BASIC PATE BRISEE

Just as everyone needs a basic recipe for pie dough, so should you have one for tart dough as well. They're slightly different. Further, the tart dough can be made with sugar for a sweet tart, or infused with some herb, like rosemary, for a savory one. Here's a basic recipe.

 

 

BASIC PATE BRISEE

makes one tart shell

 

 

1 1/4 C all purpose flour

3/4 stick (6 T) cold, unsalted butter, cut into bits

2 T cold vegetable shortening (use Crisco)

1/4 t salt

1 T sugar

2 T ice water, plus additional, as needed

 

1. Blend together flour, sugar, salt, butter and shortening with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until most of the mixture resembles coarse meal with small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Drizzle evenly with ice water and gently stir with a fork (or pulse in a food processor) just until incorporated.

 

2. Squeeze a small handful; if it doesn't hold together, add more ice water, 1 t at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until just incorporated. (If you overwork the mixture, the pastry will be tough).

 

3. Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and with the heel of your hand, smear the dough once or twice in a forward direction, to distribute the fat. Gather dough together with a scraper and press into a ball, the flatten into a disk. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap until firm, at least an hour.

 

4. Roll out dough with a floured rolling pin into a 9-10 inch round, approximately 1/8 inch thick. (Doing this between sheets of wax paper may be easier. Turn the paper as you roll in each direction so that you're always rolling away from you.) Lay the dough into the tart pan being careful not to stretch the dough. Lightly prick the bottom and sides of the dough with a fork and chill the dough in the pan for 30 minutes.

 

5. Preheat oven to 375.

 

6. Line tart shell with parchment paper or foil and fill it with pie weights or raw beans. Bake in middle of oven until pastry is pale golden along rim, 20 minutes. Carefully remove foil and weights and bake until pale golden all over, 10 minutes more. If rim of shell begins to turn too brown, protect it with a roll of foil shaped to cover just that portion of the dough. Cool in the pan on a rack.

 

 

Variations:

 

Nigella Lawson likes to make her dough with a combination of flour and yellow cornmeal in a ratio of 3 flour to 1 cornmeal. She also uses her hands to press the dough onto the bottom and sides of the tart pan instead of rolling it out.

 

Add 1 1/2 finely chopped herb, like rosemary of thyme, for a savory tart.