i want crumblier cookies and flakier empanadas!
crumblier = short (like shortbread)
not the same as shortcrust: this is the kind of pastry i am used to making for quiches and tarts, pâte brisée, pâte sucrée, etc.
puff pastry is super flaky. this is made like croissant, by rolling layers of dough with butter.
findings:
1. butter is used for flavor, not texture. butter makes things HARD.
2. shortbread/crumbly cookies: 2parts fat/3parts flour (and 1 part sugar) (and fat is always butter)
3. short crust: 1 part fat/2 parts flour (sugar, for sweet crusts a couple of tbsp) better to use only part butter or no butter. lard desirable. keep fats cold (could grate frozen fat) while mixing with flour. then add water to bind. (our empanada recipe called for alcohol to bind!)
4. puff pastry: buy it from the freezer section of the grocery store
for precise info on crumbling and flaking see this report
