This is the basic pastry recipe that I use for quiches. It can also be used for sweet pies, just add a teaspoon or two of sugar in to the dough. Using a food processor makes forming the dough really easy and quick. After forming the dough you should let it rest in the fridge for at least half an hour, up to a day. It can also be frozen at that point, you just have to defrost it in the fridge so that the butter in the dough doesn’t melt. When blind baking the pastry it should become crispy from the bottom and start to lightly brown from the sides.

• 210g flour
• 100g butter
• 2-3 tbsp cold water
• pinch of salt

1. Cut butter in to cubes and throw in to the freezer for a little while.
2. Combine everything except the water in a bowl and using your hands pinch the butter to combine it with the flour. You want to have a rough texture, with some small pieces of butter still intact
3. Add enough water for the dough to start coming together. It’s important for the water to be cold, because we don’t want the butter to melt.
4. Tip the dough onto a clean work surface and knead lightly.
5. Form into a thick disc, wrap in cling film and let rest in fridge for at least half an hour.
6. Lightly flower your work surface and begin rolling out your dough. You want the dough to be large enough to hang over the sides of your tin.
7. Poke some holes into the bottom so that it doesn’t swell up when you bake it.
8. Blind bake with pie weights for 15 minutes at 200°C. Remove the weights and bake for another 10 minutes.