My Go To Flaky Pastry Crust

This is the only recipe I have for a pastry crust. This is the most basic pie crust recipe. I use it for everything, sweet pies, savoury tarts, cookies etc. The only change I make to this is the additions or subtractions of sugar. For savoury dishes, I omit the sugar, and increase the salt, add a few herbs to make it more savoury. I have also made a pie crust for my Strawberry Chocolate Hand Pies from this basic pie crust by adding oats. Oats give this recipe a bite, which I thought was beautiful in the pies. The cute pies are delicious by the way, a perfect summer treat.

For the pie crust, mix flour, salt and icing sugar in a bowl.

 

 

Add in the cold butter and start incorporating the butter into the flour by pressing the cold butter with the flour using your index and thumb. The various stages of incorporating the dough are shown below.  First, the butter and flour are tossed together, so that the butter is coated with the flour. Then the butter is pressed with some flour between fingers and the process is continued till there are only very tiny flakes of butter left in the flour.

 

 

Once all of the butter is pressed and incorporated into the flour, add cold water, a teaspoon at a time, just enough to make a messy, rough dough. The dough will hold shape, but will not look smooth and clean on the surface. The dough is wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated till required. If your tart is a closed tart, divide the dough into two before wrapping.

 

 

Unwrap the dough and place it on a parchment paper. Place another parchment paper on top. Bash it with a rolling pin to flatten it and then roll it into a round, to fit the tin and the sides.

 

 

Fit it into the tart case, pressing against the sides. If the sides look a little cracked, patch it up with leftover dough. Cut off the excess dough on top.

 

 

With a fork, prick holes on the surface and sides of the tart dough. Blind bake the tart by placing a parchment paper over the dough and some uncooked rice or beans on top.

 

 

 

Recipe:
Makes- 1 Tart shell
Time- 50 Minutes

Flour- 2 1/2 Cups
Icing Sugar- 3 Teaspoon
Salt-  1 Teaspoon
Cold Butter- 1/2 Cup, cubed
Cold Water- 3 Teaspoons

1. Mix flour, salt and icing sugar in a bowl.
2. Add in the cold butter and start incorporating the butter into the flour. First, toss the butter and flour to coat the butter.  Then press the flour with the flour between fingers and repeat the process time only tiny flecks of butter is left in the flour.
3. Add cold water, a teaspoon at a time, just enough to make a messy, rough dough. The dough will hold shape, but will not look smooth and clean on the surface. The dough is wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated till required. If your tart is a closed tart, divide the dough into two before wrapping.
4. Unwrap the dough and place it between two parchment papers.  Bash it with a rolling pin to flatten it and then roll it into a round, to fit the tin and the sides.
5. Fit it into the tart case, pressing against the sides. If the sides look a little cracked, patch it up with leftover dough. Cut off the excess dough on top.
6. With a fork, prick holes on the surface and sides of the tart dough.
7. Blind bake the tart by placing a parchment paper over the dough and some uncooked rice or beans on top. Blind bake in a preheated oven at 210 Degrees C for 20 minutes.
8. To cook the tart completely, after the 20minutes of blind baking, take off the parchment paper with the rice/ beans and bake it for a further 15- 20 minutes till the crust is golden brown.

NOTE:

• Based on the kind of pie you are making, you will either need to fully bake the tart by cooking it further after blind baking or fill it soon after blind baking.
• Usually, The more liquid the filling has, the more baked the tart shell has to be.
• Also, if the filling is already cooked, the tart will have to be baked fully, i.e., the more cooking the filling needs, the lesser baking time the tart shell requires before filling.

I used this recipe for my Apple Pie.