Saturday, April 07, 2012

Pastry Dough


My youngest had been asking to make little fruit tarts.  A few weeks back we did just that.  Since then, she has made several batches of her own pastry dough whenever I am (conveniently) out running errands--"I know the recipe, Mom.  It is just flour, butter, salt, and water.  It's easy."  Good for her!  This recipe for pastry dough has always worked for me.  We made a couple batches the day we decided to make some tarts.  My daughter filled some mini tart pans and also made some free-form tarts.  Just add fruit, sprinkle with sugar and a few teaspoons of butter and bake off at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes.  I also like to heat up some apricot jam and brush the top of the baked tart with the warm jam.  Delicious!

Pastry Dough

1 stick cold unsalted butter (cut into 1/2-cubes)
1 ¼ cups flour
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
2 -4 Tablespoons ice water


Put flour and salt into large bowl.   Using a pastry blender, blend butter into flour until incorporated (you will have lots of little lumps).  Drizzle 2 tablespoons of ice water over mixture and gently stir with a large fork until incorporated.  Gently squeeze a small handful to see if it holds together without cumbling apart.  If it doesn't, add more ice water, one tablespoon at a time.  Use the heel of your hand  and smear the dough against the bottom of the bowl in a forward motion, about 4 times - this will help to distribute the butter.  Gather dough and place it on a sheet of plastic wrap --forming it into a disk by pressing down on the wrapped dough.  Chill, until firm, at least 30 minutes.