(Experiment 56) Pâte Brisée
Ingredients
- 150 g unsalted butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 300 g all-purpose flour
- 125 ml cold water
Instructions
- In a large bowl put the flour and butter. Using a pastry blender ( no need to buy an expensive one) or 2 forks ( less ideal) cut the flour with the butter. You dont want to overblend, do it until you dont see chunks of butter
- Dissolve the salt in the water and gradually add it to the flour mix. I use my hand to “mix” it while adding the water, the goal is to form a ball. Again, don’t “play” too much with the mix
- **Note that depending on temperature and humidity you will likely need to add less than 125ml and rarely you may need to add an extra teaspoon. You don’t want a dry nor wet ball.
- Put the ball in a plastic film and put it in the fridge ideally for 2 hours (maximum 24hours), the minimum is 30 mins but it may break up when rolling.
- Now it’s time to roll the dough. Take the ball out of the fridge and put it on a floured surface ( IE: countertop) and chop it into 2 pieces. Using a rolling pin gently press it down while keeping it the shape somewhat of a circle. Ensure it’s a bit larger than your tin as we will chop some of it later so it doesn’t need to be perfectly shaped. You want the dough to be thin, I would say about 1/8″
- Repeat with the second piece
You can freeze the ball in your freezer covered in plastic film for a month.
This is a very flaky dough with a high percentage of butter so, with heat, it will have a tendency to shrink. While it doesn’t change anything to the flavor, visually it’s less esthetic. How to prevent this?1-Don’t add too much water when making the dough, add water until it all combine together2- After you rolled your dough and it is in the tin, put it in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.