Pâte brisée (pastry dough)

Everyone's got their own way of doing this, from my mom to my instructors in school to each celebrity chef - here's mine! I use this for quiche, galettes and even empanadas. You can add ground almonds (excellent with fruit tarts), dried herbs, and citrus zest to liven things up.

Yield: one quiche/galette shell, or about 2 dozen empanadas.

Ingredients:
60g cold butter, cut into small chunks
125g all-purpose flour
1 whole egg
1-2 tbsp. cold water
pinch fine sea salt
for sweet pastry: 25g white sugar

Method:
1. Blend flour, salt and sugar, if using.
2. Mix in butter with fingertips until a coarse, grainy consistency is achieved (this is know as "sabler la pâte" in French)
3. In separate bowl, blend whole egg with 1 tbsp. cold water.
4. Gently blend into flour/butter mix with fingers until a ball forms. You don't want to over knead as this will melt the butter packets and result in a tough dough.
5. Shape into a disk, wrap and refrigerate overnight (although in a pinch, an hour or so is better than nothing).
6. When ready for use, remove from fridge, roll into desired shape and blind-bake (use pie-weights or rice) at 325F until golden (anywhere from 20-30 minutes).