Pastry is associated with grandmother's love and cherished family memories. Now it's your turn to make Tartine's flaky tart pastry and keep the tradition.
1cupplus 5 tablespoons, unsalted butter, very cold
Instructions
Method for making flaky tart pastry
Tartine’s Flaky Tart Pastry recipe makes two 9-inch shells. If you only need one shell for your recipe, the other can be wrapped well and refrigerated for use within a week, or frozen for longer storage.
Start by dissolving 1 teaspoon salt in ⅔ cup very cold water. Keep cold until needed.
Prepare your cold butter by cutting it into 1-inch pieces.
You can either make this recipe in a food processor, or in a bowl. If you make it in a bowl it really helps to have a pastry blender. This is a tool with multiple blades for cutting through the butter, and it is just the right shape to fit in a bowl. An alternative is to use two knives to cut through the butter.
If you make this in a food processor, you add the flour and butter pieces, and pulse until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. If you make it in a bowl, use the pastry cutter or two knives to cut the butter into pea-sized pieces.
Sprinkle in the very cold salted water and carefully pulse, or use a fork to bring the dough together into a shaggy ball.
Turn the shaggy dough onto a floured work surface and divide into two pieces. Shape each into a 1-inch thick disk. Wrap well in plastic and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
When you are ready to bake the dough, place your cold disk on a lightly floured work surface, and roll it out into a circle about ⅛ inch thick. For the pie dish, the circle should be 2 inches larger than the dish. For a tart dish, the circle should be 1 ½ inches larger. To transfer, carefully fold the shell into quarters, and transfer it onto the dish. Open your folds and carefully mold the shell to the dish.
Trim the dough evenly with the rim of the dish. If you are using a pie pan, you can keep an extra ½ inch, turn it under, and flute with a fork to create a fancy edge.
Chill the prepared shell for at least 30 minutes before baking to ensure a flaky crust. You can also wrap and freeze the prepared shell, and there is no need to thaw it before baking.
Partially bake or fully bake your tart shell
Depending on your recipe, you will need your dough raw, partially baked, or fully baked.
To partially bake or fully bake the shell, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the prepared pastry shell with parchment paper, and fill with pie weights, or use large dry beans saved for this purpose.
For your partially baked crust, bake until the shell looks dry and pale, with no dense or opaque areas left. It will take around 20 minutes.
Remove from oven, remove the weights, and then bake for few more minutes until lightly brown. If any area along the bottom puffs up, gently pierce it to release the air, being careful not to create any holes in the shell itself.
For a fully baked shell, bake with weights until the shell is lightly brown all over, and then return to the oven until golden brown all over.