Basic Pie and Tart Pastry Dough (Pâte Brisée)
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Many recipes for savory tarts, such as quiches, or for dessert tarts or pies with very sweet fillings call for unsweetened pastry. And if the filling is rich you may want to use a minimum amount of butter in your crust. Traditional recipes for this basic pastry called pâte brisée in French, call for half as much butter by weight as flour. The pastry dough is moistened with water and includes no sugar. In this recipe, you have a choice of liquids, because water activates gluten and using eggs or a bit of heavy cream instead helps to keep the pastry from becoming tough. Water makes dough crispy and light, while cream and eggs make it softer and richer. A sweetened version, what professionals call pâte brisée sucrée, is included as a variation. Take care not to overwork the pastry dough; keep it cold and resist the temptation to make the finished pastry dough perfectly smooth and homogeneous - when you roll it out it should look a little ragged, with pieces of butter suspended throughout.
ingredients
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serves: 1
1 cup cake flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cold butter (cut into 1/3-inch cubes)
7 tablespoons water (or heavy cream, or 2 eggs, lightly beaten)
2 tablespoons additional liquid (or 1 egg white, if dough is too dry)
Nutrition Facts
Basic Pie and Tart Pastry Dough (Pâte Brisée)
Servings Per Recipe: 1
Amount per Serving
Calories: 2189
- Total Fat: 140.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 87.8 g
- Trans Fat: 5.6 g
- Cholesterol: 366 mg
- Sodium: 2467 mg
- Total Carbs: 202.6 g
- Dietary Fiber: 5.7 g
- Sugars: 1.1 g
- Protein: 29.2 g
preparation
1. By hand on a work surface:
2. Cut cold butter into 1/3 inch cubes.
3. Scatter the butter over the dry ingredients on a work surface and use a bench scraper to cut in the butter until the pieces are no larger than hazelnuts and no smaller than baby peas.
4. Slide the bench scraper under the dough and lift. Tilt the scraper so any loose flour you scraped up is novv on top of the mixture.
5. Bring the flour/butter mixture together in a pile and make a well in the center with the tips of your fingers.
6. Pour the liquid into the center of the well and move the tips of your fingers around in the well to incorporate the flour into the liquid.
7. As the dough gets sticky, use the bench scraper to clean off your fingers.
8. Cut in the liquid with the bench scraper.
9. Slide the bench scraper under the dough, lift, and fold, so loose flour, which sinks to the bottom, is folded over the top.
10. If the pastry dough remains powdery arter 3 minutes of cutting, pinch a piece. lf it falls apart in your hand, sprinkle in 2 tablespoons more liquid, while tossing until the dough looks like gravel.
11. When the ingredients are well combined, the dough should look like gravel with no loose flour.
12. Use the heels of your hands to smear the dough, one-eighth at a time, over the work surface until it comes together in a single mass.
13. You can also knead it with your fingertips.
14. Use a bench scraper to bring the dough together into a mound.
15. If you’re not using the dough right away, flatten it, wrap it in plastic wrap, and keep it cold.
16. In a stand mixer:
17. First, the dough looks like grated Parmesan cheese,
18. ...then fine gravel,
19. ...then coarse gravel,
20. ...then lumps together, after 1 to 4 minutes of mixing.
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comments
Mommy_loves_to_cook
May 8, 2012