I love tarts

Tarts are totally awesome. They're like pies, but fancier. Fancier, but totally easier to make. First of all, let's take a look at the awesomeness of tart dough. I got this recipe from Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food. I love Alice Waters. She's the epitome of two of my favorite things - Berkeley and amazing food.

Tart Dough
1/2 cup ice cold water
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbs butter (1 and 1/2 sticks)

First you mix together the flour and the salt. Then you add the butter, cut up into tiny cubes.


My cubes aren't that tiny. I get lazy. Then you work it together with your hands/your pastry cutter. Alice Waters says that you should work it for about 1 or 2 minutes until it's in large irregular pieces. This is clearly my kind of recipe.


Pour in 3/4 of the water and stir with a fork until the dough begins to form clumps. You may have to keep adding water - I ended up using it all. Form it into two balls, like this:


Then wrap it in plastic wrap and pound it into a disk.


Doesn't my cutting board make it look all crazy and other-worldly? Well, I think it does. I put it in the fridge to chill for at least an hour.

Stay tuned for what kind of tart I end up making. The suspense is killing you, I know.