Frozen Butter Pastry Dough Food

BUTTERCRUST PASTRY DOUGH

Steps:

• Place blade insert into bowl of food processor. Add 1 cup flour. Sprinkle frozen butter cubes over flour. Add remaining 1 cup flour, sugar, and salt. Cover. Pulse in short bursts on and off until butter is broken into small pieces and looks crumbly, about 1 minute. Drizzle in ice water. Pulse with longer pulses, on and off, until mixture turns pale yellow and looks like crumbs, about 10 to 12 seconds. Scrape down sides with spatula. Pulse once or twice more.
• Transfer mixture onto a work surface. Bring pieces together to form a tight round ball of dough. Flatten slightly and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight before rolling out.

FROZEN-BUTTER PASTRY DOUGH

Steps:

• Into a chilled large metal bowl sift together flour, sugar, and salt. Set a grater in flour bowl and coarsely grate frozen butter into flour mixture, gently lifting and tossing flour to coat butter. Chill flour mixture 20 minutes.
• Drizzle 6 tablespoons ice water evenly over flour mixture and gently stir with a fork until just incorporated. Test mixture by gently squeezing a small handful: When it has proper texture it should hold together without crumbling apart. If necessary, add enough remaining ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring until just incorporated, and test mixture again. (If you overwork mixture or add too much water, pastry dough will be tough.)
• Turn mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and with floured hands mound into 4 portions. With heel of hand smear each portion once in a forward motion to help distribute fat.
• Gather dough portions together and form dough, rotating it on work surface, into a disk (dough will not be smooth). Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 2 hours, or until firm, and up to 2 days.

FROZEN-BUTTER PASTRY DOUGH

Steps:

• Sift together flour, sugar, and salt into a chilled large metal bowl. Set a grater in flour mixture and coarsely grate in frozen butter, gently lifting flour and tossing to coat butter.
• Drizzle 9 tablespoons ice water evenly over flour mixture and gently stir with a fork until incorporated.
• Test mixture by gently squeezing a small handful: When it has proper texture, it should hold together without crumbling apart. If necessary, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring until just incorporated and testing again. (If you overwork mixture or add too much water, pastry will be tough.)
• Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and with floured heel of your hand smear dough twice with a forward motion to help distribute fat.
• Gather mixture together to form a dough. (Dough will not be smooth.) Form one third of dough into a disk, then form remaining dough into a larger disk.
• Chill dough, disks wrapped separately in plastic wrap, 1 hour.

FLAKY PASTRY DOUGH

Steps:

• Add the flour and salt to a large bowl and stir to combine. Add the butter and toss to combine. With your fingers, begin to "smush" the butter into flat pieces. Continue smushing until all the butter is flattened but none of the pieces are larger than a quarter. The flour will look like coarse cornmeal.
• Add the water, quickly folding it in with a wooden spoon to distribute the moisture. (Do not stir vigorously--the dough should appear shaggy.) Use your hands to break up any large clumps of moisture. Then use your knuckles or a palm to smear the dough up the sides of the bowl (a technique known as fraisage). This distributes the butter over a larger surface to achieve larger flakes and compact the dough. Once you've gone around the bowl one time, fold the dough over itself a few times to pick up any dry bits from the bottom. Gently press the dough into a disk. (Note: The dough should remain very cool to the touch throughout the process. If it approaches room temperature, refrigerate it for 5 to 10 minutes to chill.)
• Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and roll out to a 10-by-12-inch rectangle. Perform a letter fold by folding one of the short ends towards the middle and the other short end over the first, like folding a business letter.
• Turn the dough 90 degrees, so the long side faces you, and perform a second letter fold. Turn the dough 90 degrees again; perform a third letter fold.
• If the dough still feels cool, it can be used immediately. Otherwise, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 1 month.

FROZEN-BUTTER PASTRY DOUGH

Steps:

• Into a chilled large metal bowl sift together flour and salt. Set a grater in flour bowl and coarsely grate frozen butter into flour, gently lifting and tossing flour to coat butter. Chill mixture 20 minutes. Drizzle 6 tablespoons ice water evenly over mixture and gently stir with a fork until just incorporated. Gently squeeze a small handful of mixture to test for proper texture: It should hold together without crumbling apart. If necessary, add some additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time and stirring until just incorporated, and test mixture again. (If you overwork mixture or add too much water, pastry will be tough.)
• Turn mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and with floured hands mound into 4 portions. With heel of hand smear each portion once in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough portions together and form dough, rotating it on work surface, into a disk (dough will not be smooth). Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 2 hours, or until firm, and up to 2 days.

ALL-BUTTER PASTRY DOUGH

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl, then blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Drizzle evenly with 9 tablespoons ice water and gently stir with a fork (or pulse in food processor) until incorporated.
• Squeeze a small handful: If it doesn't hold together, add more ice water 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until just incorporated, then test again. (Do not overwork mixture, or pastry will be tough.)
• Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 8 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together with scraper and press into a ball, then flatten into a 6-inch disk. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.