Tart Crust Food

EASY TART CRUST

Steps:

• Blend flour and salt in processor. Add butter; using on/off turns, cut in until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 3 tablespoons ice water and cream. Process just until moist clumps form, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic; chill 1 hour. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.)

PERFECT PIE CRUST

Steps:

• Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust.

TART CRUST

Steps:

• Put the flour, sugar and salt into the bowl of a food processor, and pulse once or twice to mix. Add the butter, and pulse twice more, so it's still in very large pieces. Steadily pour the ice water into the machine while pulsing it as quickly as you can, until the butter is still visible in large smears and the dough is pushing up the sides of the bowl and looks like damp bread crumbs (you may not need to add all the water).
• Scrape the dough crumbs into a bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (The dough will continue to hydrate, but if it still feels powdery and dry, wet your fingertips and flick a little cold water onto the crumbs.) After 1 hour, divide the dough into two even balls, gently squashing each into a disc, and wrap each in plastic wrap. Put one in the fridge, to roll out for the potato-and-radicchio tart, and put the other in the freezer so that you have dough ready to go for another tart.

MILK TART WITH A BAKED CRUST

Steps:

• Crust - Step 1 - Measure the flour, baking powder and salt in a jug and whisk until combined. Cream butter and sugar together with a beater attachment until pale and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add the egg and beat until thoroughly incorporated. By hand add in the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
• Crust - Step 2 - Press the dough into a 25cm/10inch tart plate with a removable base. Make sure that it isn't too thick and dock with a fork. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes. Meanwhile preheat oven to 200C/400F and when ready bake the base for 15 minutes or until golden and cooked through. You don't need to weight this down if you freeze the pastry. The pastry can be baked 1-2 days in advance and covered well and placed in an airtight container or box.
• Heat the milk with the cinnamon stick to just under boiling point.
• Lightly beat the eggs with the sugar, and then add the corn flour and flour.
• Pour the hot milk into this mixture, stirring rapidly.
• Return the mixture to the heat and cook, stirring until the mixture becomes thick.
• Keep stirring while it is cooking to prevent it from catching on the bottom of the pot and getting lumpy.
• Take the mixture off the heat and add the vanilla essence and butter.
• Stir well until the butter is melted.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tart crust.
• Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

EASY SHORTBREAD TART CRUST (NO ROLL)

Steps:

• Blend ingredients to make a soft dough.
• Pat into a 9 or 10 inch tart or pie pan.
• Prick crust well with fork.
• Bake in 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.

TART DOUGH

Steps:

• To make the dough in a food processor: Put the flour, sugar and salt in the processor and whir a few times to blend. Scatter the bits of butter over the flour and pulse several times, until the butter is coarsely mixed into the flour. Beat the egg with the ice water and pour it into the bowl in 3 small additions, whirring after each one. (Don't overdo it - the dough shouldn't form a ball or ride on the blade.) You'll have a moist, malleable dough that will hold together when pinched. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it into a ball (if the dough doesn't come together easily, push it, a few spoonfuls at a time, under the heel of your hand or knead it lightly), and flatten it into a disk.
• To make the dough by hand: Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Drop in the bits of butter and, using your hands or a pastry blender, work the butter into the flour until it is evenly distributed. You'll have large and small butter bits, and that's fine - uniformity isn't a virtue here. Beat the egg and water together, drizzle over the dough, and, using a fork, toss the dough until it is evenly moistened. Reach into the bowl and, using your fingertips, mix and knead the dough until it comes together. Turn it out onto a work surface, gather it into a ball (if the dough doesn't come together easily, push it, a few spoonfuls at a time, under the heel of your hand or knead it some more), and flatten it into a disk.
• Chill the dough for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.)
• When you're ready to make the tart shell, butter a 9- to 9 1/2-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom (butter it even if it's nonstick).
• To roll out the dough: I like to roll out the dough between sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap or in a lightly floured rolling cover, but you can roll it out on a lightly floured work surface. If you're working between sheets of paper or plastic wrap, lift the paper or plastic often so that it doesn't roll into the dough, and turn the dough over frequently. If you're just rolling on the counter, make sure to lift and turn the dough and reflour the counter often. The rolled-out dough should be about ¼ inch thick and at least 12 inches in diameter.
• Transfer the dough to the tart pan, easing it into the pan without stretching it. (What you stretch now will shrink in the oven later.) Press the dough against the bottom and up the sides of the pan. If you'd like to reinforce the sides of the crust, you can fold some of the excess dough over, so that you have a double thickness around the sides. Using the back of a table knife, trim the dough even with the top of the pan. Prick the base of the crust in several places with a fork.
• Chill - or freeze - the dough for at least 1 hour before baking.
• Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Press a piece of buttered foil (or use nonstick foil) against the crust's surface. If you'd like, you can fill the covered crust with rice or dried beans (which will be inedible after this but can be used for baking for months to come) to keep the dough flat, but this isn't really necessary if the crust is well chilled. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and put the tart pan on the sheet.
• To partially bake the crust: Bake for 20 minutes, then very carefully remove the foil (with the rice or beans). Return the crust to the oven and bake for another 3 to 5 minutes, or until it is lightly golden. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and allow the crust to cool before you fill it.
• To fully bake the crust: Bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until it is an even golden brown. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and allow the crust to cool before you fill it.

TART SHELL

Steps:

• Blend together flour, sugar, salt, butter, and shortening 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 3 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. (If you overwork mixture, pastry will be tough.)
• Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 6 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion. Gather dough together with scraper and press into a ball, then flatten into a 6-inch disk. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Roll out dough with a floured rolling pin into a 13-inch round on a lightly floured surface and fit into tart pan. Trim excess dough, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, then fold overhang inward and press against side of pan to reinforce edge. Lightly prick bottom and sides with a fork. Chill 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Line tart shell with foil or parchment paper and fill with pie weights. Bake in middle of oven until pastry is pale golden along rim, 20 minutes. Carefully remove foil and weights and bake until pale golden all over, 10 minutes more. Cool in pan on a rack.