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Tart crust

  • 155 g White Wheat Flour
  • 1/4 t Medium-Grain Salt
  • 25 g White Sugar
  • 140 g Unsalted Butter, cold, divided into 5 g chunks
  • 1 Egg Yolk
  • 3 T Ice Water
  1. Mix dough. Briefly pulse flour, salt, sugar in a food processor. Add all butter. Pulse 10 seconds until the mixture is uniform. Add egg yolk and pulse briefly until combined. Transfer mixture to a mixing bowl. Add freezing water. Mix by hand until the dough forms into a ball.
  2. Chill. Form the dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic. Chill 30 minutes in fridge.
  3. Roll out dough. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle top with some flour. Use a rolling pin to roll with light pressure from the center out. Roll, adding flour and rotating and turning the dough as needed. Stop when the diameter of the dough is about 5 cm greater than the diameter of your tart pan.
  4. Dress pie crust. Drape the dough over the rolling pin to transfer it into the pie plate. Press dough firmly into the plate all over. Trim the excess dough to about 15 mm all around, then tuck it under itself around the edge of the plate. Decorate the edges with a fork or your fingers.
Do not overwork the dough in the food processor.

The pockets of butter make the pie crust flaky. To overwork the dough is to make these pockets smaller and smaller. You won't have a delicate, flaky crust; it will come out tough and mealy.

Can I chill the dough faster in the freezer?

Yes. You can chill the dough ball in freezer in half the time; e.g. 20 minutes in the refrigerator requires 10 minutes in the freezer.

What if the dough is too sticky to roll?

Add a little flour. Chill the dough again if it continues to become sticky, and it's taking you more than a few minutes to roll it out.

What if my dough tears while rolling?

Use ragged edges of dough to repair tears. Add a drop of water when you press the patch into place.

  1. Prepare pie crust following the relevant directions. The pie crust must be chilled before baking.
  2. Preheat oven to 425ºF (218ºC).
  3. Weigh down pie crust with foil. Press pie crust firmly into the pie plate. Lightly grease one side a large sheet of foil with butter. Press the foil onto the crust butter-side down. Pour some dry rice or beans into the foil.
  4. Bake at 425ºF for 12 minutes. Remove from oven. Remove weights and foil.
  5. Bake at 350ºF. Reduce oven to 350ºF (177ºC). Bake 10 minutes until the crust turns golden brown color.
  6. Cool to room-temperature on a wire rack before filling.

Continue baking until crust is golden brown if the pie's filling requires no additonal baking.

Why do we weigh down the pie crust?

The pie crust can bubble and lose its shape while baking. Weighing it down helps safeguard a crust that looks as good as it tastes.

  1. Bittman, Mark. How to Cook Everything. 10th Anniversary Edition. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008. ↩