Sweet Shortcrust Pastry Dough

sweet tart dough

Category
Basics
Cuisine
American
Serves
2 tart crusts
Time
2 hours
From
Phil Price

dough

This is a good basic recipe for sweet tarts.

Adapted from: Le Bec-Fin Recipes, by Georges Perrier

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (or at room temp)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 egg

Instructions

  1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy and well combined
  2. Beat in the egg
  3. Add in the flour and beat until no streaks of flour remain
  4. Divide in half and form each half into into a ball, flatten slightly and wrap in cling film (Saran wrap)
  5. Let it rest in the fridge at least 1 hour before you roll it.
  6. When ready to use, remove from the fridge and roll on top of a piece of parchment paper (you may want to put another piece on top, so that it doesn't stick to the rolling pin). If the dough gets sticky, put it back in the fridge for a few minutes.
  7. Use the parchment paper to pick up the dough and place into whatever pan you are using. This is much, much easier than trying to pick up the dough and move it

Notes

  • This makes enough dough for 2 pies/tarts. You can't really half the recipe because of the egg - though I guess you could mix an egg and only use half of it.
  • Try not to add much flour when rolling, this makes the dough tough
  • Wrap the unused dough tightly and store it in a fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for a few months.
  • To make cake flour, for every cup of all purpose flour, replace 2 tablespoons with cornstarch (cornflour). So, for this recipe, you would replace 3 tablespoons of the 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour.