Recipe from Jacquy Pfeiffer
Adapted by Martha Rose Shulman
- Total Time
- About 1 hour, plus several hours’ chilling
- Rating
- 4(96)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This formula for pâte sucrée comes from the pastry chef Jacquy Pfeiffer, with whom I wrote a book. It may surprise you that everything, even the butter, is at room temperature when you mix the dough. Room temperature butter will mix together thoroughly and quickly with the other ingredients, so you won’t find chunks of it when you roll out the dough. It also allows you to mix the dough quickly, minimizing air bubbles and the development of the gluten in the flour, which would result in too much elasticity in the dough, causing it to shrink during baking. He uses powdered sugar, rather than granulated, because it melts and combines quickly with other ingredients, again allowing you to mix the dough quickly. Almond flour contributes flavor to the dough and gives it a nice texture, but you could substitute regular flour if you have a hard time finding almond flour. Finally, he uses cake flour because it has a lower gluten content than all-purpose flour.
Once you mix the dough it requires a long rest in the refrigerator — preferably overnight — so that the gluten developed during mixing can relax and the starch in the flour can absorb liquid. It should remain cold when you roll it out, and ideally you should give it another overnight rest in the fridge, uncovered, once it is rolled out, so that the pastry dries out even more. If you don’t have the extra day, give it at least an hour. —Martha Rose Shulman
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Ingredients
Yield:Two 9-inch pastry shells
- 12tablespoons/6 ounces/168 grams unsalted French-style butter (82 percent fat), at room temperature, plus a very small amount for pans
- ¼teaspoon/1 gram fine sea salt
- 1cup plus 1 tablespoon/112 grams confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- ⅓cup plus 1 tablespoon/39 grams skinless almond flour, sifted
- 1½teaspoons/7 milliliters vanilla extract
- 1extra-large egg, beaten, plus 1 to 2 teaspoons beaten egg/63 grams beaten egg
- 2¾cups plus 1 tablespoon/315 grams cake flour, sifted
Preparation
Step
1
In a standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and salt on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl and paddle and add confectioners’ sugar. Combine with butter at low speed. Scrape down bowl and paddle again, then add almond flour and vanilla and combine at low speed.
Step
2
Gradually add egg and a scant ½ cup cake flour (55 grams). Beat at low speed until just incorporated. Scrape down bowl and paddle. Gradually add remaining cake flour and mix just until dough comes together. Do not overbeat. Dough should be soft to the touch.
Step
3
Scrape dough out of bowl and gently press into a ½-inch-thick rectangle. Double-wrap airtight in plastic and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
Step
4
Very lightly brush two tart pans with butter. (You should not be able to see the butter.) Weigh dough and cut into two equal pieces. Wrap one piece and refrigerate while you roll out the other.
Step
5
Lightly dust parchment paper or a silicone baking mat with flour. Tap on dough lightly with a rolling pin to make it pliable. Begin rolling gently, three times in one direction, from the edge nearest to you to the far edge. Rotate dough a quarter turn clockwise. (If it’s sticking, run an offset spatula underneath to loosen it, then gently lift it and lightly dust underneath with flour.) Repeat process until dough is about ¼-inch thick and 11 inches in diameter. Check often to make sure dough is not sticking, and dust with flour as necessary.
Step
6
Cut dough into a 10 ½-inch circle. (If it’s on a silicone mat, flip it over onto a piece of lightly dusted parchment and peel off the mat first.) Very lightly dust dough with flour; brush away excess flour with a dry pastry brush.
Step
7
Loosely roll dough onto rolling pin, then unroll it onto a tart pan, making sure to cover pan evenly. Gently ease it into the pan so there is no gap between the bottom edge of the ring and the bottom of the pan (don’t press hard or dough will be thinner in spots). Cut away excess dough by holding a paring knife perpendicular to the edge of the pan and spinning the pan around against the edge of the knife. Use a fork to poke little holes in dough across entire bottom of shell.
Step
8
Refrigerate dough, uncovered, for at least 1 hour and preferably overnight. If freezing dough, refrigerate for 1 hour, then double-wrap in plastic wrap, then in foil. Label, date and freeze. Repeat process of rolling out dough with the other dough half.
Step
9
Heat oven to 325 degrees with rack positioned in middle. Place tart pan on a baking sheet. Line shell with parchment and fill to the top with pie weights. (If dough is coming directly from the freezer, you don’t need to defrost it first or use weights.) Bake for 15 minutes. Remove parchment and weights and return to oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a rack (with pan still on top of baking sheet) before filling.
- Measurements for dry ingredients are given by metric weight for greater accuracy. The equivalent measurements by volume are approximate.
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out of 5
96
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Cooking Notes
rprp2
the notes should also specify that this is not a flaky pastry, but closer to a cookie texture -- great for tarts, etc., but something one should know. Pate brisee is the flaky one; sucree is like cookie dough; sable even more so. It's important to know which one your'e getting
Kristin yates
This dough is yummy like a sandbakkels. However it was beyond my skills to shape, more flour Kristin! I ended up piecing it and it was wonderful in a tart pan. I topped with marscapone, nectarines and fig jam glaze! Can't wait to use the other half.
Lucy
Love this. First tart dough I've tried that does not shrink! I followed the recipe exactly, putting dough in freezer rather than the refrigerator. I blind baked without weights.
sumwug
I wanted to love this, but it just isn’t that great. The dough is extremely tender and hard to handle; that’s ok, because you can just press it into the pan. But the crust came out a little tougher than I like, less crumbly. Good for a tart that you really need to be strong, so I’ll keep it in the repertoire, but it won’t be my go-to recipe.
Lauren
This recipe is basic and simple, good for more intense tart fillings. I found it a little too bland and was looking for something more interesting. Otherwise an easy and classic recipe !
tiger squeakily, jr.
Is this the crust destined for fruit tarts with Creme patisserie?
S P Fischer
Hi AllIs it wrong to use a ceramic pie pan if I don’t have a tart pan? I don’t have a tart pan!Thank you !
ChiaviDiBasso
I don’t understand rolling on the parchment paper, as it kept shifting when I tried to roll it. I just used a fair amount of flour and rolled it really fast on a marble counter. I had to do some repair when I placed it in the pan, but tart dough is easy to fix!
ysenta
Interesting is the exact specification in Gramm and what to do when.The result was the perfect dough. It made me happy.Although called "sweet" it contains little sugar.
Kristin yates
This dough is yummy like a sandbakkels. However it was beyond my skills to shape, more flour Kristin! I ended up piecing it and it was wonderful in a tart pan. I topped with marscapone, nectarines and fig jam glaze! Can't wait to use the other half.
rprp2
the notes should also specify that this is not a flaky pastry, but closer to a cookie texture -- great for tarts, etc., but something one should know. Pate brisee is the flaky one; sucree is like cookie dough; sable even more so. It's important to know which one your'e getting
rprp2
Right! As if French style butter is easy to find. And yet the recipe has a variation of you can't find almond flour (which is easy to make yourself).
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