Flaky Pastry & Tarts

When I first tried baking, back when I was a teenager, I hated making flaky pastry dough. All the caveats about keeping everything cool, over-handling, and worst of all, the variable amount of water needed to pull the ingredients together to form a dough so filled me with dread that the dough and subsequent tart were ruined before I even got started. This dough takes all the fear out of preparing a rich, flaky crust. No variables, ease of mixing and handling and best of all, a perfectly baked result every time will make you look forward to working with this type of dough. The tarts are both sweet and savoury, including a free-standing version of everyone’s favourite, apple pie. Two types of tangy lemon tart, a chocolate cream tart, and my favorite savoury combinations - spinach and bacon, cheese and onion and smoked salmon and avocado - round out the assortment.