Salted Butter Break-Ups

After sprinkling the salt, press it into the dough with the rolling pin, else it might fall off after baking.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups / 200g all-purpose flour
2/3 cup / 130g sugar
3/4-1 tsp sel gris, kosher salt, or fleur de sel. More for sprinkling
9 tbsp / 125g cold butter, cut into 18 pieces
3-5 tbsp cold water
1 egg yolk mixed with a few drops of water, for the glaze

Equipment: Silpat, Pastry cutter

Method:

1. Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. You could also use the paddle attachment in a KitchenAid or a pastry cutter.
2. Drop in the pieces of butter and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse meal—you’ll have both big pea-size pieces and small flakes.
3. With the machine running, start adding the cold until the the dough almost forms a ball.
4. Scrape the dough onto a work surface, and pat it down to flatten it a bit. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill it for about 1 hour. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months.
5. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C.
6. Remove the dough from the fridge and, if it’s very hard, bash it a few times with your rolling pin to soften it. Put the dough  on a silicone baking sheet or parchment paper, using a little flour to making handling easier. Roll it into a rectangle that’s about 1/4 inch directly onto the parchment or baking sheet, so transferring later doesn’t make it cumbersome.
7. Brush the top surface of the dough with the egg glaze. Using the back of a table fork, decorate the cookie in a crosshatch pattern. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
8. Bake the cookie for 30 to 40 minutes, or until it is golden. It will be firm to the touch but have a little spring when pressed in the center — the perfect break-up is crisp on the outside and still tender within. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and allow the cookie to cool to room temperature before breaking it up into shards. Eat