Flaky Pastry Dough

Use this with the recipe for Caramelized Apple Tart (Tarte Tatin).

Recipe from Bake! by Nick Malgieri/Kyle Books, 2010.

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Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour		12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 12 pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt		2 large eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder

directions

Total:

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1
To mix the dough by hand, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl and stir to combine.
2
Cut each piece of butter into 4 or 5 smaller pieces and add the pieces to the bowl. Using both hands, palms upward, reach under the dry ingredientts to the bottom of the bowl and lift them up through the contents of the bowl several times to distribute the pieces of butter evenly.
3
Use your fingertips to pinch the pieces of butter into smaller pieces, alternating that with rubbing the mixture between the palms of your hands, as well as occasionally repeating step 2.
4
Continue rubbing in the butter until the largest pieces are no more than 1/4 inch across, but the whole mixture is still cool and powdery.
5
Add the eggs and use a fork to break them up. Move the bowl back and forth on the work surface while you stir from the bottom up with the fork until the dough is almost completely mixed.
6
Invert the dough to a floured work surface and gently press it into a consistent mass. Continue with step 11.
7
To mix the dough in a food processor, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl fitted with the metal blade. Pulse several times to mix.
8
Add the butter and pulse repeatedly at 1-second intervals until the butter appears in small pieces.
9
Add the egg and pulse just until the dough almost forms a ball; pulsing too much at this point will incorporate the butter smoothly and cut down on flakiness.
10
Invert the dough to a floured work surface and carefully remove the blade. Gently press the dough into a cohesive mass.
11
Divide the dough in half, then flatten each half into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm or as long as 3 days.

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Flaky Pastry Dough

Ingredients

directions