Cheese Pastry
Ingredients
250 ml cottage cheese
250 ml butter – room temperature
250 ml flour
Method
Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it comes together in a ball. Press into a flat disc and cover with cling film. Keep in refrigerator until needed.
Tomorrow morning just after the 9 o’clock news, I will be back in my seat at RSG studios, chatting to you about easy pastry recipes. I will also in weeks to come take you into the kitchens of other bloggers, chefs and interesting South Africans this year. So buckle up, it is going to be an awesome ride. Tune in 100-104FM or listen online here!
Great stuff Nina, having all these wonderful pastries on hand like thsi
Nina Baie dankie vir die lekker deeg resepies hoe lank moet die slap deegie in die oond wees en teen watter grade,asook die deegie wat jy vandag op RSG gegee het om pies mee te maak
Hello Jacqueline, baie dankie dat jy luister! Ek bak maar die slap degie op 180 C vir so 30-35 minute, hang af hoe dik dit is. Ek hoop jy kom reg!!
My plesier, ek doen mos maar alles op 180 C, maar miskien kan jy die pasteie op 200 C doen!
My pleasure!
Thanks for recipes. Do you have a recipe for Wheat free bread? I bought some wheat free ingredients including pea,rice and maize. Thanks
I will have to do some research for you, just give me some time, ok!
Can I have the recipe for spanish Empanades, thank you very much
Thank you Liz, I just browned some onion, peppers with cumin and smoked paprika and then the meat. Added stock and a little tomato paste. Lastly added some frozen vegetables……I’m afraid I don’t have a proper recipe.
Thanks a lot nina. You’re making my life easier. I’ve always have had a hard time with pastry.
My pleasure Jeff!
ek het vandag na jou geluister op rsg.Dankie vir die vinnige deeg resepte help my baie. Soek al lankal na so ‘n deeg resep,baie dankie
Groot plesier!
Baie dankie vir die slapdeegresep!Het bestuur en kon toe nie die ander deegresep volg nie.Kan jy my se waar ek dit kan kry?Lekker dag!
Al die resepte wat ek gelees het is hierbo!
Wow Nina!!! I’ve tried some of your recipes n they divine.
Thanks, Nina! Great to have all the pastry recipes!
Van ek die eerste keer die pof deeg gemaak het,het ek altyd in my vrieskas en gebruik dit vir alles.Ek het n wonderwerk geleer en die resep is so kort jy gee dit uit jou kop vir die volgende Kokkedoor
Nina, die Sweet Short Crust Pastry kan ‘n mens dit vries?
Ek dink ‘n mens kan dit beslis vries!
Middag Nina, net ‘n navraag oor jou roomkaasdegie – die resep sê 250 ml meel. Is dit gewone of bruismeel want ek sien geen bakpoeier op die bestandele lysie nie
Hello Tienie, dit is gewone meel!
Ek sukkel om die resep te kry waar jy vrugtekoek mengsel en neute met roomys meng en bolletjies maak en dan sjokolade bo oor. Jy het ‘ n wek gegee maar ek het nie mooi geluister nie. Ek kry nie die sjokolade om die balletjies nie
thats very yummy !
Dankie vir die resepte Nina.
Hallo Nerina.
Ek luister gelowig na jou resepte op RSG. As ek een moet mis, kuier ek op jou blog.
Ek is op soek na n baie ou deeg resep, miskien kan jy help. Dit is n warm deeg resep, amper op dieselfde metode as choux deeg. Ouma het dit altyd gebruik vir haar hoenderpastytjies.
s
ohh I’m starving to death now.