How do I stop my pastry shrinking?
So I line a flan tin with shortcut pastry. It's quite a nice deep pan (sides are maybe 2 to 3 cm) so it looks like there's going to be plenty of room for a filling.
But after 20 mins baking blind, I get the pastry out. The sides have shrunk right down to about 0.5cm in height. Almost no usable depth for a filling.
Is there anyway to stop the pastry shrinking like this?
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Another thing you might want to try, is after you have put the pastry in the tin, then pop it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or so (depending on the thickness of your pastry and the coldness of your fridge).
That will get the pastry nice and cold so that it won't melt as quickly in the oven!
This has happened to me on occasion when I got lazy and tried to skip steps. My pastry walls were melting and sliding down the pan before they were able to set.
There are several best-practices that will help solve this:
Keep your dough chilled. If the dough is warm or if it is built into a warm pan it will melt in the oven before it has a chance to set.
Make a better lip (if there is one). A more substantial edge around the pastry will give some physical support to prevent falling.
Use foil and pie weights to reinforce the structure during the beginning of baking.
The key is not to roll it too thin nor too thick, it should be as thick as pound coin. Then once you've rolled and put the pastry in tin place back into the fridge for 10-20 minutes. (For Yanks, according to the Royal Mint, a pound coin is 3.15mm, which would be about 1/8")
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