Cream Pastry

This recipe has been passed through generations of cooks in the Ballymaloe pastry kitchen. It is an incredibly versatile dough and I always have some in the fridge ready to use. It handles best when completely chilled and well rested. I make the pastry the day before I plan to use it and roll it straight from the fridge. For a successful result, it is important to use a plain flour that contains no raising agent for this pastry, check the ingredient list on your flour to be sure.

Sift the flour into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and then add the butter. With the mixer on low speed, rub the butter into the flour. Keep an eye on the mixture as it is being worked by the paddle. If overworked, the mixture will form a shortbread-like ball! Before this happens, when the butter and flour are on the cusp of coming together, pour in all of the cold cream and continue to mix on a low speed until a smooth pastry forms and there are no lumps of butter left in the dough, about 1 minute. Wrap the pastry with baking paper and place in the fridge to chill overnight.

Always roll cream pastry straight from the fridge. If the pastry comes to room temperature it will be too soft to handle!