This buttery, flaky and easy to make tart crust, is perfect for any kind of filling of your choice!
Ingredients for a 9-inch tart:
- 11⁄4 cup flour
- pinch of salt
- 1⁄4 cup powdered sugar
- 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tablespoons + 3 extra tablespoons ice-cold water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions:
1. Sift flour, salt, and powdered sugar in a bowl and whisk them to combine.
2. Add the cubed pieces of cold butter. Then use your fingers to work the butter into the flour so you’ll end up with pea-sized pieces of butter. You have to work quickly so that the butter stays cold.
3. Whisk the egg yolk, vanilla extract, and 2 tablespoons ice-cold water in a separate bowl and add it to the flour and butter mixture.
4. Use a fork to distribute the liquid. Keep adding 1 tablespoon of water at a time and mixing until the dough starts to come together and you don’t see any dry spots. You can test the dough by squeezing the dough pieces together, they should hold together.
5. Now bring the dough pieces together to form a ball, I like to knead it VERY lightly, just with my fingertips for maybe 10 seconds until it comes together and the water is distributed evenly in the dough. As soon as it comes together, stop, or you’ll end up with a tough crust.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 1 hour.
7. After an hour, flour your work surface and rolling pin lightly. Roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch thick.
8. Then carefully transfer to a greased (I use butter) 9-inch tart pan, trim the edges. Use a fork and poke holes all around the bottom of crust.
9. Freeze it for 15 minutes before baking. Preheat your oven to 375 F while you are waiting.
10. Line your crust with parchment paper. Then fill it with pie weights or beans. Bake for 20 minutes.
11. Remove from the oven and remove the parchment paper and beans. Return it to the oven for 10 more minutes. Then set aside to cool down completely before adding any fillings.
12. Fill the crust with a sweet filling of your choice, like pastry cream! You can find the recipe for my Fruit Tart Recipe here.
Don’t forget to watch the video here: ↓
