Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

The recipe, step by step

This homemade sweet shortcrust pastry is ideal for all your fruit tarts or small pies. I love to use this recipe for jam tarts or to make Christmas mince pies.

Sweet shortcrust pastry doesn’t include leavening agents and when baked is crisp rather than puffed and layered.

This is an easy recipe and is best made by hand rather than in a food processor. We want to handle the dough as little as possible and keep it cold throughout the making of it. This way the dough won’t shrink so much or become tough after baking. Another important factor is resting the dough. It’s best to rest it after it’s made and then again once you have rolled it out and filled your baking form.

The French call this pastry pâte sucrée, as it is mostly used for fruit tarts, just like in my apricot streusel tart, sour cherry ricotta tart or my cherry Bakewell tart recipe. The dough is actually also great for making biscuits, similar to sable biscuits or shortbread.

RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS

• EASE: quick to make and is best made ahead of time.
• FREE FROM: this recipe is nut-free.
• GREAT FOR: sweet tarts, small pies (Christmas mince pies) or sable biscuits.
• TASTE & TEXTURE: light, buttery, crispy sweet crust.
• QUANTITY: this recipe is enough to line a 25cm (10 inch) maximum, flan tin or eight 10cm (4 inch) tartlet tins. (approx. 500g dough)

INGREDIENTS

For this recipe, all you need are these ingredients:

• Plain or all-purpose flour – is ideal for the pastry as it does not contain high levels of gluten.

• Butter – gives the pastry a nice rich buttery taste and should be chilled to ensure the pastry dough remains cold to avoid overheating while mixing.

• Fine sea salt – enhances the ingredient flavours.  

• Icing sugar (powdered sugar) – gives this pastry a refined sweet taste.

• Eggs – are used to bring all the ingredients together in a nice smooth paste.

WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?

• Citrus flavouring – for a bit of zing, add the zest of a lemon, lime, or orange to the flour before mixing.

Nutrition

Serving: per 100g

Nutrition information is provided as an estimate and may vary depending on the ingredients and portion size used.

STORAGE AND FREEZING

This dough will keep well for up to 5 days, wrapped well in the fridge.

Freezing: Once prepared this dough can be wrapped in clingfilm and frozen for up to 1 month.

TOOLS YOU’LL NEED

Here is some kitchen equipment that I use and recommend for this recipe.

• Large mixing bowl – I recommend the 29 cm Mason Cash cream earthenware mixing bowl because it is sturdy, chip-resistant and has a generous four-litre capacity, making it ideal for everything from cake batters to bread doughs. It is also microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe. You can find this bowl and more of my favourite kitchen tools in my Amazon Baking Essentials collection.

• Fine Mesh Strainer – I recommend this 40 × 25 cm cooling rack because it is ideal for cooling cakes, biscuits and other freshly baked treats. I find it so useful that I have a couple of them, especially when baking several batches at once. You can find it and more of my favourite baking equipment in my Amazon Baking Essentials collection.

• Rolling pin – I love this rolling pin! The removable guide rings make it much easier to roll biscuit dough, pizza dough and flatbreads to an even thickness, giving you consistent results every time.

• Stand mixer – The KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer is certainly an investment, but it is incredibly useful if you bake regularly or often make bread dough.

RECIPE TIPS

The golden rule of making shortcrust pastry is to keep the ingredients, equipment, and your hands as cool as possible. With this in mind, gather together all your equipment and weigh all the ingredients before you begin. 

Don’t overwork the dough – Constant kneading of the dough activates the gluten in the flour, causing the dough to become tough and even shrink more when baked. Remember that the less you touch the dough, the shorter and flakier your pastry will be.

Use the least amount of flour when rolling out your dough to keep it from sticking to your kitchen worksurface. The more flour there is, the heavier your dough will be.

Don’t skip chilling the sweet shortcrust dough for as long as possible. If you’re in a rush, you can get away with freezing it for half an hour. Keep in mind that allowing it to rest for longer in the fridge gives time for the gluten in the dough to relax, making it easier to roll and decrease the amount of shrinking during baking. Make sure to let the dough come back to room temperature before you try rolling it out, or it is likely to break apart.

Make sure to use flour that is low in gluten (proteins). Plain or cake flour are usually the best, alternatively 00 is good.

To get a really crisp bottom on your tart shell, place a heavy baking tray in the oven while it is heating up, then place the tart or pie directly on it.

A recipe worth keeping

Save this recipe for another day

Pin it to one of your boards and keep it close for the next time you are ready to cook or bake.

Save to Pinterest

Made it?

Share it from your kitchen

Save the recipe or share it with someone who would enjoy making it too.

Facebook Pinterest Email