Bonjour and welcome to this recipe no. 24.
The shortcrust pastry should be prepared the day before serving.
Ingredients
I often use a 24 x 3.5 cm (9 ½ x 1 ½ inch) ring mold. If you have a smaller one, that works too. And if the sides are higher, that works just as well.
250 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour (type 45 or 55)
80 g (⅓ cup + 1 tbsp) white sugar
140 g (10 tbsp / 1 stick + 2 tbsp) butter
1 whole egg
It’s highly recommended to have baking beads (or rice, chickpeas, dried beans…) and parchment paper.
The day before: making the dough
Sift1 250 g (2 cups) of flour into a mixing bowl. Add 80 g (⅓ cup + 1 tbsp) of sugar and 140 g (10 tbsp / 1 stick + 2 tbsp) of butter cut into small pieces.
Mix everything with your hands until the butter is well incorporated into the flour.
Rub your hands together to create a sandy texture. Stop when it looks like fine sand.
Then add 1 whole egg, grab the dough with your hand and squeeze it into a fist: it will come together and push out between your fingers. Continue like this until you can gather it into a smooth, homogeneous ball.
Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and let it rest overnight in the warmest part of your fridge2.
The next morning: rolling out and lining the dough
Here’s a video to show you how to roll out the dough3 and then line the tart pan.4
Take the dough out of the fridge about an hour before handling it.
Lightly flour your work surface so the dough doesn’t stick.
If the dough is still too hard or breaks too much, knead it briefly to soften it, reshape it into a ball, then flatten it slightly with your hands in the center of the work surface.
Lightly flour both the dough and your rolling pin.
Place the rolling pin in the center of the dough and roll gently toward the edges, without pressing too hard. Keep your hands flat, one on each side of the pin. Don’t push the pin, make smooth back-and-forth movements.
Turn the dough a quarter turn each time and roll again. Keep going until the dough is large enough to cover your pan.5
Take a tart ring6 or tart pan and line it with parchment paper.7
Lift the dough carefully with your hands and place it in the pan. If it tears, simply patch the pieces back together.
Using your thumbs, gently press the dough against the sides to make it stick. Try to leave the edges a little thicker than the base.
Run the rolling pin over the top to cut off the excess dough.8
Prick the base all over with a fork.
Finally, place the tart shell in the freezer for 15 minutes, or 30 minutes in the fridge if your freezer is too small.
Pre-baking the pastry shell
Preheat your oven to 180 °C (350 °F).
To prevent the edges from collapsing: cover the dough with parchment paper, then fill it to the top with baking beads (or rice, chickpeas, dried beans…).9
Bake the tart shell for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully lift out the parchment and baking beads.
If the dough has sagged a little in places, press it back gently with the back of a spoon.
Bake it for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, until it turns a lovely golden color.
Once out of the oven, let it cool at room temperature before using. You will unmold it during the second baking, once the filling has cooked inside.
Sift the flour for a finer, smoother dough. If you don’t have a sifter, just pour the flour directly into your bowl: the dough will simply be a little denser.
Usually the vegetable drawer.
Rolling out the dough means flattening it with a rolling pin to the right thickness.
Lining the pan means fitting the rolled dough into the tart pan so it hugs the edges.
Always lightly flour the dough, the rolling pin, and the work surface (under the dough) if it starts to stick.
If you’re using a pastry ring, make sure to place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper: it will act as a support. The dough won’t hold in a ring by itself, and if you try to move it without support, the tart shell may break.
Lining with parchment paper makes unmolding easier. Cut a sheet slightly larger than your pan. Place it inside, pressing and crumpling it gently with your fingers so it fits snugly against the bottom and sides. Leave a little overhang all around: this will act as handles to lift out the tart shell once baked.
If you have dough left over, you can make small butter cookies in any shape you like. Bake them for 15 minutes at 180 °C (350 °F).
This trick prevents the sides from slumping and keeps the base from puffing up.