Perfect Tart Crust Recipes

Steps:

• Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust.

Steps:

• Cut each stick of butter into 8 pieces, and refrigerate until needed. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl, and mix to combine.
• Add the chilled butter. Using a pastry blender, incorporate the butter into the flour mixture; the mixture should resemble coarse meal with small pieces of butter, the size of small peas, remaining visible.
• Drizzle 2 tablespoons ice water over the flour-butter mixture, and blend. Repeat with an additional 2 tablespoons water. At this point, you may have to add more water: When a handful of dough squeezed together just holds its shape, you've added enough; if the dough crumbles, continue incorporating water, 1 tablespoon at a time, checking the consistency after each additional tablespoon.
• Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface. Divide into two equal pieces, and place on two separate sheets of plastic wrap. Flatten, and form two disks. Wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Lightly dust a clean, dry work surface with flour. Place the chilled dough in the center of the work surface, and dust the dough as well as the rolling pin with flour. Position the rolling pin on the center of the disk, and begin rolling the dough away from you. Give the disk a quarter turn, and roll again. Continue turning and rolling until you have an even 1/8-inch thickness. Turning the dough as you roll will prevent it from sticking to the work surface. A dry pastry brush is handy to remove any excess flour during and after the rolling process.
• Lightly butter the pie plate. To minimize stretching when moving the dough, roll it around the pin, lift up, and unroll over the buttered pie plate. Using your fingers, gently pat the dough into place. Trim any excess dough with a paring knife or kitchen shears, leaving a 1-inch overhang; then fold dough under to reinforce the edge.

Steps:

• Cut the butter in 1/2-inch dice and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out onto a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle at least 1 inch larger than the pie pan, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough so it doesn¿t stick to the board. (You should see bits of butter in the dough.) Fold the dough in half, ease it into the pie pan without stretching at all, and unfold to fit the pan. With a small sharp paring knife, cut the dough 1 inch larger around than the pan. Fold the edge under and crimp the edge with either your fingers or the tines of a fork.

Steps:

• Put flour and salt in bowl of food processor. Cut the butter and margarine into small bits and add to the flour. Process 10 seconds, or until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the water little by little, processing as little as possible (10 to 15 seconds). Dough should just hold together in the bowl, but not be wet or sticky. Turn out onto plastic wrap, press into a ball, and chill at least 1 hour before using.
• To form tart or tartlet shells, use twice as many pans as projected number of tart or tartlets. Lightly butter or spray with vegetable oil the insides of half the pans.
• Roll half the pastry onto a lightly floured board to slightly less than 1/8-inch thick. Cut the pastry slightly larger than the pans, press into pans, and cut away excess with your thumb. Repeat process with rest of pastry. In the case of a large tart, cut the pastry large enough so that there will be a 1/2-inch overhang.
• Press the unbuttered pans on top of each of the pastry-filled pans. These act as weights and will prevent shrinkage and puffing while baking. Line large tarts with aluminum foil and weight with beans or rice.
• Chill tart or tartlets on baking sheets until ready to bake. This may be done the day before. Do not leave unbaked pastry in the tart shells longer than this or discoloration may occur. Any unused pastry can be tightly wrapped and chilled (up to 2 days) or frozen.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake the shells for 15 to 17 minutes. Press down any pans that puff up. When pastry seems to be coloring very slightly around edges, remove top pans and return pastry to oven to dry out. Do not brown. Cool the shells on racks. If not to be used immediately, store in a tightly covered plastic container in the freezer. Thaw before using.