Best Flaky Pie Dough For Individual Tartes Tatin Recipes

FLAKY PIE DOUGH FOR INDIVIDUAL TARTES TATIN

Steps:

• Combine flour, salt, and sugar in bowl of a food processor. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds.
• With machine running, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water in a slow, steady stream through the feed tube until dough holds together, taking no longer than 30 seconds. Turn dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Press dough into a disk; wrap. Chill at least 1 hour.

FLAKY PIE DOUGH

Steps:

• In a food processor, pulse flour and salt to combine. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons ice water; pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed (if necessary, add up to 2 tablespoons more water, 1 tablespoon at a time). Form dough into a 1-inch-thick rectangle, wrap tightly in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, 1 hour (or up to 3 days).

TARTE TATIN PASTRY

Steps:

• To make the pastry, combine the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter. Rub the flour and butter together between your fingers until most of the butter is incorporated and only pea-size pieces remain.
• Whisk together the egg yolk and water. Add to the flour mixture and stir until dough begins to come together. Use your hands to gently press the dough into a ball. Refrigerate until firm but not hard, about 30 minutes (if making ahead, let dough stand at room temperature until pliable but still cold). Do not roll out until just before the tarte Tatin's fruit is finished cooking.
• To roll out the pastry, flour a work surface and a rolling pin well. Divide the dough in half (freeze the remaining dough if not needed). Pat the dough into a flat disk with your hands. Roll the dough into a circle that is almost 1/4 inch thick, flouring the surface under the dough and the rolling pin frequently to prevent sticking.
• Carefully place the pastry round over the fruit in the skillet (see Tarte Tatin recipes). Trim the dough to 1/2 inch larger than the skillet. Tuck the overhanging dough in around the fruit.

INDIVIDUAL TARTES TATIN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Peel apple, halve lengthwise, and core. Using a 1-cup ramekin (3 1/4 inches across and 2 1/4 inches deep) as a guide, cut out 2 rounds from pastry sheet.
• In a 7-inch heavy skillet heat butter over moderate heat until foam subsides and stir in brown sugar and water. Add apple halves and cook, turning frequently, 3 minutes. In two 1-cup ramekins set on a baking sheet arrange apple halves, cored sides up, and top evenly with sauce.
• Top apples with pastry rounds, letting edges of pastry hang over sides of apples. Bake tarts in middle of oven for 20 minutes, or until pastry is puffed and golden brown, and cool on a rack 5 minutes. Working with 1 ramekin at a time, invert a plate over each ramekin and invert ramekin onto plate. Carefully lift off ramekins.
• Serve tarts with ice cream.

TARTE-TATIN: TATIN PIE

Steps:

• Place a 12-inch nonstick skillet on the stove top on medium heat. Melt the butter with sugar and stir until it starts to caramelize, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• In the same skillet, layer the apples in a circular pattern making sure they are tightly placed and cover the whole surface of the pan. Add another layer of apples and cover them with puff pastry dough folding the dough inside the edges of the pan.
• Put the tatin pie in the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
• Remove the tatin pie from the oven and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes before flipping the pie.
• For Sponge Toffee: Combine the sugar, syrup, and vanilla in a medium-size saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Continue to cook to 300 degrees F, on a candy thermometer or hard crack stage, about 10 minutes.
• Remove from the heat, using a wooden spoon, stir in the baking soda quickly. It will become frothy. Pour into an 8 by 8-inch/20 by 20-cm pan, lined with parchment paper and buttered.
• Let cool for about 30 minutes and break into pieces.
• Chocolate Dipped Sponge Toffee: Dip the sponge toffee in chocolate for a homemade crunchy treat.
• Sponge Toffee Ice Cream: Mix sponge toffee pieces into prepared ice cream.

