Since we now have completed making the praline paste (which, by the way, tastes amazing as a peanut butter substitute in a PB&J) we can now forge ahead with the tart dough recipe I wanted to try! The rich flake pastry with praline paste and hazelnuts. My main reason for wanting to try out this dough, besides my adoration for praline, is that this dough supposedly does not shrink as it cooks so there’s no need for baking beans or rice, which just saves me that one extra step. For this recipe you will need:
- 250g Pastry Flour*
- 90g Confectioner’s Sugar
- 150g Softened Unsalted Butter
- 1 Egg, beaten
- 25g Finely Ground Almonds
- 15g Praline Paste
- 2g Salt
- 5g Vanilla Sugar**
*Pastry flour equivalent: 4 cups of AP flour blended with 2.25 cups of Cake Flour.
**Place 4 vanilla beans in with 1 lbs of sugar in a glass jar and store away from light.
Sift the flour over your work surface and create a hollow. Sprinkle the salt and ground almonds around the edge of the hollow then place the softened butter, sugars, and praline paste in the center of the hollow.
Use your fingers to blend the sugars, paste, and butter together until the mixture reaches a velvety texture.
Start bringing in the flour little by little with your fingers to the center and rub the mixture lightly beween your hands until it resembles a coarse meal. Create another hollow and pour in the beaten egg.
Bring the dough into the center and knead lightly. Create a ball with the dough and wrap in plastic wrap. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, ideally overnight.
After it has been chilled, remove from the fridge and allow to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. And allow the rolling to commence!
