Pâte Sucrée (Sweet Tart Dough)

Before you start

Pâte sucrée is the French sweet pastry used for lemon tarts, fruit tarts with pastry cream and chocolate tarts. Unlike flaky pie dough, it is meant to be short and crisp, closer to a fine butter cookie, and it holds a sharp edge when sliced. Powdered sugar gives it a fine, tight texture, and the egg binds it so it can be rolled thin.

The dough is made like a cookie: soft butter is beaten with sugar, the egg is added, and the flour is mixed in only until it disappears. That gentle mixing and a long chill keep gluten low, which is the first defense against shrinking. The rest is handling: roll the dough between sheets of parchment so you add no extra flour, press it into the tart ring without stretching, freeze the lined shell, and blind bake it with weights. Trimming the excess after baking gives perfectly level walls.

Ingredients

• 125 g (½ cup plus 1 tbsp) unsalted butter — softened
• 100 g (¾ cup plus 1 tbsp) powdered sugar — sifted
• ¼ tsp fine salt
• 1 large (about 50 g) egg — room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250 g (2 cups, spooned and leveled) all-purpose flour

Method

1. Beat the butter, powdered sugar and salt on low to medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. You are combining, not whipping in air.
2. Add the egg and vanilla in two additions and mix until smooth. Scrape the bowl.
3. Add the flour and mix on low just until no dry flour remains. The dough will be soft. Press it into a flat 2 cm (¾ in) thick disk, wrap it and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
4. Let the dough soften on the counter for 5 to 10 minutes. Roll it between two sheets of parchment to a 30 cm (12 in) round about 3 mm (⅛ in) thick. If it softens, slide it onto a tray and chill it for 10 minutes.
5. Peel off the top sheet, flip the dough over the tart pan and remove the second sheet. Lift the edges and let the dough fall into the corners; press it gently against the sides without stretching. Leave a little dough above the rim and patch any tears with scraps.
6. Prick the base with a fork and freeze the lined pan for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 175°C (350°F) with a rack in the lower third.
7. Line the frozen shell with crumpled parchment and fill it to the rim with weights. Set it on the baking sheet and bake for 18 minutes, until the edges look dry and pale gold.
8. Remove the parchment and weights and bake 10 to 12 minutes more, until the base is evenly golden. Cool for 5 minutes, then shave the excess dough level with the rim using a knife or microplane. Cool completely before filling.

Tips for success

• For wet fillings such as lemon curd or custard, brush the hot baked shell with a little beaten egg white and return it to the oven for 2 minutes to seal it.
• Freeze leftover scraps, then roll and cut them into small cookies.
• Fill the weights right to the top of the shell; half-filled weights let the sides slump inward.

Substitutions

Part of the flour

Replace 40 g of the flour with almond flour for a richer, more tender dough, sometimes called sablé breton style. It is more fragile, so chill it well.

Powdered sugar

Superfine granulated sugar works, but the crust will be slightly coarser and spread a little more.

Vanilla extract

Use finely grated lemon or orange zest, or a pinch of ground cinnamon, to match the filling.

Variations

Chocolate pâte sucrée

Replace 30 g of the flour with Dutch-process cocoa powder.

Mini tartlets

Cut 10 cm (4 in) rounds, press them into 8 cm tartlet pans, freeze and bake with weights for about 12 minutes, then 5 to 7 minutes without.

Troubleshooting

Shell shrank down the sides

The dough was stretched or not chilled. Let it fall into the corners instead of pulling it, and freeze the lined shell before baking.

Base puffed up

The weights did not cover the base fully or the shell was not docked. Prick it with a fork and use enough weights to fill the shell.

Dough cracks and crumbles when rolling

It is too cold. Let it warm for a few more minutes and press cracks together; rolling between parchment helps hold it together.

Storage

Wrap the raw dough and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Baked, unfilled shells keep airtight at room temperature for 2 days or frozen for 1 month. Re-crisp in a 175°C (350°F) oven for 5 minutes.

Safety notes

Do not eat the raw dough, which contains raw egg and flour. Contains wheat, egg and milk.