Recipe and tutorial for a simple pâte sucrée that can be used as a base for most sweet tarts or pastries.

I’ve test quite a few pâte sucrée (sweet dough) recipes, and I always return to this one. The dough isn’t too fussy, it comes together nicely, and it hardly shrinks when baked. I make large batches of this dough when I have free time and freeze pre-rolled disks to use later on. This dough can be used for recipes that call for fully baked shells, 3/4 baked shells, and raw shells.

Tart Shell Dough – Pâte Sucrée
[one 12-inch; or two 9-inch; or six 4 inch tarts/ prep: 15 min / chill: 2 hr/ bake: 20 min]
Ingredients:

- 1 cup butter (250 gr; 2 sticks)
- 1 1/3 cup pastry flour (180 gr)
- 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour (180 gr)
- 2/3 cup sugar (125 gr)
- 1 large egg (~55 gr)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla (4 gr)
+ tart pans
+ rolling pin
+ plastic wrap

Directions:
1. Using the paddle attachment, lightly cream together butter, sugar, vanilla and salt in mixing bowl.

2. Scrape down sides and add egg and mix until combined. Sift flours together, and add to the mixture just until incorporated. Do not over mix.

3. Bring dough together on a lightly flour dusted surface. Divide the dough into two, shape into disks, and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour before you move on to the next steps. You can freeze the dough for up to two months if you want to use it at a later time.

4. To roll out the pâte sucrée, sandwhich the dough between two pieces of parchment paper (or plastic wrap), and roll out to 1/8″ thick. Make sure that your is rolled out enough to fit the size of your tart pan. The dough should be used as soon as it has been rolled out.

Baking:
Pre-heat oven to 375′F.

1. Mold your pastry into your tart pan and refrigerate– refrigerating the dough prior to baking guards against excessive shrinking during baking.

2. Using a fork, gently prick the bottom of the dough. Be careful not to fully puncture the dough or else any fillings might leak through.

3. If your recipe calls for raw shells, in cases where the filling also needs to be baked for a long time, fill your shell and bake. If your recipe calls for a full or partial baked shell: line tart with parchment paper (or cupcake liners if they fit), and fill with dried beans, or pie weights.

4. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove the shells from the oven, allow to cool for 3-5 minutes and remove the parchment paper and beans.

5. If your recipe calls for 3/4 baked tart shells, return to the oven for 3-4 minutes to dry out the base. For fully baked, return to the oven until golden brown (8-10 minutes)