random baking question: shortbread

[wisdomeagle]

So, self, self's father, and self's sis are about as undomestic as you come. We're trying to make shortbread and, err... we mixed together sugar and flour and butter in a bowl and now it's all, er, extremely crumbly? This is not a mixture that I would call "dough" per se. I would call it more "bowl of crumbs that taste something like shortbread."

So. Suggestions on whether (a) this is normal for shortbread, durr, Ari, (b) how to make this into shortbread or (c) how to make it into something else. (Like could we, I dunno, add water or milk or something and make sugar cookies? I have NO IDEA.)

Thanks loves.

Comments

[fannishnej.livejournal.com]

I've never tried making shortbread so I don't know, but I suspect that it's that the butter was too cold. Try letting the bowl sit at room temperature for a while and then stir it again.

Also, a great place to ask questions like this is hip_domestics.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I asked my mom, and she's never made actual shortbread, though with piecrust you do add water to make the dough stick together better if it's too crumbly. The Joy of Cooking in one of its recipes says "Unlike wheat flour, rice flour and cornstarch do not develop gluten, and therefore produce an especially crumbly and tender shortbread," so upon hearing that, my mom said, "Maybe it's *supposed* to be crumbly and they should press it by hand into the pan."

[If you followed the recipe correctly -- and remember, don't pack the flour when measuring it -- then your dough should be as it's supposed to be. And actually, reading further in the recipe, it says, "If the dough is too dry to hold together, sprinkle a few drops of water over it, adding only enough to hold the dough together and being careful not to overmoisten it."]

[that_mireille]

Shortbread dough is normally pretty crumbly.

[polyartamorous.livejournal.com]

i was going to comment, but yeah, what they said.

good luck! shortbread = ♥

[gvambat.livejournal.com]

If you can make it stick together at all, I think it's probably normal, can be baked. If it's just completely falling apart, I'd try adding a little more butter (not melted, but a bit above room temp) to see if that makes it more bakeable.

And I'd keep a rather close watch on the oven to make sure it doesn't burn, but if it does bake into shortbread crumbs, not a bad thing, probably eminently edible. I'm a fan of the "bake it and see if it happens to be edible" school of thought.

It sounds like you could make sugar cookies if you wanted, probably need some vanilla, possibly some milk or eggs or something else liquidy...honestly, I don't recall how to make sugar cookies, and it sounds like you've got the right ingredients but your proportions might be rather screwed up, but one could find a recipie and try to make it fit...*is all incoherant and really has nothing more to add, sorry*

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

Shortbread dough should be crumbly. What you do when it reaches the crumbly stage is start squishing it together until it forms one lump, and then roll it out and cut it into shapes or just squares and circles. My family has a cool old rolling pin that has shapes cut into it that are really pretty with shortbread.

But yes, you have done it right.