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No more sweet-pastry disasters

If your pastry is always shrinking, you’re probably over-working it. Gluten, the protein found in flour, becomes stretchy when handled (like when you knead bread) and then shrinks back when cooked).

This is a particular problem with sweet pastry because it tends to fall apart more easily than savoury shortcrust pastry (because of the sugar) and requires more handling to roll it out and line the tin.

Here are some tips that may help:

• Make sure your ingredients and equipment (including your hands) are as cold as possible
• Work quickly but efficiently, trying to handle the pastry as little as possible
• Avoid stretching it while lining the tin by making sure it is rolled out to a large enough shape
• Most importantly, allow the pastry to rest, both before and after rolling it out
• Roll the pastry between two pieces of cling film; this is particularly helpful if the pastry is too soft and crumbly. With practice you can use the cling film to lift the pastry into place in the tin, then remove the film and carefully press into place.

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