Hi! Not sure where to start, but there is always a turning point and I am committed to make that start. I believe that starting from the very beginning is the best, to start with the basics and with every practice, every step along the way will be a bit easier and everything else will make sense.
I thought it would be good to start with a basic recipe for sablee dough. What is sablée? The Sablée dough is a basic recipe for any type of pie, tarts, cookies, alfajores and much more, it is endlessly adaptable. Sablée (in French) means sandy which it is a perfect definition for this dough, it has no elasticity and is very friable.
Ingredients:
- 280 gr All Purpose
- 200 gr Butter cut into one inch cubes
- 100 gr Powdered Sugar
- 1 egg
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Combined the dry ingredients with the butter. You can integrate them by hand or using a mixer using low speed at the beginning and later on medium speed. When the butter is well integrated, it will take 10 minutes approximately, add the egg. Let it mix until you find a smooth and homogenous dough.
Chill the dough on the refrigerator for at least an hour before using. When ready to use, cut as much dough as you need and save the rest in the refrigerator. Break the big dough into small pieces, we are doing this to make sure all dough has the same temperature. Once done, please bring all the dough together and now you can flour the surface. It is important not to over flour the surface because the dough will start to absorb the flour. For cookies I like them of 4mm, alfajores 3.5mm, and pie crust 3mm.
**TIP: It can be store in the refrigerator for a month, and in the freezer for up to 3 months. Please label the bag with item and date. We tent to use the freezer as those big storage, where we keep putting things and never remembering what we have. I find my self guilty of these and since started to label everything I am better at keeping track and using things from the freezer.
**CACAO DOUGH
Replace 10% of the flour for cacao. Please sift the cacao before using, and add 2 teaspoons of water into the dough. The cacao tends to dry the dough, please add them if needed: the dough does not integrate, add one teaspoon at the time.
