Making French Flan Pastry

The pastry for tarts and flans is made with butter or margarine, giving a rich and crumbly result. The more fat used, the richer the pastry will be --almost like a biscuit dough --and the harder to roll out. If you have difficulty rolling out, you can press it into the tin instead, or roll it out between sheets of clear film. Flan pastry, like shortcrust, can be made by hand or in a food processor. Tips for making, handling and using shortcrust pastry apply equally to this type of pastry.

Ingredients:

For a 23cm/ 9in flan case
200g/ 7oz/ 1-3/4cups flour
2.5ml/ 1/2tsp salt
115g/ 4oz/ 1/2cup butter or margarine, chilled
1 egg yolk
1.5ml/ 1/4tsp lemon juice

Procedure:

1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Add the butter or margarine. Rub into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. In a small bowl, mix the egg yolk, lemon juice and 30ml/ 2tbsp iced water.Add to the flour mixture. With a fork, toss gently to mix and moisten.
3. Press the dough into a rough ball. If it is too dry to come together, add 15ml/ 1tbsp more water. Turn on the work surface or pastry board.
4. With the heel of your hand, push small portions of dough away from you, smearing them on the surface.
5. Continue mixing the dough in this way until it feels pliable and can easily be peeled off the work surface or pastry board.
6. Press the dough into a smooth ball. Wrap in clear film and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Got this from Utimate Desserts Cookbook.


*image courtesy of www.dkimages.com