Pastry tips for dummies

Here are a few handy tips for those pastry virgins out there!

• Keep everything as cold as possible. I have naturally icy hands, but if your hands are toasty hold them under some cool water for 30seconds, it will help when you come to kneed your dough. popping the dough in the fridge for 30minutes really will help to keep your pastry together.
  
• Try and handle the pastry as little as you can, overworking the dough can lead to cracks.
• When you roll out your pastry, dust everything with flour, your hands, the rolling pin and your surfaces to stop the dough sticking.
• If you don't want to use your pastry straight away it will keep in the fridge for a good 2-3 days, and even up to a month in the freezer. This is a good way to keep pastry that is left over, pretty soon you'll save up enough leftover bits of pastry in the freezer to defrost and make into something. Remember not to refreeze once you have de-frosted it.
  
• Blind baking with rice or baking beads keeps the dough from rising and 'doming' in the middle during cooking. remember to line the pastry first before throwing in a handful of rice or lentils.