FLAKY PIE DOUGH

Steps:

• To mix the dough by hand, combine flour, salt and baking powder in a medium sized mixing bowl and stir well to mix. Cut butter into 1tablespoon pieces and add to dry ingredients. Toss once or twice to coat pieces of butter. Then using your hands or a pastry blender, break the butter into tiny pieces and pinch and squeeze it into the dry ingredients. Keep the mixture uniform by occasionally reaching down to the bottom of the bowl and mixing all the ingredients evenly together. Continue rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles a coarseground cornmeal and no large pieces of butter remain visible.
• Sprinkle the minimum amount of water over the butter and flour mixture and stir gently with a fork the dough should begin holding together. If the mixture still appears dry and crumbly, add the remaining water, 1 teaspoon at a time for the smaller quantity of dough, a tablespoon at a time for the larger quantity, until the dough holds together easily.
• To mix the dough in the food processor, combine flour, salt and baking powder in work bowl fitted with metal blade. Pulse 3 times at 1second intervals to mix. Cut butter into 1 tablespoon pieces and add to work bowl. Process, pulsing repeatedly at 1second intervals, until the mixture is fine and powdery, resembles a coarseground cornmeal and no large pieces of butter remain visible about 15 pulses in all.
• Scatter the minimum amount of water on the butter and flour mixture and pulse 5 or 6 times the dough should begin holding together. If the mixture still appears dry and crumbly, add the remaining water, 1 teaspoon at a time for the smaller quantity of dough,one tablespoon at a time for the larger quantity, until the dough holds together easily.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a disk (two equal disks for the larger amount of dough). Sandwich the disk(s) of dough between two pieces of plastic wrap and press it into a 6inch circle. Refrigerate the dough until firm, or until you are ready to use it, at least 1 hour.

FOOLPROOF TARTE TATIN

Steps:

• At least one day before you plan to cook the tart, prepare the apples: Slice off the bottom of each apple so it has a flat base. Peel and quarter the apples. Use a small sharp knife to trim the hard cores and seeds from the center of each quarter; don't worry about being too neat. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate, lightly covered, for at least one day or up to three days. (This key step reduces the amount of liquid in the tart. Don't worry if the apples turn brown; they will be browned during the cooking anyway.)
• When ready to cook, heat oven to 375 degrees (or 350 if using convection). Thickly coat the bottom of a 10-inch heavy ovenproof skillet, preferably nonstick metal, with butter. Sprinkle sugar evenly on top.
• Cut one piece of apple into a thick round disk and place in the center of the skillet to serve as the "button." Arrange the remaining apple pieces, each one standing on its flat end, in concentric circles around the button. Keep the pieces close together so that they support one another, standing upright. They will look like the petals of a flower.
• On a floured surface, roll out the puff pastry about 1/8-inch thick. Place an upside-down bowl or pan on the pastry and use the tip of a sharp knife to cut out a circle about the same size as the top of your skillet. Lift out the circle and drape gently over the apples. Use your hands to tuck the pastry around the apple pieces, hugging them together firmly.
• Place the skillet on the stovetop over medium heat until golden-brown juice begins to bubble around the edges, 3 minutes (if the juices keep rising, spoon out as needed to remain level with pastry). If necessary, raise the heat so that the juices are at a boil. Keep cooking until the juices are turning darker brown and smell caramelized, no longer than 10 minutes more.
• Transfer skillet to the oven and bake 45 to 50 minutes, until puff pastry is browned and firm.
• Let cool 5 minutes, then carefully turn out onto a round serving plate. (Or, if not serving immediately, let cool completely in the pan; when ready to serve, rewarm for 15 minutes in a 350-degree oven before turning out.) If any apples remain stuck in the pan, gently use your fingers or a spatula to retrieve them, and rearrange on the pastry shell. Cut in wedges and serve warm with heavy cream, crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream.

BASIC FLAKY PIE CRUST

Steps:

• Whisk the flour and salt together in a medium size bowl. With a pastry blender, cut in the cold shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons ice water over flour. Toss mixture with a fork to moisten, adding more water a few drops at a time until the dough comes together.
• Gently gather dough particles together into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling.
• Roll out dough, and put in a pie plate. Fill with desired filling and bake.

FLAKY TART DOUGH

Steps:

• In a small bowl, mix together salt and water. Keep very cold until ready to use.
• Place flour and butter in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse briefly until mixture forms large crumbs. Add the salt water mixture and continue pulsing until a dough has just formed but is not smooth.
• On a lightly floured work surface, evenly divide dough. Form each piece of dough into a disk about 1 inch thick. Wrap each disk with plastic wrap and chill at least 2 hours and up to overnight.