Bursting Pasties

[wallie]

Has anyone tips on preventing cornish pasties from bursting while cooking?
I use an ordinary shortcrust pastry similar to Wheels cornish pasty's I let it rest in the fridg after making it.
I make a filling of small diced rump, potatoes, onion and turnip. (no liquid)
I roll the pastry into circles and let them rest then fill with the meat mixture, not too full though.
Eggwash then bake at 150C.
I have also tried them with and without vent holes in the top.
Any ideas from members welcome.

wallie

[jenny_haddow]

Do you brush the edges to be sealed with water before joining them? This combined with a good pinch while joining should work.

Cheers

Jen

[wallie]

Hi Jen
Yes I eggwash the edges before joining then crimp them pretty tight.

wallie

[wheels]

Wallie

Are they coming apart at the seam, or are they getting holes in the pastry?

Phil

[wallie]

Cracks in the tops of the pasties.
I baked 6 and 4 of them cracked in the top and juices leaked out.

wallie

[wheels]

Wallie

I find that if I make 'good' shortcrust I get holes in it, or it crumbles. I tend to add more water than I normally would, and even a squeeze of lemon. I don't rest the pastry after working it, so it's stretchy from the gluten. I crimp on the side, but not at the bottom. I don't put a vent hole in them. I try to fill the pasties as full as I can. If I do get holes, it tends to be while shaping them, in fact the batch on my blog was a particularly bad one, you'll note that two of the three pasties shown have holes.

Hope this helps

Phil

[wallie]

Hi Phil
I think you have hit the mark regarding the pastry.
I make a rich 75% butter 25% lard flaky pastry with little water and its quite crumbly (but tastes great)
As you say I will have to try a more ordinary shortcrust.

Thanks
wallie

[wheels]

I use all lard for these.

Phil

[Bad Flynch]

One of the most consistent pieces of advice I see regarding pocket breads/pasties/desserts is to make sure that all of the excess air is worked out from around the filling. Excess air expands and balloons up the pastry and causes holes.

My wife's parents were all Finnlanders from the U.P. of Michigan and pasties were a way of life for that family, but I never heard complaints of this. However, her mother cooked in a restaurant for 20-30 years and made bushel baskets of pasties every day, so somehow she must have worked this out. Try getting all the excess air out before you seal the pastie.

[BakuBanger]

I lived in Cornwall for 15 years and learnt to make pasties there and currently make them semi commercially.

I have always use a pastry recipe of 50% fat to flour and the fat in a ratio of 50/50 Butter to Margarine (the pastry is exquisite). I originally added a small amount of suet as I was taught but cannot get it here and I don't think that the lack of it detracts from the pastry. I use as little water as possible in order to make a dough and knead it it as little as possible.

When the dough is made I rest it in the fridge for about an hour. After resting I roll the dough for individual pasties fill directly and crimp using water to seal the crimp. I baste with milk before baking (fan oven 20 mins @ 200C then 45 mins @ 170C) and without fail I have a vent hole in the top of each pasty. Never any cracks or holes, but occasionally some spillage from the vent hole.

I hope that this is useful.

[Dazzajapan]

I tried to make pasties twice last week..the first batch I added too much water and the pastry kept ripping as I stuffed them,and the second batch I made with 60% lard / 40 percent butter and hardly any water and the pastry was then crumbly and still couldn't stuff them.

[wheels]

I find that you need to make 'bad' pastry. Kneed it too much and don't rest it in the fridge. I sometimes add a bit of lemon juice too:

http://www.localfoodheroes.co.uk/weblog ... =my_weblog

Phil

[Dazzajapan]

will keep on going til I　attain perfection..my mum as a Yorkshire lass is a dab hand at pastry and failure irritates me.LOL

[wheels]

Resting the pastry against your rolling pin when you fill the pasties (as in the first picture of the link above) certainly helps when filling them.

Good luck.

Phil

[Paul Kribs]

That's a good tip Phil, used to do mine the same way but have now become lazy and use one of those plastic fold-over moulds from Lakeland. Not truly authentic I know, and pasties a bit smaller (especially if using the smaller mould). Small ones make nice 'horses doovers'.

Regards, Paul Kribs