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Recipe Detail Page
Tart Pastry
Summer 2008
Using some whole wheat flour adds a little earthy flavour to the pastry, which works especially well with these savoury tarts. Making pastry can be tricky when the weather is hot, so we suggest you do it in the morning when your kitchen is cool and then refrigerate or freeze until needed. If you have extra tart pans, you can roll out the pastry ahead of time and freeze right in the pan so that preparing a tart is especially fast and easy (prebake the tart shell from frozen, following the regular directions below), or substitute frozen pie crusts from the grocery store if you prefer.
Makes 1 9-inch (23-cm) tart shell
½ cup (125 mL) all-purpose flour
½ cup (125 mL) whole wheat flour
½ tsp (2 mL) salt
½ cup (125 mL) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 to 2 tbsp (15 to 25 mL) cold water
1. Combine all-purpose and whole wheat flours and salt in a mixing bowl and stir with a fork to combine. Add butter and use your fingers or a pastry blender to cut in butter until it is the size of small peas. Sprinkle in just enough water to just bring the pastry together. Gather pastry into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until needed.
2. Place chilled pastry on a lightly floured surface and roll out to about ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick. Fit into a 9-inch (23-cm) fluted tart pan with removable bottom (or as per recipe) and chill or freeze until ready to use.
3. To partially bake: preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
4. Line pastry with foil and fill with pie weights (or dried beans you’ve designated for this purpose). Place tart pan on a baking sheet and bake in lower third of oven for 20 minutes or until pastry has set. Remove foil and weights, prick bottom crust with a fork, and bake for 5 minutes longer or until pastry is lightly golden.
Makes 1 9-inch (23-cm) tart shell
