Sweet Pastry

So my first One New Thing was sweet pastry. I made some mince pies before Christmas using ready made pastry and half a jar of mincemeat - so an assembly job more than actually making anything! When I was putting away my weekly shop I remembered the half full jar and decided that I'd make another batch but make my own pastry using this recipe by Paul Hollywood of the Great British Bake Off.

The recipe was easy to follow but the dough seemed to be very sticky and I did wonder whether I should add more flour as I couldn't see how it would come together in order to roll it out. But I resisted (with Paul's advice on the Bake Off - always follow the recipe - ringing in my ears!) and, once I'd turned it out onto my floured work surface to knead it, the dough came together to form a soft ball.

I left the dough in the fridge for longer than the 10 minutes specified in the recipe and I found it easy to work with. I could definitley feel the change in the dough the more I worked with it. I had to re-roll the dough a few times to get the required number of tops and bottoms I needed so when I make this pastry again I will try to limit the number of times I re-roll it.

I was pretty pleased with the finished result and they were much nicer than the ones I'd made with the ready made pastry. Maybe a One New Thing later in the year will have to be mincemeat!

Week Two: A duvet set for my son's Cotbed