If you’ve never made a butter pastry in your food processor, now’s the time to start. This comes out perfectly flaky every time and it’s excellent for just about any fruit crostata (free form pie) you can dream up.
The trick here is to run the processor just until the mixture starts to ball up around the blade, but no longer.
Food Processor Crostata Dough
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, in 1/4-inch pieces
- 1 large egg beaten with 1/4 cup ice cold water
Instructions
- Combine the flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the machine once or twice, to mix. Scatter all of the butter over the flour. Pulse the machine, repeatedly, until the butter is finely chopped and the mixture has a somewhat sandy consistency.
- Using a fork, beat the egg and cold water in a 1- or 2-cup glass measuring cup. With the machine running, slowly pour the liquid through the feed tube - it should take 6 or 7 seconds to add it - and continue to run the machine just until the pastry STARTS to form large clumps and STARTS to ball up around the blade. Stop the machine as soon as it does.
- Dump the pastry out onto your lightly floured work surface, pack it into a ball, and knead once or twice. Place on a large piece of plastic wrap and flatten/roll into a large oval about 1/2" thick (slightly less is fine.) Wrap in the plastic and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours before rolling. Makes enough pastry for one large crostata.
