Pate Sucree

How to make a crispy pate sucree at home with this quick and easy recipe. This sweet tart dough is perfect to make a fresh fruit tart or your tartlet shells.

this recipe

Pate sucree from its name in French means "sweet pastry dough", this is a basic recipe in pastry making very used by chefs in the whole world to make the bottoms of tarts and tartlets.

In French pastry, there are 3 types of dough to make tart shell, the shortcrust pastry, the sandy shortcrust pastry (pate sablée) and this pâte sucrée recipe.

They are mainly made of the same basic ingredients, with unsalted butter, sugar, flour, and an egg, but the method used to prepare them is not the same, which gives them different textures.

But the sweet pastry remains very similar to the Tart crust - Pâte Sablée in its composition, except that for the latter we use the technique of sanding which gives a very crumbly texture and tender crust.

This sweet tart dough is very easy to make at home, it has a solid and crunchy texture that is very appreciated in pastry making for tart shells or mini fruit tarts, perfect for blind baking, and filled with lemon curd, pastry cream or almond cream.

Follow this easy and perfect homemade pate sucree recipe, with my directions and tips for making it a success every time and having pretty tart shells for all your tart recipes.

>> See more shortcrust recipes from the blog

Ingredients and Substitutions

Here is an overview of the ingredients and possible substitutions to make a delicious homemade pate sucree, scroll down the page to see the quantities in the recipe card.

• Butter: Use unsalted butter, it should have a softened texture, take it out of the fridge in advance or warm it up slightly in the microwave.
• Sugar: Use finely powdered sugar, which you can also substitute with granulated sugar or wholemeal sugar.
• Almond meal: Ground almonds or almond flour other nut powders such as hazelnuts or pistachios.
• Egg: at room temperature.
• Flour: For the basic recipe, white wheat all-purpose flour or plain flour.
• Salt: essential for the flavor, table salt or fleur de sel.

Option

• Cocoa: For a cocoa-sweetened version of the dough, replace ¼ of the flour with unsweetened cocoa powder.
• Almond cream: You can fill the sweet dough base with homemade almond cream for extra flavor.

⚠️ You will find the quantities and complete instructions in the recipe card at the end of the page.

How to make Pâte Sucrée

For this recipe we use the butter creaming method, so I recommend making this dough in a stand mixer or by hand rather than with a food processor.

1 - Cream the butter

1. Place softened butter, powdered sugar, almond meal and egg in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
2. Blend at medium speed for 2 minutes until creamy and smooth.

Tip: If the butter seems too firm, beat it for a good minute until creamy before adding the other ingredients.

2 - Add the flour

1. Then add the dry ingredients, flour and salt.
2. Mix on medium or slow speed just until incorporated.
3. Gather the dough with your hands or a pastry horn to form a smooth ball of dough.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before using.

Tips: You can immediately roll it out with a rolling pin between 2 sheets of parchment paper to save time in preparation.

How to line a tart pan?

To bake a large tart pan, you can either use this quick and easy method or for an even more perfect finish go directly to the Tartlets technique.

1. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured work surface or between 2 sheets of baking paper to a thickness of 3 mm.
2. Cover the entire tart pan with the disc of rolled pastry crust and gradually apply it with your hands, starting with the center and ending with the edges, letting the dough overflow.
3. Run a rolling pin over the top to quickly cut the edges of the dough and remove them.
4. Using thumb and forefinger, lightly press around the edge to form a border of the same thickness.
5. Cut off excess dough with a knife.
6. Place the tart crust in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before baking.

Tip: To prevent the dough from collapsing during baking, let it chill, ideally overnight in the fridge or, to make it faster, at least 1 hour in the freezer before baking.

How to line mini tarts rings?

To line the mini tart pans, we use a different method that is much easier and allows us to properly line the pans.

1. Roll out the sweet dough to a thickness of 3 mm.
2. Cut strips slightly wider than the depth of the mini rings.
3. Cut out discs of dough about 0.5 mm smaller than the tartlet circles.
4. Line the pastry disc first and then add the pastry strip around it.
5. Press lightly to join the strip and cut off the excess of dough by running a knife over the top of the tartlet ring.

Tip: To ensure that the dough holds its shape during the lining process, place the dough pieces in the freezer for 10 minutes before lining the mini rings.

How to bake a tart shell?

1. Place your pie crust on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
2. Preheat oven to 347°F / 175°C and bake the pate sucre for about 20-30 minutes depending on diameter, until golden brown.
3. Allow the tart shell to cool completely before removing from the pan and allowing it to cool completely to room temperature.

Blind bake tip: You don't need to use pie weights or dried beans to bake the pie crust if you let it sit in the fridge overnight or if it is frozen.

Why add gilding?

The egg wash gives a nice finish to the bottoms of tarts and tartlets, the crust is evenly browned and shiny.

But gilding also permeates the crust to prevent it from absorbing the juices of fresh fruit or fillings and losing its crisp texture.

To add gilding simply apply beaten egg yolk with a pastry brush to the fully baked crust and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

Tips and Tricks

How to store the dough? Before baking in the fridge covered with cling film for 3-4 days and up to 2-3 days after baking at room temperature.

Use room temperature ingredients, especially for the butter which must be softened to give a homogeneous pasteène.

Let the tart shell rest in the fridge overnight (or 1 hour in the freezer) before baking to avoid having the pastry deform or retract during baking.

More pastry dough

• Shortcrust pastry
• Classic puff pastry
• Inverted puff pastry
• Rough puff pastry

Recipe with sweet pastry crust

• Lemon curd tart
• Lemon meringue tarts

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