Sweet Tart Pastry Recipes

SWEET TART CRUST RECIPE

Steps:

• Process flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor for a few seconds until combined. If you don't have a food processor, you can do this by using a pastry cutter. Add butter and pulse until mixture becomes crumbly and resembles coarse meal, about 15 pulses. Add egg and vanilla extract and keep pulsing until the dough is no longer dry and starts to clump together, about 10-15 seconds. Do not process to the point that a large ball of dough is formed; rather the dough should be quite crumbly with large clumps. Another way to check if it's done is to take a piece of dough and press it between your thumbs - the dough should stick without feeling dry or crumbly.
• Turn dough to a lightly floured surface and form into a ball. It should come together easily without being sticky. Flatten ball slightly with your hands to form a thick disc. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• If you don't want to use the dough right away, you can refrigerate it for up to 3 days, or freeze it for up to a month and then thaw overnight in the fridge.
• To roll out the dough: Take dough out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for a few minutes to soften slightly for easy rolling. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into an 11-inch circle, then place gently into a 9-inch tart pan (preferably with a removable bottom); you can do this by flouring a rolling pan and rolling the dough loosely around it, then unrolling it into the pan. Brush away any excess flour on the surface. With a sharp knife, trim the edges of the pastry to fit the tart pan. Cover pan with plastic wrap and place in the freezer until firm, about 30 minutes. Frozen dough is less prone to shrinking while baking.
• To bake the crust: Preheat oven to 375F/190C and place rack in the center.
• Press parchment paper or aluminum foil tightly against the crust, covering the edges to prevent them from burning. Fill with pie weights/dried beans/uncooked rice, making sure they're fully distributed over the entire surface.
• Bake crust for 20 minutes, until foil no longer sticks to the dough. Transfer crust to a wire rack and remove weights and foil.
• To partially bake the crust: Bake for 5 minutes longer. You'll now need to proceed with your tart recipe, add the filling, and finish baking. According to your recipe, the crust should be used either while warm or after it's been left to cool on a wire rack.
• To fully bake the crust: Bake for about 10 minutes longer until golden brown and dry. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

PâTE SUCRéE - FRENCH SWEET TART CRUST (PASTRY DOUGH)

Steps:

• Mix Dy Ingredients: Whisk together flour, icing sugar, salt and almond meal in a bowl.
• Add butter: Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles breadcrumbs. (Note 4).
• Add egg: Mix with a rubber spatula until it becomes too hard to stir anymore, then use your hands to bring it together into a dough.
• Bring dough together: Turn dough out onto a work surface, then knead to bring together into a smooth ball. Flatten into a 2cm / 0.8" thick disc. Wrap with cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Unwrap chilled dough. Place on a lightly floured work surface.
• Roll out into a 32cm / 13" round (3mm / 1/8" thick).
• Line tart tin: Roll pastry lightly on to a rolling pin (ie. so it wraps around itself). Then unroll it gently over the tart tin.
• Fit pastry: Adjust the pastry to fit into the tart tin, fitting into the corner, taking care not to stretch it (causes shrinkage during bake).
• Trim excess dough: Roll the rolling pin over tart tin to trim excess dough. Pictured tart tin is 24 x 3 cm / 9.5 x 1.2" - you can use any up to this size.
• Prick the base of the pastry 30 times with a fork. Not all the way through - just make a light prick on the surface.
• Chill pastry in tart tin for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 200°C / 390°F (180°C fan).
• Baking beads: Cover pastry with 2 sheets of baking paper (parchment paper), in a "X" arrangement. Fill with baking beads (or 2 cups dry raw rice or beans).
• Baking times for a Par Baked Tart to be used for tarts that are baked for > 30 minutes once the filling is added into the cooked tart shell.
• Bake 15 minutes the remove from oven. Use excess paper to remove baking beads.
• Bake uncovered 5 minutes: Return tart crust to oven for 5 minutes. Pastry should be light golden, crispy on surface, but slighty undercooked inside (will finish cooking once filled and baked again).
• Use these baking times if the tart shell is to be used for raw fillings (ie tart not baked once crust is filled) OR fillings that are baked for < 25 minutes.
• Bake 15 minutes the remove from oven. Use excess paper to remove baking beads.
• Bake uncovered 10 minutes: This will fully cook the pastry through and give it nice colour which we need as the pastry won't cook through in less than 25 minutes once filled.
• Cool: Remove then cool in tart tin before filling (this ensures crust stays crispy once filled), then baking again if filling needs to be cooked (like this Pistachio Frangipane Pear Tart).
• Make ahead up to 3 days, suitable for baking once filled.

