Shortcrust and puff pastry

With puff pastry, you will need to flatten the dough and fold it several times to get the desired layers. Photo / Thinkstock

The basics

Biting into a piping hot pie wouldn't be complete without tasting the gooey filling oozing from a solid and crispy crust.

To make your own crust. Here are two recipes:

Shortcrust pastry

Makes enough for 4 individual pies

2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
125g cold butter, cubed
1/4 cup cold water, approximately

1 Sift the flour and salt together on a workbench. Using your fingertips, lightly rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.

2 Make a well in the centre then pour in a little water at a time while gently mixing to make a dough.

3 Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove from the fridge and dust with flour before rolling.

Puff pastry

Makes enough for 4 individual pies

2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
250g cold butter, cubed
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 cup cold water, approximately

1 Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Rub 65g of the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs.

2 Add the lemon juice and just enough water to mix to a dough. On a lightly floured board, roll the dough to a 1cm thick rectangle.

3 Dot two-thirds of the dough with another 65g of butter, keeping within 2cms of the edges.

4 Fold the section without any butter to the middle then fold the buttered section over the top.

5 Roll into a rectangle, dot with butter and repeat the process until all the butter has been used. If you have enough time, refrigerate the pastry for 5 minutes between each rolling.