Ready made pastry.

Delia's Quick Flaky pastry recipe is really delicious, especially for a sausage roll. It is difficult to find All Butter Puff Pastry here and a visit to Waitrose is necessary.

Old Ma Allen made us so scared that we continually made silly mistakes, leaving the jam pan on the job too long so the pan got burnt, putting plastic stuff near the oven so it melted. And if you were unlucky enough to sit near the twin tub you had to fill it and wash the tea towels. Another source of terror in case you overfilled it by mistake through anxiety!
No idea what pleasure she got out of teaching us how to/not to enjoy cooking.
This was late 60’s early 70’s so a long time to still have those memories!
I make all cakes from scratch except
Red Velvet cake- the Betty Crocker mix is divine
Choux pastries- I just can’t do it!
Anything yeasty - too heavy
My local son in laws love my chocolate brownies! Probably not invented when old Ma Allen was alive.

I think it must be because we grew up watching our mums bake ! Its been instilled into us to make pastry from scratch, mind you, when we were young there was no such thing as ready-made pastry.

Its just the same ( well, it is for me ) with a cake.

Its the easiest thing in the world to pluck a cake off the shelf, umpteen sizes and flavours to choose from, easy peesy.

But how fulfilling is it to lovingly ( to some haha ) make a cake from scratch, to decorate it and serve a slice to a friend ?

Its a case of sheer laziness in my book...

Ok, ok, ok I hold my hands up, admittedly I qm lazy a lot of the time.

Roll the ready made pastry out until it’s the thickness you need, it works fine.

My mum made the best pastry, but mine isn't as nice somehow. I've changed recipes a few times, but it's basically the recipe on the back of the box of shortening.

I used ready-made short pastry only a few times, and those are the tart shells in the little foil cups. Handy for entertaining, and nice looking than my lumpy tarts. Oh, and I have used the phyllo as well. Never would I even attempt to make it!

I like thin pastry, I can't get thin pastry from the ready made, so I make my own, I very occasionally buy the ready made, then I feel a cheat!

storynanny

Old Ma Allen at my school was the scariest most horrible teacher in the world. She “ taught” domestic science. I’ve never made any pastry since except basic shortcrust as it will be forever linked to failure, sarcasm, fear and tears due to that woman!
Yes Mary Berry said it’s not worth making puff, filo etc as the bought versions are so good and easy.

Sorry you made me laugh. Your ma Allen could have been my Miss Sc... twin. She tortured us for three years we were terrified of her.
Her recipe for pastry has stuck in my mind for 55 years.
I really like cooking and so do my DD all thanks to an Italian aunt who made everything fun and tasty for me and I passed it on .

It's easy to make vegan pastry with oil (or you can use melted butter)
If you are using melted butter, it’s not vegan.

When I was a teenager, I used to make amazing puff, and ruff puff pastry. I don't know what happened in the intervening years, but I cannot make pastry of any type for love nor money. I have lost count of how many blobs of pastry I have hurled across the kitchen in a rage.

Ready made all the way for me now

It's easy to make vegan pastry with oil (or you can use melted butter) - and avoid rolling it out, too - just pat into shape in the baking tin. It saves time, effort, mess and clearing up - my kind of cooking!

www.biggerbolderbaking.com/no-roll-pie-crust-5-minutes/

I usually use ready made pastry but I've got a few recipes that have extra ingredients in the pastry and for those I make my own.

Old Ma Allen at my school was the scariest most horrible teacher in the world. She “ taught” domestic science. I’ve never made any pastry since except basic shortcrust as it will be forever linked to failure, sarcasm, fear and tears due to that woman!
Yes Mary Berry said it’s not worth making puff, filo etc as the bought versions are so good and easy.

I can still remember the ingredients for pastry from school exams, we ween't allowed to see the recipe.
Half fat[half butter /half lard] to flour a pinch of salt rub to bread crumbs and mix with drops of ice cold water with a blunt knife.
Do I make it myself ? Only for mince pies and that's a recipe with orange rind and icing sugar in a mixer. Bought butter puff pastry is far superior to mine.
If your listening from up there Miss Sc... thats why I didn't do domestic science for O level .

As with others, I like to make my own shortcrust pastry as I like to control what goes in it, but buy puff and filo.

I like to make my own shortcrust pastry, it always turns out well.
Puff pastry, on the other hand, I buy from the supermarket. Languishing in my freezer are some vol-au-vent cases I bought at Christmas and didn't use. I'm wary about using them now, I have gallbladder trouble.

Can't make any sort of pastry, except shortcrust, and that comes out of a packet (just add water).

Prefer the block to the ready rolled. I make a lot of samosas. Who on earth would want to make their own filo?? I remember a series of Bake Off when they were asked to make it.

Tsk. Tsk.
Whatever next!

GagaJo

But pastry is so easy to make. Puff pastry is different of course. But shortcrust? It takes 10 minutes or less.

Plus all the cleaning up and flour gett everywhere.

Just Ról pastry is great and the Aldi pastry just as good. I'm not keen on the Tesco one though.

But pastry is so easy to make. Puff pastry is different of course. But shortcrust? It takes 10 minutes or less.

MeowWow

I used to be a firm believer in making my own pastry until my sister converted me when she was making sausage rolls. How easy they were to make and hardly any mess at all. I now buy a pack of sausages and skin them myself, along with a pack of ready made pastry, puff or shortcrust, and the sausage rolls turn out divine every time. Much better than shop bought sausage rolls.

I do too, you can get much better tasting sausages than sausage eat.
If you use ready rolled pastry, you can do the whole thing on the grease proof paper that comes with it, so no mess, no flour everywhere, just brush the tops with egg and grind a little black pepper or sprinkle some mixed herbs on top.

Wowwwww.... im going to try these MeowWow and Grandmadinosaur

That’s how I do mine meowwow

I used to be a firm believer in making my own pastry until my sister converted me when she was making sausage rolls. How easy they were to make and hardly any mess at all. I now buy a pack of sausages and skin them myself, along with a pack of ready made pastry, puff or shortcrust, and the sausage rolls turn out divine every time. Much better than shop bought sausage rolls.

Oooops, sorry Pammie1 ...

Heres a bunch of blooms as my apology....

Serendipity22

This message isnt meant to be sarcastic or nasty Pammie1 but can i just say FUN ?!?!?!?!?!?! x

I think you may have meant that for Giulia ?