SWEET TART PASTRY

Steps:

• Sift together the flour, sugar, and salt into a bowl.
• Toss butter through flour mixture to coat pieces. Using fingertips, rub fat into flour, working it until you have created a coarse meal with a few pea-size particles of fat.
• Empty crumbs onto a cool surface. Form mixture into a mound. Make a 4 to 5 inch well in center of the mound. Combine egg and vanilla and pour mixture into the well. Using a fork, draw crumbs into egg mixture, about 1 - 2 tablespoons at a time. When all crumbs are added, toss mixture a few times with a pastry blender to form large clumps, then scrape into a mound.
• Using the heel of your hand, push 2 - 3 tablespoons of the dough at a time, outward in 6 to 8 inch sweeps. This will blend fat and flour and give crust a delicate texture. If your hand becomes sticky, flour it as needed. Repeat process until all dough has been worked. Gather dough into a mound again. Repeat procedure 2 more times.
• After third time, flour your hands. Gently knead the dough 5 or 6 times to make it smooth. Shape into a 5 inch disk. Dust disk lightly with flour, score with side of your hand, cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate for 20 minutes before shaping. DO NOT LET DOUGH BECOME TOO HARD or it will be difficult to roll. If this happens, let pastry soften at room temperature.
• Roll out to 1/8 inch thickness. After dough has been rolled, position rolling pin 4 inches from top of the pastry. Lift dough over top of rolling pin and gently roll dough toward you. Lift pastry up. Make sure you keep a finger pressed against barrel of rolling pin to keep it from slipping. Position pastry, leaving about 1 1/2 inches of dough hanging over edge of pan on side closest to you. Then unroll pastry over an ungreased tart pan, moving pin away from you. Immediately lift overhang into pan to prevent sharp edge of the pan from cutting dough.
• Working a small portion of the dough at a time, mold it into crease of the pan. Trim excess pastry from top edge of pan. Chill pastry in refrigerator or freezer for up to 30 minutes. Tear an 18 inch square of tin foil. Make a buttered circle in center of foil 2 inches larger than size of pan. Place foil buttered side down, centering it into the baking pan. Using your hand, press foil flush against the sides.
• Heat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Position shelf in lower third of oven. Fill pan with enough dried beans or baking nuggets to just cover surface of pan. DO NOT OVERFILL. Bake pastry shell on a shallow pan with sides. Bake crust 15 to 18 minutes or until sides begin to brown. Remove pan from the oven. Let stand about 30 seconds. Gently remove foil and beans. Reduce oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Continue to bake crust for 3 to 5 minutes or until it is golden. If bottom of pastry shell puffs up, tap it gently with bottom of a fork to expel the air. Do this carefully so the pastry crust doesn't break. When crust is done, cool completely before filling.

SWEET TART DOUGH

Steps:

