May 28 2008
Basic savory tart dough
This is a quick recipe for savory tart dough, it’s very easy to make and tastes good, depending on the recipe sometimes I will customize it a little bit by adding dried herbs (thyme, oregano, rosemary, etc). The quantities in the recipe are for two 9 inch tart shells, I figure if you’re going to make a tart you should make more than one, since they seem to be eaten very quickly.
Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
Dash of salt
12 tbs or 1 ½ sticks chilled butter
2 eggs
3-4 tbs cold water
Preparation:
- Mix the flour and salt in a food processor.
- Add the butter in pieces and pulse until the flour begins to thicken
- Add eggs and the water, pulse until small clumps of dough begin to form.
- Form two balls with the dough, flatten into disks, use the dough immediately or let it rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes if it is too warm.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a thin sheet and cover the tart pan with it, press the dough gently with your fingers onto the pan, start at the center and move outward, remove any excess dough from the edges but leave an inch to wrap around the edges of the pan – this will help prevent the crust from shrinking.
- Prick the tart shell with a fork and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or until ready to use.
- For recipes that call for the tart shell to be partially baked, pre-heat the oven to 400 F, line the shell with foil and fill with beans or baking beads for about 20 minutes, just until the edges begin to get some color. If the edges get very brown you might want to cover the edges with foil while cooking the tart (once the filling is added).


Laylita,
Your recipe seems like it would yield a lot of dough! How much are you left with after lining one mold?
If you want to make a nice savory dough that’s just enough for one mold, try this…it’s manageable enough to assemble by hand, or using a pastry scraper on a nice cold marble countertop. If you want the instructions, let me know. I urge all of you to use a scale for baking – it’s essential, especially for doughs.
Pate Brisée
200 grams all-purpose flour
100 grams butter, very cold and cut into small pieces
5 grams salt
1 whole egg, mixed with 2 tsp. very cold water
*If you want a sweet dough, sift in 30 grams, or 2 level tbsp. of sugar with the dry ingredients.
Also, I suggest buttering the pie mold with some cold butter (bottom and sides) and then dusting it with flour, inverting the pie mold and shaking off the excess flour. Refrigerate until you’re ready to line the mold with the dough.
The quantities in the original recipe above are for 2 tarts, at our house tarts go very fast so if I just make one we would never have enough.