Pate Sablee Sucree (Sweet Pie Crust)

Ingredients:

- 12 oz All Purpose Flour
- 8 oz Unsalted Butter- COLD and cubed
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- Lemon Zest (only use lemon zest where it compliments the filling..i don't think it's necessary if you are filling this crust with apples, but it would go great if you were filling with pastry cream and fruits)

Directions:

For Dough Making
1. Add all flour and sugar to the cubed, cold butter on a large working surface. Chip the mixture using a pastry cutter (or large chefs knife) until it's all crumbly.
2. Crumble all together with your hands.
3. Make a well in the middle of the mixture, and add the egg, vanilla, and zest (if using).
4. Combine all to incorporate.
5. Once combined, use the heel of your hand to stretch out the dough on the working surface and incorporate the fat. Do this repeatedly until the butter is incorporated.
6. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and cool in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Note that you can also freeze the dough at this point, and thaw overnight when ready to use.

For Rolling:
1. The dough should be cold when ready to roll. When rolling out the dough, first pound it with the rolling pin to soften.
2. Roll out your dough on a floured surface. Roll away from you. It should roll freely without any effort. Your rolling pin should not press down hard on the dough.
3. Roll the dough to 1/8 inch. Note, if the dough starts getting warm, place it back in the refrigerator to cool.
4. Using your rolling pin to help, unroll dough over an ungreased tart pan. The dough should be large enough to fit entirely in the pan with a 1 inch edge hanging out. Cut off the edges with your rolling pin. Push the dough firmly into the ridges of the tart pan with your pinky finger.
5. Place the crust in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.

For Pre/Blind Baking: Note that not all tarts will require that the crust be prebaked/blind baked. If you are making an apple tart, then prebaking is not needed, as there isn't much moisture in apples, and the filling and crust will bake together. If you are making pecan pie, pre-bake half way to be safe as the pecan pie filling has a lot of moisture. If you are making a fruit tart, then fully prebake, as the filling requires no baking.

1. If prebaking or "blind" baking your cur st, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. When ready to bake, line the tart with wax paper and place dried beans all over the top. Cut off excess paper.
3. Bake at 375 degrees for about 10-20 minutes.
4. Remove the beans and paper from tart when the edges are golden. Place back in the oven to dry. The tart is read y when the crust edges are unmolded from the tart pan.
5. Cool the tart so that it is ready to be filled.