My Pâte Sucrée recipe is a sweet-tart dough, that is tender and crumbly yet at the same time very sturdy. Meant specifically as a tart dough, it is great for custards, pastry creams, and fruit tarts, it has the texture of a shortbread type cookie.
I’ve seen a lot of Pâte Sucrée recipes that have you cut the butter into the flour, which is more like a pie dough rather than a tart dough. That method will produce more of a pâte sablée, not a pâte sucrée. Nit-picky I know, but if you have a super moist filling such as custard or pastry cream, the distinction is very important.
Pâte Sucrée is a classic French tart dough that should be made using the creamed butter method.
Cutting the butter into the flour is just a regular pie dough. It still tastes the same as a pâte sucrée, but it will be light and flaky as opposed to tender and crumbly. Again, it should have the texture of shortbread, not pie dough.
Equipment needed
- Kitchen scale
- Large whisk or stand mixer
- Work bowls
- Rolling pin
Ingredients for Pâte Sucrée
- Eggs and Butter: Very traditional baking ingredients. They add richness to the Pâte Sucrée. I like to use a good European-style cultured butter when I bake. The style of butter is slightly fermented and churned for a longer period of time which results in a slightly higher fat percentage. The butter flavor and higher fat percentage are so much better for baking than the normal sweet cream-style butter we get in the USA.
- All-Purpose Flour and Baking Powder: Again, very traditional baking ingredients. However, If you prefer gluten-free dough, you can substitute almond flour 1:1 for the all-purpose flour. The only change I would make with almond flour is to add one additional egg to the banana bread recipe to help make up for the lack of gluten.
- Half & Half: Adds richness to the dough and has more fat in it than milk. The fat acts as a shortening which keeps the dough tender.
Pâte Sucrée
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- Kitchen Scale
- Stand Mixer
Ingredients
- 250 Grams Unsalted Butter Room Temperature
- 150 Grams Confectioners Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 475 Grams All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Add butter, salt and powdered sugar to a bowl, whisk until smooth and a very pale yellow. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment, paddle until smooth and pale yellow.
- Add eggs, one at a time, whisk until smooth before adding the next egg
- Sift together flour and baking powder, use a spatula to combine the butter and flour mixtures, just until incorporated, do not over mix
- Divide the dough into two pieces, wrap in plastic and let rest at least one hour before using
Nutrition
This is how I make the Pâte Sucrée recipe