• In a standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and salt on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl and paddle and add confectioners' sugar. Combine with butter at low speed. Scrape down bowl and paddle again, then add almond flour and vanilla and combine at low speed.
• Gradually add egg and a scant 1/2 cup cake flour (55 grams). Beat at low speed until just incorporated. Scrape down bowl and paddle. Gradually add remaining cake flour and mix just until dough comes together. Do not overbeat. Dough should be soft to the touch.
• Scrape dough out of bowl and gently press into a 1/2-inch-thick rectangle. Double-wrap airtight in plastic and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
• Very lightly brush two tart pans with butter. (You should not be able to see the butter.) Weigh dough and cut into two equal pieces. Wrap one piece and refrigerate while you roll out the other.
• Lightly dust parchment paper or a silicone baking mat with flour. Tap on dough lightly with a rolling pin to make it pliable. Begin rolling gently, three times in one direction, from the edge nearest to you to the far edge. Rotate dough a quarter turn clockwise. (If it's sticking, run an offset spatula underneath to loosen it, then gently lift it and lightly dust underneath with flour.) Repeat process until dough is about 1/4-inch thick and 11 inches in diameter. Check often to make sure dough is not sticking, and dust with flour as necessary.
• Cut dough into a 10 1/2-inch circle. (If it's on a silicone mat, flip it over onto a piece of lightly dusted parchment and peel off the mat first.) Very lightly dust dough with flour; brush away excess flour with a dry pastry brush.
• Loosely roll dough onto rolling pin, then unroll it onto a tart pan, making sure to cover pan evenly. Gently ease it into the pan so there is no gap between the bottom edge of the ring and the bottom of the pan (don't press hard or dough will be thinner in spots). Cut away excess dough by holding a paring knife perpendicular to the edge of the pan and spinning the pan around against the edge of the knife. Use a fork to poke little holes in dough across entire bottom of shell.
• Refrigerate dough, uncovered, for at least 1 hour and preferably overnight. If freezing dough, refrigerate for 1 hour, then double-wrap in plastic wrap, then in foil. Label, date and freeze. Repeat process of rolling out dough with the other dough half.
• Heat oven to 325 degrees with rack positioned in middle. Place tart pan on a baking sheet. Line shell with parchment and fill to the top with pie weights. (If dough is coming directly from the freezer, you don't need to defrost it first or use weights.) Bake for 15 minutes. Remove parchment and weights and return to oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a rack (with pan still on top of baking sheet) before filling.

SWEET TART PASTRY

Steps:

• Let the butter sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes. It should be malleable but still cool.
• Place the confectioners' sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer or into a medium-size mixing bowl. Using a paddle attachment for a standing mixer or a hand-held electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar at medium speed until the sugar is no longer visible. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg yolk, and beat until well blended; then, scrape down the sides of the bowl again. Add 1 cup of the flour, and beat just until the dough looks crumbly. Add the remaining flour and the cream, and beat until the dough forms a sticky mass.
• Shape the dough into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, 2 hours.
• Dust a work surface with flour. Cut the chilled dough into 1-inch pieces. Using the heel of your hand, knead the pieces back together and reform the dough into an even, flattened disk about 6 inches in diameter. Lift it off the work surface, and dust the surface with flour again.
• Dust a rolling pin with flour. Roll the dough into a 12-inch round about 1/8-inch thick.
• Very lightly dust the surface of the dough with flour, gently fold it in half and slip the flat bottom of a 9- to 9 1/2-inch fluted straight-sided flan ring under the dough so the dough covers half of it, with plenty of overlap. Carefully place the bottom of the pan into the flan ring, allowing the excess dough to sit up against the sides. Unfold the dough, and with your thumbs on the inside and the tips of your fingers on the outside of the ring, use light pressure to fit the dough into the pan so the bottom and sides are completely covered and the dough extends about 1/2-inch above the rim of the pan. Cut the pastry so it is flush with the rim of the pan. Any tears can be pressed back together or patched with scraps.
• Using a fork or a pastry docker, prick the bottom of the dough all over.
• Place the tart pan in the freezer for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and position a rack in the center.
• Remove the dough from the freezer, place in the oven and bake 5 minutes. Check the dough. If it seems to slip down a bit from the sides, use your fingertips and gently push it back. Rotate the pan in the oven. Check again after another 5 minutes. If the dough bulges up in the center, prick it in one or two places with a thin skewer. Rotate it again. Continue baking another 5 to 8 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown. Total baking time should be 15 to 18 minutes.
• Remove the pan from the oven, and allow the dough to cool completely on a rack.

SWEET PASTRY DOUGH

Steps:

• In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, combine flour and sugar; pulse to mix. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles a fine meal.
• In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolks and cream; add to butter mixture. Pulse until dough just comes together.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Dip the heel of your hand in flour; working with small sections, smear dough away from you to blend it together. When dough has been all smeared out, use a bench scraper to gather it together. Divide dough in half; gently knead each half to gather into a ball. Flatten into discs and cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.

BASIC SWEET PASTRY

Steps:

• Crumb together by hand the butter in to the flour
• Add the sugar
• Mix in the egg and enough milk to form a soft dough - add flavour (opt)