Sweet Tart Dough (Pâte Sucrée)

Paris Sweets: Great Desserts
from the City's Best Pastry Shops
By Dorie Greenspan, 2002, Broadway Books/Random House

Makes enough for three 9-inch (24-cm) crusts

“This is a classic sweet tart dough, the one pastry chefs learn as apprentices. It
is really a cookie dough – in fact, it is used as the base of the Orange Galettes
[recipe included in cookbook] and it is perfect with any sweet tart, whether the filling is fruit, ganache, or custard.
The easiest way to make this dough is in a large-capacity food processor, although
it can be made quickly in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Whichever method you choose, just make certain to go easy on the dough – its lovely texture depends on your not overworking the flour. Finally, as you’ll see, this is a large recipe – enough for three crusts. With a dough like this, the texture is always
better if you make a large batch, so it’s best not to cut the proportions; rather,
make the full recipe and freeze the dough you don’t need at the moment: Frozen
tart dough is always a good thing to have on hand.”

2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces; 290 grams)
unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (150 grams) confectioners’
sugar, sifted
Lightly packed 1/2 cup (2 1/4 ounces; 70 grams)
ground blanched almonds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3 1/2 cups flour (490 grams)
all-purpose flour

1. To make the dough: Place the butter in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and process, scraping down the
sides of the bowl as needed, until creamy. Add the confectioners’ sugar
and process to blend well. Add the ground almonds, salt, and vanilla and
continue to process until smooth, scraping the bowl as necessary. Lightly
stir the eggs together with a fork and, with the machine running, add them
to the work bowl; process for a few seconds to blend. Finally, add the
flour and pulse until the mixture just starts to come together. When the
dough forms moist curds and clumps and then starts to form a ball, stop!
You don’t want to overwork it. The dough will be very soft, and that’s
just as it should be. (If you want to make the dough in a mixer, use the
paddle attachment. First beat the butter until it is smooth, then add the
remaining ingredients in the order given above. Just be careful when
you add the flour – you must stop mixing as soon as the flour is
incorporated.)
2. Gather the dough into a ball and divide it into 3 pieces. Gently press
each piece into a disk and wrap each disk in plastic. Allow the dough
to rest in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or for up to 2 days,
before rolling and baking. (The dough can be wrapped airtight and
frozen for up to a month.)
3. To roll and bake tart crusts: For each tart, butter the right-sized tart
pan and place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. If you are making
more than one tart, work with one piece of dough at a time.
4. What makes this dough so delicious – lots of butter – also makes it a
little difficult to roll. The easiest way to work with pâte sucrée is to
roll it out between sheets of plastic wrap. Just flatten a large piece
of plastic wrap against the counter and roll the dough between that
and another piece of plastic. Turn the dough over often so that you
can roll it out on both sides, and as you’re rolling, make sure to lift
the sheets of plastic several times so that they don’t crease and get
rolled into the dough. (If the dough becomes too soft, just slip it, still
between plastic, onto a baking sheet and pop it into the fridge for a
few minutes.) Remove one sheet of plastic and center the dough
(exposed side down) over the tart pan. Press the dough against the
bottom of the pan and up the sides, remove the top sheet of plastic
wrap, and roll your rolling pin across the rim of the pan to cut off
the excess. If the dough cracks or splits while you’re working, don’t
worry  – you can patch the cracks with leftover dough (moisten the
edges to “glue” them into place). Just be careful not to stretch the
dough in the pan (what you stretch now will shrink later). Chill for at
least 30 minutes in the refrigerator. (Repeat with the remaining dough,
if necessary.)
5. When you are ready to bake the crust(s), preheat the oven to 350
degrees F (180 degrees C). Line the crust with a circle of parchment
paper or foil and fill with dried beans or rice.
6. Bake the crust (or crusts) for 20 to 25 minutes, or just until very lightly colored. If the crust needs to be fully baked, remove the parchment
and beans and bake the crust for another 3 to 5 minutes, or until
golden. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Keeping: Wrapped airtight, the dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up
to 2 days or frozen for a month. Frozen disks of dough take 45 to 60 minutes
at average room temperature to reach a good rolling-out consistency. Baked
crusts can be kept uncovered at room temperature for about 8 hours.
 

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