Basic butter pastry dough
30 MINUTES + CHILLING | MAKES 1 BOTTOM CRUST | EASY
I like making dough by hand because feeling the dough gives me valuable feedback— whether there are still any large chunks of fat that need to be broken down, for instance, or if the dough is getting too warm or sticky and I need to put it in the fridge for a few minutes. Whenever I teach this method, students start getting nervous as it seems like the flour and butter won’t cohere, but I tell them to resist the urge to add more water. Instead, compressing the dough swiftly and repeatedly forces it to stick together. For this reason, having faith in the method is just as important as using the right ingredients.
caster sugar Ω tbsp cold plain flour 130g, plus extra for rolling unsalted butter 110g, chilled and cut into 1cm pieces
• Stir together the sugar, Ω tsp of salt and 2 tbsp of just-boiled water in a small bowl until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Put the bowl in the freezer—the liquid needs to be ice-cold before it is added to the dough. Put the flour in a large bowl and dump the butter into the flour, tossing to coat everything. Working quickly, use your thumbs and index fingers to squeeze each chunk of butter into a thin sheet, between 3-6mm thick. Shake the contents of the bowl to ensure the sheets are well coated in flour. Sprinkle the ice-cold sugar-salt solution over the butter and flour, and use your fingers to lightly toss the contents of the bowl around to disperse the liquid. Squeeze the shaggy mess with your fists, repeatedly and quickly, until the chunks get bigger and more cohesive.
At first it will be crumbly and seem as if it won’t come together, but with continued compression you can begin to make a mound of dough. Flatten your mound into a 21/2cm-thick disc.
• If your kitchen is warm and the dough feels soft, you may want to chill your dough for 15-20 minutes before rolling. Alternatively, if it feels chilly and stiff, leave it to rest at room temperature for 20 minutes before rolling.
• Lightly dust the worksurface and disc of dough with a little extra flour. Roll out the dough evenly to a circle roughly 30cm in diameter then transfer into a deep 23cm x 3cm pie tin. Once the sheet of dough is in the tin, ease it into the corners where the base of the pan meets the sides. In order to do this without stretching or breaking the dough, lift the edge of the dough with one hand to allow it to fall into place while gently pressing it into the corner with the other. Either trim the excess then crimp for a decorative edge, or trim the crust flush by running a knife all the way around the outer edge of the tin.