Sweet Shortcrust Pastry (Pâte Sucrée)

Pâte Sucrée, or sweet shortcrust pastry, is a rich, slightly crumbly pastry with a higher ratio of fat to flour than some other pastry recipes. With added sugar, it’s slightly sweet and very good.

Rich and melt in your mouth tender, a good shortcrust pastry is a must-have for any baker. With a high ratio of fat, both from butter and egg yolks, this is a pâte sucrée as it has a significant amount of sugar added to the dough.

Páte sucrée is excellent for tarts, both mini and full-size, and makes a nice pie dough. It is more crumbly than flaky – very, very short – and so is ideal for small bites like mincemeat tarts.

If you don’t love the flakiness of a classic all-butter pastry, then a sweet shortcrust might be a good alternative for you!

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Method
• Tips and Notes
• Substitutions
• Recipe

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top of the post, or scroll to the bottom of the post, to see the full recipe card with ingredient measurements and instructions.

Ingredients

Method

Fit the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Add the flour and butter to the bowl and mix on low until the mixture is coarse and crumbly, about 2 to 3 minutes.

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Add the sugar to the bowl, mix to combine, then add the egg yolks. Again, mix on low until the yolks are well distributed and the mixture is coarse and crumbly.

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With the mixer running on low, slowly add 2 tablespoons of ice water to the flour. Give the mixture one minute to see if the dough will begin to gather together.

If the dough is still quite dry and crumbly looking, continue to add water, ½ teaspoon at a time, until the dough begins to clump then stop the mixer.

Dump the dough out onto a work surface and divide it into two. Quickly gather each dough portion into a smooth disc. Wrap the discs in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for a minimum of one hour.

To Blind Bake

Remove one disc of dough from the fridge, and let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before rolling. Have a 9-inch (23-cm) tart tin with a removable bottom ready.

Line a work surface with a piece of wax paper large enough for the rolled out dough. Sprinkle the paper lightly with flour and place the unwrapped disc on the paper. Sprinkle the disc lightly with flour and top it with a second piece of wax paper.

Begin to gently roll the dough, turning the paper ¼ turn with each roll, until the dough is rolled approximately 12-inches (30-½ cm) in diameter.

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Gently slide your hand under the bottom sheet of wax paper and flip the dough over. Carefully peel away the sheet of wax paper which had been on the bottom when you were rolling. Again, carefully flip the dough over and do your best to centre it in the tart tin. The exposed bottom of the dough should be in the tin, and the top should still have the paper on it. Once the dough is positioned in the tin, gently peel away the top sheet of paper. 

Use your fingertips to gently press the dough into and against the bottom, and up over the inside walls of the tin. Use your rolling pin to roll around the edges of the tin to neatly cut any overhang. You can use these overhanging pieces to patch any tears or holes in the dough. Place the unbaked tart crust in the freezer for 30 minutes.

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Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Remove the shortcrust from the freezer and gently line it with a large piece of aluminum foil. Fill the foil with pie weights or dried beans. Bake the crust for 20 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven and remove the pie weights and foil. Return the crust to the oven and bake it for 10 minutes more. Cool completely on a wire rack before filling.

Tips and Notes

Like most pastry recipes, keeping the ingredients cold is very important. Ice water, cold butter, even cold flour. If your space is on the warm side, you can chill the bowl ahead of time too.

Add the water just bit by bit as outlined in the recipe. Too much water will result in a gloopy pastry that won’t have a proper short crumb. If it seems too crumbly, check to see if it holds when pressed between a finger and thumb – it it does, that means it’ll hold when it’s rolled out, too.

If you don’t want to use plastic wrap for chilling, we recommend a double-method: wrap the pastry in beeswax wrap and then place it in an airtight container. This works well and it’s a good plastic free alternative.

Substitutions

Use a good vegan butter (we like Miyoko’s) to make the shortcrust dairy free. There is no substitute for egg yolks.

We haven’t tried making this gluten-free but it may work with a good GF flour blend – but note that this hasn’t been tested.

Cane and granulated sugar can be used interchangeably.

More Basic Pastry Recipes

Basic Pie Crust
Vegan Pie Dough
Choux Pastry
Rough Puff Pastry
Paleo Pie Crust

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