Sweet Tart Dough

  • 8

Ingredients

  • For the tart dough:
  • 2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 8 ounces (2 sticks) very cold butter, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 2 tablespoons ice water,or more as needed
  • Makes a 10-inch tart, serving 8 or more

Preparation

Step 1

To make the tart dough:

Put the flour, salt, and sugar into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade.

Process for a few seconds to mix the dry ingredients.

Drop the cut-up butter on top of the flour, and pulse the machine in a dozen or more short bursts, until the mixture is crumbly with only small bits of butter visible. Pour the egg yolks over the crumbs and pulse in bursts about 5 seconds total, to moisten the dough. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of ice water on the dough and pulse again for a few seconds.



The dough should begin to clump together but won’t form a solid mass. Scrape it all out onto a board or into a large bowl; gather and press the clumps into a firm ball that holds together. If it crumbles apart, sprinkle more ice water over the dough and knead gently. When the dough sticks together, flatten it into a disk, wrap well in plastic and refrigerate for 6 hours or up to a day before rolling. Freeze the dough for longer keeping.