Pâte Brisée 1
This classic pastry dough recipe is enough for the Pear Tarte Tatin or a small galette.
The dough can be completed totally in the food processor but I prefer to do the last step, adding the cold water, by hand to achieve better control and avoid adding too much liquid.
P¢te Bris©e 1
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cup (5.8 oz / 165 g) all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
7 ½ tbl (3.75 oz / 107 g) unsalted butter, cold (see notes)
¼ to â…“ cup ice water
Tools and equipment needed:
- Dry measuring cups, scale, small liquid measuring cup
- Medium mixing bowl.
- Pastry blender, plastic spatula
- Food processor (optional)
Pre-recipe preparations:
- Take butter from refrigerator and cut into pieces. Let sit at room temperature for approximately 20 minutes. The butter should still be cold, but not rock solid, approximately 55 °F to 57 °F1
- Place flour and salt in food processor, process for 5 seconds.
- Add butter pieces, and process, using the pulse switch, just until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
- Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl.
- Using a plastic spatula to mix, add enough of the ice water until the dough comes together. Add dribbles of ice water to any dry parts remaining in the bowl.
- Scrape the dough into a large piece of plastic wrap, press it together into a round, and wrap.
- Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or longer. May be stored in refrigerator for 3 days or freezer for 2 months.
- Remove dough from refrigerator approximately 30 to minutes prior to rolling out.
Notes:
1 Most P¢te Bris©e recipes call for cold butter straight from the refrigerator. However, when using a food processor, the 38 °F to 40 °F butter will remain in cold distinct pieces, not form a homogenous dough, and require more water to form a dough. For this reason, I recommend the use of 55 °F to 57 °F butter.
Baking Tips:
- Pastry dough recipes are built on the percentage relationship between the primary ingredients; butter (or other fat) and flour. In my P¢te Bris©e recipe, butter is 65% of the weight of the flour. With this rule you can make as much, or as little P¢te Bris©e as you like. Start out with a set weight of flour and multiply by .65 to determine required weight of butter.
