The best and easiest shortcrust pastry recipe, ever

Remove butter from fridge around 10 minutes before you want to use. This may vary depending on your climate. You want your butter easy to pinch and 'smoosh' in between your fingers. So it still holds its shape and isn't runny, but warmed slightly. Chop butter into small cubes, around 1cm x 1cm, place in a bowl.

Place flour in bowl, along with salt and water.

Use your pointer fingers and thumbs to rub the butter into the flour. I know that may sound weird but what we're aiming for is to combine the butter / water / flour / salt. This shouldn't take an overly long time and once you start you'll see it comes together quite fast. It's a very meditative process. Keep going until everything is combined.

Make a ball with your 'dough' and wrap in glad wrap. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

If you're planning to make a tart or use your shortcrust pastry straight away - preheat your oven to 200C fan forced and grease your baking tin. I love to use tallow for this. Or ghee if i don’t have tallow. It produces a crispy crunch. Butter is another good option.

Scatter some flour on a chopping board and place pastry on it. Use a floured rolling pin to roll out the pastry into a round shape a few cm’s larger than your baking dish.

Gently fold the pastry back over itself (with the rolling pin separating the two sides and place into your baking dish.

Pat the shortcrust in place. If the pastry is off centre, use a knife to chop off extra bits and rearrange them around the dish to make it evenish. We’re not aiming for perfection here. Not at all. This is a rustic, simple, easy to make shortcrust pastry recipe.

Use a fork to pierce the pastry a few times over the base. This allows air to be released and won't puff your pastry.

Place a sheet of baking paper on top on your pastry and fill the pastry dish with pie beads or rice or beans. This means your pastry won't puff out of shape as it cooks.

Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until the base is cooked. It should be lovely golden in colour. Nothing too crazy dark in colour, as it needs to handle another 20 minutes or so in the oven while you cook your tart filling. If you think its browning up too much, remove from the oven early.

Your shortcrust pastry is ready. At this point, you could cool and store in the fridge but I most often would make a pie or tart straight away. If I'm going to meal prep this recipe, I make the shortcrust pastry dough and transfer to fridge still in the ball.

Now it's time to add your chosen filling and get baking.