I once dismissed pastry made with a food processor, but my dear friend Karri Smith, pie aficionado and Cordon Bleu graduate, encouraged me to try her standout buttermilk shortcrust dough.
The dough comes together quickly, is easy to work with and can be used interchangeably with the Flaky Pastry Dough. Made of finely milled pastry flour, the dough has a lovely texture and yields a tender crust.
If you don’t have a food processor, you can still make this dough with a pastry blender or two knives, as directed in the Flaky Pastry Dough recipe.
Makes 1 Double-crust Pie
■ 3 1/2 cups (875 mL) pastry flour (455 g)
■ 1 tsp (5 mL) table salt (6 g)
■ 1 1/3 cups (330 mL) unsalted butter(305 g), chilled and cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes
■ 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp (90 mL) buttermilk
■ 1/4cup + 1 Tbsp (75 mL) whole milk
Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to mix. Add the cubes of butter and pulse until you achieve a crumbly mixture with some pea-sized pebbles of butter. Remove the lid now and then to check the size.
Add the buttermilk and whole milk all at once and pulse just until the dough comes together. The mixture will look crumbly, but if you grab a handful, it should hold together. If it doesn’t, add a bit of milk, by the teaspoon, until the mixture holds together.
Transfer the dough, still crumbly but holding together, to a sheet of parchment. Shape the dough into 2 squat disks, each about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour before using, or up to 3 days.
Allow the dough to rest at room temperature for a while before it’s rolled out. You’ll know it’s ready to roll when you press the dough with your finger and it leaves a slight imprint.
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