Rich Shortcrust Pastry

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1 pinch salt, to taste
• 100 g unsalted butter, chilled, diced
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 drops vanilla essence
• 1-2 tablespoon ice water

Directions

1. 1

   Place the flour with a pinch of salt in a food processor, add the sugar, butter, egg yolk and vanilla and pulse for 30 seconds, or until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

2. 2

   Continue processing until the mixture comes together, adding 1-2 tablespoons iced water (a bit at a time) if necessary.

3. 3

   Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead lightly to form a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 15-20 minutes.

4. 4

   Preheat the oven to 190°C, roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface.

5. 5

   Wrap the pastry around a rolling pin, then unroll it carefully over the pan you are going to use for cooking your tart, press it firmly into the pan, trim off any excess and lightly prick the base with a fork.

6. 6

   Cover the pastry with greaseproof paper and half fill the pan with pastry weights or dried beans and blind bake for 12 minutes, or until the pastry is lightly browned; OR follow the directions given in a particular recipe. This pastry is used in my recently posted Onion and Olive Tart Recipe #140798, where there is NO pre-cooking of the pastry. The pastry is simply chilled before the filling is added.