Basic Pastry

This is the basic dough for pies, tarts and quiches.

INGREDIENTS

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 stick very cold unsalted butter, in 1-inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup ice water

1 11-inch pie shell

Use metal blade to process flour, butter and salt until mixture is like coarse meal, about 8 seconds. Add ice water and pulse until dough begins to clump together. Do not let it form a ball. Put dough in a plastic food storage bag. Work through bag to press dough together into a ball, then a flat disc.

Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.

Roll dough on lightly floured surface to a circle about 1/8 inch thick. Press into place in pie pan. Use kitchen shears to trim dough, leaving 1-inch overlap beyond pan. Fold overlap under. Pinch crust to form decorative edge. Prick bottom and sides with fork and refrigerate crust for 30 minutes, or until firm.

Preheat oven to 400°F 15 minutes before baking.

Line pie shell with parchment paper and fill it with uncooked beans or rice. Bake it for 12 minutes. Remove paper, beans or rice, prick shell again and bake it 6 minutes longer, or until it is lightly browned. Remove shell from pan and let cool on wire rack.

Fruit tart:

To make a one-crust tart, use a tart pan instead of a pie pan. When cooked shell is thoroughly cool, spread about 1 cup of pastry cream (see recipe) on the bottom. Arrange sliced fresh fruit decoratively on top.