Flaky Pastry

With all the fruit and fungi that are going to about in the next month or so I predict a lot of tarts and pies being made, Flaky pastry offers the sensation of Puff pastry with less of the hassle, it's handy to make and can be frozen down in batches,
For the recipe I'm going to turn to Gary Rhodes,a culinary hero from the Nineties, his book 'New British Classics' is loaded with all the Basic recipes you'll need backed up with where your food comes from notes, well worth looking it up and getting a copy, another book from the nineties worth getting your hands on for great recipes, stories of rural life in France, and wonderful photography is 'Memories of Gascony' by Pierre Koffmann which is republished at the moment.

Flaky Pastry
Ingredients.
150gms 11oz Butter, chilled
227gms 1lb plain flour
1/2 tspn Salt
120ml, approximately 4 fl oz cold water.

Method.
Cut the butter into small cubes (about the size of a sugar cube).
Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl add the water, and cut it in with a stiff blade, you'll still see pieces of butter showing.
Turn the pastry out on to a floured work surface and press or roll out into a rectangle shape approximately 45x15cm/ 18x6“.
Fold in the right hand one third and then fold in the left hand side over that, wrap pastry leave to rest for 20minutes.
Repeat this rolling and folding
process three more times in the same fashion, resting it for 20mins between each turn.

That's your pastry ready, there's enough to make one traditional sized pie or tart, or three open tarts, or folded pies.

To make a mushroom tart, Take 2/3 of your pastry, divide in two and rolled to fit your plate-keep it chilled and resting in the fridge until needed, 25gms/10z diced onion, 1 clove garlic crushed,250gms wild or cultivated mushrooms-thinly sliced, 25gms butter, 25gms grated parmesan, 25ml/1floz cream, salt and pepper to season.To a warm pan add the butter then fry the onions and garlic without colour until soft, add the mushrooms season lightly and cook until softened add the cream and bring to the boil, finally add the cheese, taste and adjust the seasoning and leave to cool before placing on the tart base then dampen the edges place the 2nd piece of pastry on top, bake in an oven at 180c/350f until golden brown.

Open Mushroom Tart

Folded Hedgehog Mushroom pie

To make a Fig tart, 4-5 Black figs and a third of the pastry rolled into a rectangle approximately 12''X4'',place the pastry onto a small baking sheet lined with parchment paper, make a incision 1/2'' for each of the length edges without cutting all the way through. Slice your figs into neat rounds dust with icing/powdered sugar then lay them onto the centre of your tart overlapping them neatly, bake in a hot oven at 180c/350f until golden brown.

Fig Tart