And from the UK ......
A lot of good advice above, here are some tips from me:
We work by weight not volume so porportions of flour to shortning 2:1 I normally use 8oz flour to 4 oz shortning.
Use hard margerine, butter or lard - not softened or whipped.
Use flour with no raising agents and as noted above 50/50 lard/butter will often produce a lighter pastry.
Everything needs to be as cool as possible, use shortning straight from the fridge, and in warm humid weather refrigerate the flour as well. Cut the shortning into cubes (about 1/2 oz) before adding to flour.
Ideally use the S knife blade in a food processor to "rub in" the shortning into the flour - for the porportions above should not be more than about 20 seconds pulsing. The mixture should look like course breadcrumbs.
Unless I am making a sweet shortcrust pastry (Pate Sucre or Pate Brissee) which use egg as the binding ingredient I NEVER add the liquid in the processor.
Tip the "rubbed in" mixture into a bowl and add cold water slowly using a flat bladed knife (I use a small palette knife) to "bring it together".
It is impossible to specify a definate amount of water. It all depends on teh flour, the humidity, whether you are a little over or a little under in teh shortning. I would say start with a about half of a 1/4 cup (I actually use about 1/3 of a small glass such as you would use for juice at breakfast), but do not add all of it at first in case it is not all necessary. Stir with the knife and when it comes to large clumps bring it together into a ball with your hand.
The pastry should come cleanly from the bowl. It it feels sticky, sprinkle in a little more flour and very gently knead it into the pastry ball.
IMPORTANT: Refrigerate the pastry ball (no need to cover) for about 1/2 an hour - this allows the gluten in the flour react with the liquid and makes it more "elastic".
Make sure the pie dish or pan is greased ready to receive the pastry.
Some people roll the ball out between two layers of cling film, but I just flour the surface (more than a pinch, less than a handful), flatten out the pastry ball and a little flour on that too, and flour the rolling pin.
As the pastry begins to flatten out turn it and turn it over, with a little more flour spread over each side. Use the flat edge of a knife to bring the edges of the pastry into a neat and flat edge. Obviously roll the pastry into the approximate size you need.
When rolled, loosely roll the pastry back around the rolling pin, to support it as you line the pie dish or pan, unrolling from one side to the other.
Hope this helps and happy baking
Al
