Decorate This: Lemon Tart Part 2

Pâte Sucrée is a slightly sweet, buttery, flaky dough. The keys to success are to work quickly - you want the butter and dough to stay cold - and to not overmix - you want the butter to remain in pea-sized balls throughout the dough, and overprocessing can cause your dough to be tough.

This is a double recipe - it will make 2, 10" tart shells. Use one now, and freeze the other for later!

2 cups flour (280 grams)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sugar
14 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons ice water

Prepare tart dough:

1. Place flour, sugar and salt into the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse until combined. 
2. Add the cubed butter and pulse until the butter is in small pea-sized balls. 
3. Add the water and pulse until the dough just comes together, being careful not to over-process (over-processing can make your tart shell tough).
4. Cut dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using. You will only need 1/2 of this recipe to make a 10" tart; freeze the remaining portion to use at another time.

Prepare shell for baking:

1. Roll out dough on a floured surface into a 13" circle.
2. Place dough into a 10" tart pan and fold the overhang inward and press gently into the sides. Do not force or stretch the dough because a thin spot may cause the filling to leak. The dough edges should be a little bit higher than the side of the tart pan to help prevent shrinkage (it's ok if your shell does shrink; you'll just need to use a bit less filling).
3. Prick the bottom of the shell with a fork. Cover the entire shell with a large piece of foil, pressing into the edges and completely covering the shell. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Baking tart shell:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Fill the foil covered shell with pie weights or dried beans. Place the shell into the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes.
3. Remove shell from oven and remove beans and foil. Brush the inside of the shell with a beaten egg white to prevent leakage from small cracks. Return shell to the oven for about 10 minutes and bake until golden brown. Let cool on wire rack.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there - thank you so much for all that you do!

Kristen - Contributing Writer from Decorate This!

Kristen is a software engineer who dreams about starting her own creative business (a cakery actually). She has always loved to bake and create, and gets great satisfaction from making beautiful things.