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Frozen Butter Pastry Dough

Source of Recipe


From "The Gourmet Cookbook"



List of Ingredients



• 2¼ cups cake flour (not self-rising)
  
• ¼ tsp salt
  
• 2 sticks (½ pound) unsalted butter, frozen
  
• ½ cup plus 1 to 2 Tbsp ice water
  






Instructions



1. Sift together flour and salt into a chilled large metal bowl. Set a grater in bowl and coarsely grate frozen butter into flour, gently lifting and tossing flour to coat butter. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
   
   
2. Drizzle ½ cup ice water evenly over flour mixture and gently stir with a fork until just incorporated. Gently squeeze a small handful of dough: if it doesn't hold together add more water, ½ tablespoon at a time, stirring after each addition. Do not overwork dough, or pastry will be tough.
   
   
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into eight portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together, with a pastry scraper if you have one, and divide in half. If making jalousie, form each piece into a 6- x 4-inch rectangle. Or, for a pie, form each piece into a ball, then flatten into a 5-inch disk. (Dough will not be smooth.) Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
   
   Makes enough for a 10- x 6-inch jalousie or
   a double-crust 9-inch pie.