Flaky Pie and Tart Pastry Dough

by: Panda Girl

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Those of us who like the flavor of butter, which makes pastry crumbly but also like our pastryflaky as though made with lard or shortening, have to fold the pastry dough over itself a few times to create layers and hence flakes. You can make virtually any pastry flaky by rolling out the dough, folding it over itself like a letter, rolling it out again, and folding it again. You can repeat this folding up to 3 times; after that, continued folding makes no difference. This pastry dough is especially flaky because the butter is left suspended in relatively large pieces. When the dough is exposed to sudden heat, the moisture in the butter vaporizes and presses apart the layers offlour and water, creating aflaky effect. But whereas puff pastry dough, the ultimate folded pastry is meant to puff up, this dough is meant simply to be flaky - and it is very flaky. Because it contains a lot of butter, which can melt if the room is even slightly warm, you'll need to refrigerate the dough periodically to keep it from getting too sticky or too soft to work with. You should also refrigerate it if it starts to become elastic. Refrigerate the dough when its rolled out in a rectangle instead of when it is folded so it chills faster. More liquid is used in this dough than in others because the butter is not mixed thoroughly into the dough, contributing little to its moistness. This method won’t work for dough that has been made in a food processor, because the butter is so thoroughly mixed into the flour it won’t form flakes.