A basic : pastry dough

It's not really a classic "pâte brisée", it's not really a precise recipe either - and I don't have pictures. But since I have several tart recipes ready to post with the ingredient "one pastry dough", I figured I should start with this. I use it for quiches, desserts and salty tarts as well.

Basic pastry dough

2 big tablespoons of butter - or vegetal butter subsitute

1 dash of oil (I like olive oil for the taste, but you can mix various oils according to your taste)

1 small glass of water

2 to 3 cups of flour

1 pinch of salt

Put the butter or substitute in a small bowl and melt it in the microwave (if it's not completely melted stir for a while and the remaining solid blobs will melt as well). Add the flour, oil and salt, start lightly mixing with your hand. At this stage your dough is a little fat and a little dry at the same time. Don't try to turn it into a ball yet !

Little by little, add some water, keep kneading lightly. Don't press or twist the dough too much or it will become hard once baked. With the water the dough will get more cohesion. Knead it lightly into a ball. Dust your tabletop with flour and simply roll the dough onto it - you don't need to let it rest before using it as it contains less butter than a regular pâte brisée.

I know it might seem off-putting to not give more precise measurements, but really, I go by a rule of thumbs to make my dough. Adding the water little by little allows me to stop when I have the right consistency - easy to knead, not too heavy, not crumbly anymore, not sticky either. At this point the dough doesn't stick to the skin anymore, just rub your hands with some flour to get rid of what is still attached to your fingers. If you added too much water and the dough got sticky, just compensate with some more flour.

With experience, you'll get a idea of yow much fat and flour you need for variosu quantities of dough.

Just remember :

• don't over-knead the dough (it will still taste good, but you'll need a good knife to cut the portions)
• don't stress :)

You can replace the butter by other fats, according to a wise cook I know, incorporating many different fats makes for a tastier dough. One way to decide how much oil to use it to pour the flour into the bowl, put your finger into the flour, vertically, and fill the hole with oil. It's probably not a scientific method, but it amuses me.

Off course, you can spice it up, with one tablespoon of sugar for sweet tarts, some spices, ground hazelnuts or almonds, ... (I have to admit, I rarely do, because I'm often lazy in the spices department, shame on me !)

Okay, now I've typed a mile-long post for something that's extremely simple, I hope I haven't scared off anyone !