Alice Waters’ Apple Tart

  in Desserts, Recipes

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar 
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
3 1/2 tablespoons ice water
2 lb. apples (Golden Delicious or another tart, firm variety), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
5 tablespoons sugar

  1. Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl; add 2 tablespoons of the butter. Blend in a mixer or Cuisinart until dough is coarsely mixed. Add remaining butter; mix until biggest pieces look like large peas.
  2. Dribble in water, stir, then dribble in more, until dough just holds together. Use your hands to mix, letting it fall through fingers, until it’s ropy with some dry patches. Keep tossing until you can shape dough into a 4-inch-thick disk; refrigerate for  least 30 minutes. After you remove it from the fridge, roll into a 14-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface.
  3. Heat oven to 400ºF. Place dough in a lightly greased 9-inch round tart pan. (If you want to turn this into a free tart, simply place on a parchment paper lined baking tray).
  4. Overlap apples on dough up to the sides if using the tart pan, or two inches from edge if going free form. Continue inward until you reach the center. Fold the dough hanging over the edge of the tart pan back onto itself and crimp edges at 1-inch intervals.
  6. Bake in center of oven until apples are soft and edges browned, about 45 minutes.