Pâte Brisée (Short Pastry)
Enough for 8-inch tart shell
Servings: 4
Equipment
- 1 8-inch tart tin with removable base
- 1 medium mixing bowl
- 1 Rolling Pin
Ingredients
- 5 oz All-purpose flour chilled
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp sugar optional
- 3 oz butter cold, cut into ½-in cubes
- 1 oz vegetable shortening cold, cut into ½-inch pieces
- 3½ Tbsp water very cold (between 3-4½ Tbsp)
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. Add the butter and shortening, and using your fingertips, rapidly rub the flour and the fat together until the fat has broken into pieces about the size of oatmeal flakes. Be sure to not overdo it!
- Next add the water and blend it together quickly with your hands, until it begins to come together into a mass. If necessary, sprinkle in additional water to any dry pieces to add them to the main body of the dough. Press firmly into a roughly shaped ball. The dough should be pliable, but not sticky.
- Transfer dough to lightly floured surface. Using the heel of your hand, rapidly press the pastry down and away from you (only small portions of the ball). Do this about 6-7 times, bringing the dough together a bit more, then knead it briefly into a fairly smooth ball.
- Sprinkle with flour, flattening lightly, then wrap into cling wrap, and place into refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight.
- When ready to use, butter an 8-inch tart tin. Remove dough from refrigerator, and remove plastic wrap. Place dough onto floured surface. Using a rolling pin, knead quickly into a fairly flat circle, about ⅛-inch thick.
- Lay the dough into the tart tin, and press it lightly into the bottom. Gently work it down the inside edges of the tin with your fingers, pushing down a bit to make the sides just a little thicker. Trim off the excess dough by rolling the rolling pin over the top of the mold.
- Push the dough a bit above the edge of the mold, making an eve, rounded rim all around the inside circumference. Prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork at ½-inch intervals.
- Line the pastry case with aluminum foil, and fill the foil with pie weights. Refrigerate.
- Pre-heat oven to 400°F.
- When oven is preheated, place the pastry shell, filled with pie weights and foil, into the oven and back for 9-10 minutes. Remove the foil and weights, and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes.
Notes
From "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child, Simone Beck, and Louisette Bertholle