Pâte Brisée For Savory and Sweet Tarts, and Quiches
 | Marianne Vallet-Sandre Kitchen |
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| Ingredients |
1 ½ cups sifted flour + a little more to roll out 1 stick of unsalted butter (¼ lb) chilled |
1 small pinch of salt 3-5 tablespoons of ice water (as needed) |
| For a large 9 inch open-face tart or a dozen small ones: basic recipe |
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| Preparation |
To make pastry, sift the flour and salt in a cuisinart or other brand kitchen mixer with the metal cutting blade in place. Give a couple of quick spins to distribute the ingredients. Cut the chilled butter into small pieces and add to the dry mixture. Spin on and off till the mixture looks granular. While spinning, through the tube, start adding ice water, one tablespoon at a time, until you see the dough beginning to form itself and detaching itself from the sides of the container. You may need to stop the machine and use a spatula to scrape the mixture from the sides. Keep spinning until dough forms its own ball, then stop immediately. Remove pastry, form into a patty in the shape of the baking container you will be using, such as a round patty for a large round tart shell, or a thick small rectangle for a rectangular tart tin. Wrap in wax paper and let rest in the fridge for at least one hour or more. Pastry can be double wrapped and frozen for future use at this point, although if you can spare the tin, it is preferable to freeze it, arranged in the tin.
When ready to bake, remove the pastry from the fridge and let it warm up just a bit to prepare for rolling it out. Preheat the oven to the prescribed temperature for your recipe. A rolling pin cloaked with a "sock" and a pastry towel, make the rolling-out process very easy, with the help of a little additional flour to prevent sticking. Arrange the pastry in your removable bottom tart tin, and place uncovered in the freezer for 10 minutes. The pastry can best be frozen for future use at this point. Place in a tightly tied plastic bag. THE BASIC FORMULA CAN BE MODIFIED TO ADAPT TO A SPECIAL RECIPE For a savory tart or quiche shell, you may want to add a bit more salt, and anyone or two of the following ingredients: ½ cup of grated parmesan, ¼ cup finely chopped parsley or dill, 1 teaspoon of coarsely cracked pepper, or ¼ cup ground walnuts. The ingredients are added to the dry mixture, and may affect how many spoons of ice water you add! For a dessert tart shell, you will want to add two or three tablespoons of sugar to the flour salt dry mixture. Optionally you may want to add one or more of the following ingredients: 1-2 tablespoons of freshly grated lemon or orange rind (colored part only), ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract, ¼ to ½ cup of ground walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts. As above any ingredient you add may cause you to need slightly less or more ice water, keep your eyes open! Dare to be inventive….have fun! |
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