Description
Buttery French shortcrust pastry brings delicate elegance to countless sweet and savory dishes. Crisp, golden layers provide a perfect foundation for tarts, pies, and delicate pastry creations you’ll savor with each delightful bite.
Ingredients
Scale
Main Ingredients:
- 500 grams (17.6 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 300 grams (10.6 ounces) unsalted butter
- 150 grams (5.3 ounces) icing sugar
Binding Ingredients:
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Gently combine flour and powdered sugar through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean mixing bowl.
- Cut cold butter into small cubes and delicately incorporate into flour mixture using fingertips until texture resembles coarse, irregular crumbs.
- Create a small well in the center and pour egg yolks, milk, and vanilla extract, then swiftly blend ingredients until a cohesive dough forms.
- Compress dough into a compact disc, wrap tightly in plastic film, and refrigerate for approximately 30 minutes to allow gluten to relax and butter to firm.
- Remove chilled dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface to approximately 3-4 mm thickness, ensuring even coverage.
- Carefully transfer rolled pastry into a tart tin, gently pressing into corners and trimming excess edges.
- Using a fork, delicately puncture base of pastry to prevent potential air bubbles during baking.
- Return pastry-lined tin to refrigerator for an additional 15 minutes to stabilize structure.
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line pastry with parchment paper, filling with ceramic baking weights.
- Blind bake for 10 minutes, then remove weights and parchment, continuing to bake for an additional 7-8 minutes until golden.
- Extract from oven and allow pastry to cool completely on a wire rack before adding desired filling.
Notes
- Handle butter straight from the fridge for the best crumbly texture, ensuring it’s cold and firm when mixing with flour.
- Avoid overworking the dough to prevent tough pastry; mix just until ingredients combine and barely hold together.
- Resting and chilling the dough helps relax gluten and prevents shrinkage during baking, creating a more stable and flaky crust.
- Use parchment paper and baking weights during blind baking to maintain the pastry’s shape and prevent bottom bubbling.
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Cook Time: 67 minutes
- Category: Appetizer, Snacks, Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: British
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 8
- Calories: 457
- Sugar: 11 g
- Sodium: 3 mg
- Fat: 33 g
- Saturated Fat: 19 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 13 g
- Trans Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 38 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Cholesterol: 68 mg