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Making Fabulous Tart Crusts
Rate it! Votes (6) | Comments (0) By Cheri Sicard Photos: Mitch Mandell Posted July 29th, 2007

Like pie crusts making a great tart need not be difficult, in fact, I find making tart crusts to be easier and more forgiving than pies.

There are all kinds of crusts, just as there are lots of fillings. You can always use a good basic pie dough recipe for tarts both sweet and savory, but for sweet dessert tarts, I prefer my recipe for Sweet Tart Dough (no relation to the candy of the same name) which is a cross between a pie and a cookie dough.

Tip: I usually roll tart doughs between two sheets of parchment paper or waxed paper, which saves a lot of clean up time. You'll also use less flour using this method, producing a more tender, flaky tart crust!

Once you've made your dough, flatten it into a disk and chill the disk in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes. This step helps the dough to roll out better and keeps it from springing back. In the photos we're making mini-tart crusts, but the same principles apply for a single, larger crust.

Roll a disc slightly larger on all sides, than your tart pan. Use the parchment paper to position the the dough over the tart pan.

Center the dough in the pan, if necessary, trim the excess dough, then pinch the edges of the dough flat with the edge of the tart pan.

If you will be baking this as unfilled crust, use a fork to puncture the doughs in all areas, so it doesn't puff up while cooking. You could alternately use pie weights, if you were making a single large crust. Bake according to your recipe's instructions.

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