Salty Butter Break-Ups

Submitted by DrGaellon

"This is essentially a giant butter cookie, flavored with salt for an amazing salty-sweet experience. With so few ingredients, you must use the best quality products you can; a premium French butter would be ideal. The original recipe calls for gray salt (a moist, large-crystal French salt), but any kosher or coarse salt will do. (Try to avoid iodized salt; the simplicity will just pull up the iodine flavor.) Adapted from a post by Caroline Russock at Serious Eats (which she adapted from _Around My French Table_ by Dorie Greenspan). http://bit.ly/b9Iz1M"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 50mins
• Ingredients: 6
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 3⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2⁄3 cup sugar
• 3⁄4 - 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 9 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 18 pieces, kept at freezer temperature
• 3 -5 tablespoons cold water
• 1 egg yolk, for the glaze

directions

1. Combine flour, sugar and salt in a food processor; pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse until it forms a coarse meal, 8-10 1-second pulses. With the machine running, drizzle in cold water until dough ALMOST forms a ball. It should feel like a very malleable pie dough.
2. Scrape onto a floured work surface and pat into a square 1/2" thick. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour (can hold in refrigerator up to 3 days).
3. Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with Silpat or baker's parchment.
4. Remove dough from refrigerator and unwrap. Place onto a floured work surface and bash a few times with a rolling pin to soften. Place between sheets of parchment or waxed paper and roll into a rectangle roughly 5x11" and 1/4" thick (accuracy isn't important). Transfer to baking sheet.
5. Beat egg yolk with 1/8 tsp cold water. Brush cookie with glaze. Decorate with a crosshatch pattern using the back of a fork. You can optionally add a VERY light additional sprinkle of salt, if desired.
6. Bake in the middle of the preheated oven 30-40 minutes, until the edges are brown but the center still has a little spring when pressed lightly. Cool on sheet 5 minutes, then slide parchment/Silpat onto a rack and cool to room temperature.