Why is your tart shell too hard?

Answer 1

If it has gone hard before it was baked, possible reasons are that the dough has been chilled for too long (which is easily remedied by letting it warm up a little), or it has become stale. (Staling can occur if you make the dough more than 3 days in advance of cooking it, keeping it refrigerated in the meantime; it may begin to ferment, also the moisture content may be effected due to the flour absorbing more water than intended).

If it has become hard after being baked (rather than becoming crumbly), the likely reason is that the dough was overworked and/or became warm during the shaping of the dough. Overworking leads to gluten strands forming, resulting in a tough pastry when baked. (This is why you should avoid rolling out pastry more than once; if you go wrong shaping the pastry you're meant to begin again with a new batch of dough). Letting it become warm results in the fats melting, resulting in a brittle biscuity-textured pastry.

A third possible reason is that it has become over-baked in the oven. Or it has been baked but has gone stale, due to it not being kept in an airtight container.

Answer 2

shortcrust is sort of hard because in the olden days like 1700s and 1800s men used to dig for cole in very deep holes so their wifes used to make them pies for dinner or something because they cant get out to eat as quick so they cant stop working because their hands were black from dirt they couldent wash them so they used to hold the crust and eat the middle then throw the dirty crusts away if it was soft it would just drop so thats why it needs to be hard

if its wrong dont worry sorry

many thanks maisie x

Answer 3

There are a number of reasons a tart shell could become hard. Too much flour might have been added or worked into the dough while rolling or shaping. It may have been handled and worked too much which could have "worked up" the gluten in the dough. The tart shell may have been baked too long at too low a temperature or simply baked too long.