[LILLILEAF]

Well i have all this lovely fruit in the freezer, what it needs is a nice pastry jacket to go in there lies my problem,what am i doing wrong, i have made it in the food processor i have made it by hand,it either it like shoe leather, or tastes awful.
Yesterday i tried again food processor flour, butter 1 egg some ground almonds and water if it was needed, this was for my bake well tart,i did blind bake it, then baked for 5 minutes without cover.
The filling was wonderful but pastry was tough what am i doing wrong?.
I am not a good cook but i will have ago!.

[snowdrops]

My recipe is half fat - I use butter usually, to flour-plain, pinch of salt, I beaten egg plus a 2nd yolk of needed.
Food processor, flour salt, cubed butter, pulse it until like breadcrumbs,but doesn’t need to be too fine, then add the beaten egg & pulse it until it just & only just comes together, if it doesn’t look like it will,add the 2nd egg yolk & pulse again, if it doesn’t come together then add 2nd egg white, can add icing sugar to flour if sweet pastry wanted ala Raymond Blanc. As soon as it comes together stop, tip onto the work top & very lightly bring it together with cold hands. Wrap in cling film & chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes but no more than an hour otherwise you’ll need for it to warm up again to roll out.

[Goosegirl]

Don't ask me! My mother in law made superb pastry but when I tried it her way - nope, so she made me some and all I had to do was roll it out and bake it. Nope!

[Lardman]

The filling was wonderful but pastry was tough what am i doing wrong?.

It's either too wet or overworked.  It took me ages to get pastry right  or at least to a stage I could eat it.

2/3 dry - 1/3 fat. (eg 250g flour, 125 butter). 1 pinch of salt. Pulse blitz until the butter isn't visible and is fully chopped - the breadcrumb stage is a myth and will encourage you to over blitz things.

I'd put 1 large egg in the above as the fluid ( about 50ml of water) but that's all, fluid will depend on your flour hydration.  Pulse 2-3 more times to distribute the wetness but then tip out. Over mixing at this stage causes it to be tough and thin. Bring the mixture which will be very crumbly together by hand you're not making bread so be gentle with it, The goal here is to get it to clump together with as little contact as possible. The heat from your hands will be gently melting the butter, so stop when it doesn't fall apart anymore and before it becomes sticky.  If it's sticking to your hands or fingers it's too wet and the end result will be hard.

Wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge to rest for at least an hour. I usually flatten it into a 4-5 inch disc after that and return to the fridge again until it's needed. You'll need to let it come up to room temperature before working with it otherwise it will just crack and crumble when you try to roll.

If I can get the hang of it anyone can.

[Kleftiwallah]

Take care when opening the box and packet!  That's what I do...
Cheers,  Tony.

[Goosegirl]

Jus' like that!