It’s essential the butter isn’t too warm, it will leak liquid oil into the dough creating a sticky, greasy pastry (hence the tales of pastry chefs working on marble worktops in freezing rooms).

To make the pastry, mix the flour and icing sugar together in a bowl. Add the butter and rub it in lightly with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Alternatively ...

Incorporate each one before adding the next until you have a sticky pastry that is almost pourable but definitely pipable. It should fall away from the spatula, close to a batter. Transfer the ...