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.Classic Tart Dough

Source of Recipe

From "The Perfect Pie" by America's Test Kitchen


Recipe Introduction

"While regular pie crust is tender and flaky, classic tart crust should be fine-textured, buttery-rich, crisp, and crumbly. (It's often described as shortbread-like.) A tart typically features less filling than a traditional pie, so we needed a top-notch crust that could handle the spotlight. We found that using a whole stick of butter made tart dough that tasted great and was easy to handle, yet still had a delicate crumb. Instead of using the hard-to-find superfine sugar and pastry flour that many recipes call for, we used confectioners' sugar (the finest of the fine) combined with all-purpose flour to achieve a crisp texture. Rolling the dough and fitting it into the tart pan was easy, and we had ample dough to patch any holes. You need only to lightly flour the counter when rolling out this supple dough."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 1 large egg yolk
â—¦ 1 tablespoon heavy cream
â—¦ ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
â—¦ 1 ¼ cups (6 ¼ ounces) all-purpose flour
â—¦ â…” cup (2 â…” ounces) confectioners' sugar
â—¦ ¼ teaspoon salt
â—¦ 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch pieces and chilled


Recipe

Whisk egg yolk, cream, and vanilla together in bowl. Process flour, sugar, and salt together in food processor until combined, about 5 seconds. Scatter butter over top and pulse until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, about 15 pulses. With processor running, add egg yolk mixture and continue to process until dough just comes together around processor blade, about 12 seconds.

Transfer dough to sheet of plastic wrap and form into 6-inch disk. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to two days.

Let chilled dough sit on counter to soften slightly, about 10 minutes, before rolling. (Wrapped dough can be frozen for up to 1 month. If frozen, let dough thaw completely on counter before rolling.)

Makes one 9-inch tart crust



• Chocolate Tart Dough:
Substitute ¼ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder for ¼ cup flour.