Component: Tart Dough

You can go far with a good tart dough. The sturdier, more European cousin to pie dough (call it pâte brisée if you want to sound sophisticated or possibly pretentious), it comes out with a bit more structure than a flaky pie crust, able to handle a wet, heavy filling and still remain sturdy enough that you can pick up a slice and eat it out of hand. It’s a recipe you can do a lot with, able to take both sweet fillings like pastry cream or savory ones like quiche. The most surprising and least sophisticated part of this particular recipe, though, is that its existence is directly attributable to Guy Fieri.

Making the dough takes just a few minutes; the only really interesting part is the process of combining the butter with the dry ingredients. The idea is to coat the flour in butter, which will prevent it from forming excess gluten when you add liquid later. The size of the pieces of butter left over also play a key role in the final texture of the dough–compare flaky, layered pie dough, which is made with fairly large pieces of butter, with crumbly, tender scones or drop biscuits, which is made with smaller bits. Tart dough lies somewhere in the middle, with a few pea-sized pieces of butter interspersed in a sandy flour mixture.

A lot of recipes will have you do this in a food processor, but I don’t have one, and if I did, I wouldn’t want to deal with washing it if I didn’t have to. Instead, I use a technique inspired by an old episode of Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives which featured a restaurant that used a meat grinder to incorporate frozen butter directly into the flour they used to make biscuits. Working on a smaller scale, I’ve had success using a box grater to work in the butter: just grate some cold or frozen butter into the dry ingredients, give it a stir to coat the shreds in flour, and then work it in with your fingers to get the right final consistency.¹

From there, just stir in an egg and a splash of water, knead the dough just enough for it to come together, and roll it out between two sheets of parchment paper. When rolling out the dough, be sure to rotate and flip it every few rolls, as well as peel off the parchment to keep it from sticking. If you work fast, use cold ingredients, and have a cool kitchen, you can roll the dough out right after mixing, but if you notice the dough feeling sticky or resisting rolling out further, give it a brief rest in the fridge for the butter to chill and the gluten to relax before continuing.

Once the dough is rolled out, fit it into your tart pan, being sure not to stretch it into the corners, but rather gently drape and press to avoid later shrinking. If you’ve got cracks, just trim off a bit of dough from somewhere with excess and press it into the gap to patch. Let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour to relax the gluten in the dough and allow it to fully hydrate. When ready to bake, dock the dough (i.e. prick the bottom all over with a fork, to keep it from puffing) and press a sheet of foil over the surface and into the corners.²

The last step is to bake the dough–until pale golden if you’re par-baking before filling it, or until golden brown if the filling won’t need further cooking. From there you can fill the crust with whatever you want. For ideas, just ask yourself: what would Guy Fieri do?

Uses

This dough is also unsweetened³, letting you use the same dough for both sweet and savory fillings. Some ideas:

• Guava cheesecake tart
• Make a quiche with some eggs, milk or cream, and whatever you have lying around that would be good in an omelette.
• Fill it with pastry cream and bake it to make a Parisian flan.
• Fill it with pastry cream and don’t bake it, then top with fruit.

Notes

1. This is also how I make scones and biscuits. Just start with grated butter and then rub the shreds into the flour until you achieve the final texture desired.
2. This is a tip I picked up from Claire Saffitz, who in turn credits Lindsey Shere. I haven’t done very thorough testing yet, but from what I’ve seen so far, the empty foil does somehow keep the dough in shape without needing any dried beans or pie weights.
3. The teaspoon of sugar in the dough doesn’t make it appreciably sweet, but rather helps the crust brown better. Don’t omit it if making a savory tart, but you can increase the sugar to 2 teaspoons if you want when making a sweet tart.

Component: Tart Dough

Prep List

Equipment

Procedure