75 minutes
A versatile tart and pie dough recipe for creating perfectly flaky crusts.
cups
All-Purpose Unbleached Flour
cups
teaspoons
Cold Butter, cut into small cubes
tablespoons
1. Mix Flour and Salt
Start by mixing the all-purpose flour and salt in a large bowl. This ensures that the salt is evenly distributed throughout the flour, setting the stage for a well-seasoned dough.
2. Incorporate Butter
Next, incorporate the cold butter cubes into the flour mixture. Use a pastry blender, your fingertips, or a stand mixer with a paddle attachment to work the butter into the flour. Aim for a crumbly texture with pea-sized chunks of butter.
3. Add Water
Once your butter is incorporated, gradually add ¾ of the ice-cold water to the mixture. Use a fork or set your mixer to low speed to gently bring the dough together. Add more water only if necessary.
4. Refrigerate Dough
Finally, divide the dough into two equal parts and wrap each portion in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour. This resting period allows the gluten to relax, making the dough easier to roll out.
Use extremely cold butter and ice-cold water to keep the butter from melting and to create flaky layers.
Mix until just combined to prevent developing too much gluten, which leads to a tough crust.
Refrigerate after shaping to relax gluten and firm up butter, making it easier to roll out and enhancing texture.
Aim for pea-sized pieces of butter to create pockets of steam and flaky layers during baking.
Add water a tablespoon at a time, just until the dough starts to come together without becoming sticky.
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