Soda Water pastry

[Cheffie]

For use in savoury or sweet pies. It has the 'body' of Shortcrust pastry, the texture and lightness of Puff pastry.
It's an old family recipe given to me years ago (by Joan S) and apparently dates back to the early 1900's in South Africa.

Granted it is a mission to make.. but the results are undoubtedly superior

Joan's Soda Water Pastry

Ingredients:

4 Cups Plain flour
1 Tsp Cream of Tartar
1 pinch Salt
1 200ml Tin of Soda water
1lb (+- 450g) Frozen Margerine

Method:

Working over an ice bath, sieve the flour, cream of tartar and salt.
Grate the margerine into the mixture and mix in with a wooden spoon. Add soda water and mix in well. Do not overwork the pastry.

Leave to relax in the fridge for a minimum of 12 hours.

[Ade]

Sorry cheffie, but what is an ice bath?

A bucket full of iced water? do you grate into it?

[Cheffie]

Howzit Ade

An Ice bath is literally that. A bowl, with ice in, a little water etc.

A further bowl, preferably Stainless Steel, is then used 'Bain Marie' style to do the mixing over it.

Hope that clarifies it somewhat

[Ade]

so in layman's terms you mean work in as cold a bowl (and dry) as possible...

[Cheffie]

Originally Posted by Ade

so in layman's terms you mean work in as cold a bowl (and dry) as possible...

LOL

In a nutshell, the idea is to keep the mixture as cold as possible throughout every stage of preparation.

Ideally it would be done in a walk-in fridge

Practically it is easier to do over an ice-bath, with a plastic spoon (Metal spoons transfer the heat from your hands).

Give it a bash and let us know the results. Make a small quantity first, determine the length of time and degree of difficulty and if you feel it is successful for your needs, then re-evaluate the quantities for the next time and make a huge batch - the same amount of work needs to go into making a small batch, as with a larger volume.
With the excess, you can freeze it in pre-portioned batches for later use.

[Ade]

cheers cheffie! lovely mince pies I made with this pastry...

might try and cut a few corners next time and see if it can be as good but quicker

[Pronkertjie]

Originally Posted by Ade

cheers cheffie! lovely mince pies I made with this pastry...

might try and cut a few corners next time and see if it can be as good but quicker

Do you take orders?

[Cheffie]

Originally Posted by Ade

might try and cut a few corners next time and see if it can be as good but quicker

Cutting corners can only be achieved with the same results if you get someone to make the pastry for you. There is no substitute - domestically or commercially.
The smile on the other person's face whilst munching into the pie is worth the effort. Every time