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Pâte Sablée (French Shortcrust Pastry)

french-patesablee

One of the Classic French Pastry Tart Dough, along with a Pâte Brisée and a Pâte Sucrée, a Pâte Sablée is usually used for fruity or chocolate tarts. It has a slightly sweet flavour with a thick and crumbly texture, thanks to the large ratio of butter it contains. A good Tart always starts there: a delicious crust. This classic French Shortcrust Pastry Dough is not only super versatile, it is also very easy to make. With the option to prepare it by hand or in the food processor and to keep it in the fridge or freezer for days, this pastry is always a great option when it comes to making Tarts from scratch.

Pâte Sablée means "Sandy Dough" in French. That name refers both to the pastry's texture that is lightly crumbly like sand, as well as the technique use to make it called "Sablage". The "Sablage" technique is done by cutting cold butter into a dry ingredient like flour to create small crumbs that resembles sand. A liquid is then added to bring the pastry dough together.

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup + 1 Tbsp. confectioners' sugar
1 egg yolk
1½ cups cake flour
½ tsp. kosher salt

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, and continue to whisk until completely combined.

Add the flour and salt, and mix on low speed just until there are no more visible flour spots - overmixing will lead to a tough texture, as with similar batters and soft doughs.

Transfer the dough to a large sheet of plastic wrap. Using the plastic, compress into a disc and seal tightly. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

When ready to use, remove dough from the refrigerator and let it warm up for a few minutes. Instead of lightly flouring your work surface, roll the dough out between two sheets of parchment paper, transfer to a tart pan and trim the edges with a paring knife. (If you're having trouble rolling the dough in one piece, gently press the dough directly into the tart pan instead of using a rolling pin; just use the bottom of a glass or a measuring cup to achieve a level, even surface).

Pâte Sablée is ideally a blind-baked crust: Before filling with pastry cream, egg, or fruit, line the dough with parchment paper and fill with a layer of pie weights. Blind-baking will ensure the tart shell doesn’t become too soggy.

Makes enough for 1 (9") tart, or 4 small tarts.

When do I use Pâte Sablée?
There are many great recipes that use the Pâte Sablée as a base.

  • A Bakewell tart is very common and uses this rich shortcrust pastry
  • Fruit tarts filled with pastry cream and topped with your favorite fruits - Berries, strawberry, blueberries.
  • Lemon curd tart is a simple and easy tart you can make in minutes if you have a Pâte Sablée on hand. Just use a jar of lemon curd, or better yet, make my no-fail recipe for lemon curd.
  • Try chocolate ganache tart - White chocolate ganache with raspberries is very popular and so is a dark chocolate ganache.

Tips for making the perfect Pâte Sablée:

  • Making pastry dough should be planned, not a last-minute chore. Planning means leaving enough time to chill the dough between steps.
  • Always chill the dough before you roll, so you don't melt the butter too much. You want to keep that tender shortbread consistency.
  • If the dough it stiff when rolling, let it rest for five minutes then roll again. This will prevent breaking.
  • When rolling, use just enough flour so it's easier to handle but not loaded with flour.
  • Dust any excess flour from the crust when possible.
  • If you live in a hot and humid place - roll the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and let the rolled sheet of pastry chilled between steps to make handling easier.
  • This is a forgiving dough so if it tears, don't' worry, just patch it up together and continue.
  • Roll the dough to ⅛ thickness - too thick will make the baked crust look bulky but too thin will break easily.
  • Always chill the dough for at least 30 minutes before you bake it.
  • Use pie weights to bake the crust or dock the crust with the tings of a fork. Pie weight is the most effective way to blind bake. But, I often use the fork method too.
  • A partially baked crust will still be pale in colour with slight brown on the edges.
  • A fully baked Pâte Sablée should be lightly brown in the center meaning it's cooked right through.
  • For fully baked Pâte Sablée - If the pastry edges are browning before the center is light gold, tent the edges with foil or pie shield after you have removed the weights.