Pâte Sucrée - French Sweet Tart Crust (pastry dough)
User Reviews
5
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Prep Time
15 mins
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Cook Time
30 mins
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Servings
1 tart shell
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Calories
1764 kcal
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Course
Baked Goods
Pâte Sucrée - French Sweet Tart Crust (pastry dough)
Description
Pâte Sucrée is a foundational French pastry dough designed for sweet tarts and pies. Combining flour, sifted soft icing sugar, almond meal, salt, softened butter, and room temperature egg creates a dough that is both tender and rich. The butter is rubbed into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then the egg is worked in to bind gently without overworking gluten development. Chilling the dough before rolling rests the flour and firms the butter, reducing shrinkage during baking.
Once chilled, the dough is rolled out thinly—about 3mm thick—and carefully fitted into a tart tin, avoiding over-stretching to prevent bake shrinkage. The texture after baking is buttery and crisp with a fine crumb, ideal for pairing with fruit, custards, or chocolate fillings. Almond meal adds a subtle nutty note and moistness to the crust.
The recipe notes specify the use of soft icing sugar rather than pure icing sugar for a better tender texture. Almond meal should not be confused with more finely ground almond flour. Large eggs at room temperature incorporate smoothly, preventing butter from solidifying or breaking the dough. Dough can be stored refrigerated for several days and brought to working temperature for rolling.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups flour , plain/all purpose
- 6 1/2 tbsp icing sugar sifted (Note 1, soft, aka powdered sugar
- 2 1/2 tbsp almond meal Note 2, or ground almonds
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 100g / 7 tbsp butter , unsalted, softened, cut into 1cm cubes
- 1 egg at room temperature (55-60g/2 oz) (Note 3, large
Instructions
Tart dough:
- Mix Dy Ingredients: Whisk together flour, icing sugar, salt and almond meal in a bowl.
- Add butter: Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles breadcrumbs. (Note 4).
- Add egg: Mix with a rubber spatula until it becomes too hard to stir anymore, then use your hands to bring it together into a dough.
- Bring dough together: Turn dough out onto a work surface, then knead to bring together into a smooth ball. Flatten into a 2cm / 0.8" thick disc. Wrap with cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Rolling out:
- Unwrap chilled dough. Place on a lightly floured work surface.
- Roll out into a 32cm / 13" round (3mm / 1/8" thick).
Line tart tin:
- Line tart tin: Roll pastry lightly on to a rolling pin (ie. so it wraps around itself). Then unroll it gently over the tart tin.
- Fit pastry: Adjust the pastry to fit into the tart tin, fitting into the corner, taking care not to stretch it (causes shrinkage during bake).
- Trim excess dough: Roll the rolling pin over tart tin to trim excess dough. Pictured tart tin is 24 x 3 cm / 9.5 x 1.2" - you can use any up to this size.
- Prick the base of the pastry 30 times with a fork. Not all the way through - just make a light prick on the surface.
- Chill pastry in tart tin for 30 minutes.
Baking:
- Preheat oven to 200°C / 390°F (180°C fan).
- Baking beads: Cover pastry with 2 sheets of baking paper (parchment paper), in a "X" arrangement. Fill with baking beads (or 2 cups dry raw rice or beans).
Par Baked Tart Crust:
- Baking times for a Par Baked Tart to be used for tarts that are baked for > 30 minutes once the filling is added into the cooked tart shell.
- Bake 15 minutes the remove from oven. Use excess paper to remove baking beads.
- Bake uncovered 5 minutes: Return tart crust to oven for 5 minutes. Pastry should be light golden, crispy on surface, but slighty undercooked inside (will finish cooking once filled and baked again).
Fully Cooked Tart Crust:
- Use these baking times if the tart shell is to be used for raw fillings (ie tart not baked once crust is filled) OR fillings that are baked for < 25 minutes.
- Bake 15 minutes the remove from oven. Use excess paper to remove baking beads.
- Bake uncovered 10 minutes: This will fully cook the pastry through and give it nice colour which we need as the pastry won't cook through in less than 25 minutes once filled.
Cool & use
- Cool: Remove then cool in tart tin before filling (this ensures crust stays crispy once filled), then baking again if filling needs to be cooked (like this Pistachio Frangipane Pear Tart).
- Make ahead up to 3 days, suitable for baking once filled.
Notes
- Use soft icing sugar (sometimes labeled 'soft icing sugar' in Australia) rather than pure icing sugar to avoid a hard crust.
- Almond meal (ground almonds) adds moisture and flavor; it is coarser than almond flour.
- Use large eggs at room temperature (55-60g) to ensure smooth incorporation and dough consistency.
- Rubbing butter into dry ingredients by hand is effective and takes about 2 minutes; a food processor may be used alternatively.
- Dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days in an airtight container; bring to room temperature before rolling for easier handling.
- Suitable for baked tart fillings as well as raw fillings; adjust baking times accordingly.
Nutrition Information
Show DetailsNutrition Facts
Serving: 1tart shell
Amount Per Serving
Calories 1764 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Calories | 1764cal | 88% |
| Carbohydrates | 199g | 66% |
| Protein | 29g | 58% |
| Fat | 96g | 148% |
| Saturated Fat | 54g | 270% |
| Trans Fat | 3g | 150% |
| Cholesterol | 379mg | 126% |
| Sodium | 1363mg | 57% |
| Potassium | 287mg | 6% |
| Fiber | 7g | 28% |
| Sugar | 52g | 104% |
| Vitamin A | 2737IU | 55% |
| Calcium | 114mg | 11% |
| Iron | 10mg | 56% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
User Reviews
Overall Rating
5
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