The Guardian - Life & Style • Feb. 2, 2026, 1:15 p.m.

A rather luxuriant cheat’s way to fill that savoury pie/tart hole in your life No time to make shortcrust? Bought puff pastry makes an instant (and decadent) alternative.

Yes, I know you can buy ready-rolled shortcrust, but I wouldn’t: it’s trash. If this column didn’t have a 30-minute time constraint, I’d blitz 200g plain flour and 100g cold cubed salted butter to sand, then add one egg yolk and a tablespoon of cold water, then blitz for a few seconds, and no longer, until it just comes together.

I’m unorthodox, so I then tip the pastry straight into a pie dish, quickly pat it into place and freeze for 15 minutes. Blind bake for 10 minutes at 180C(160C fan)/350F/gas 4, before removing the paper and baking beans and tipping in the filling – it’s really not very much work.

Related