Master Recipe: Basic Shortbread Tart Dough, Pâte Sablée

Master Pâte Sablée (Shortbread) Tart Dough Recipe:

Quantity: Makes one 9 in. tart shell

Time: ~5 hours total (~50 minutes active)

• ~1-2 hours to bring ingredients to room temperature
• 20 minutes to mix dough
• ~2+ hours to chill (can chill overnight)
• 15-30 minutes to roll out dough
• 30 minutes to chill
• 15-25 minutes to bake
• ~20 minutes to cool

Ingredients:

All ingredients are given in grams to ensure a consistent result. I've included volume measures for quantities that are difficult to weigh out on some scales or that come pre-measured for convenience.

• 113 g (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1.5 g (1/4 tsp) fine grain table salt*
• 38 g superfine sugar**
• 14 g (1 tsp) vanilla extract
• 14 g (1 Grade A Large) egg yolk (room temperature)***
• 75 g all-purpose flour
• 75 g cake flour (sifted to break up clumps)

*Fine sea salt did not incorporate well, resulting in unappealing crunchy, salty bits. This is because even fine grain salt crystals are much larger than fine table salt crystals

** You can make your own superfine sugar by pulsing granulated sugar in a food processor for ~15-20 seconds. Don't go too far, or you will make powdered sugar!

***A Grade A Large egg yolk can range from ~14-18 g. This recipe is robust to this level of fluctuation, so using one egg yolk is sufficient (i.e. you don't need to measure the weight of your egg yolk).

You can convert these all into volume measures using this chart, but the recipe will be much less consistent.

Directions:

1. Bring the butter and egg yolk to room temperature.
2. Whip the butter, salt, and sugar together on medium high speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the side of the bowl partway through to ensure that all the butter is evenly whipped (~5 minutes).
   
   
3. Add in the vanilla extract and egg yolk and mix until fully incorporated. Make sure to scrape down the side and bottom of the bowl to ensure that the ingredients are evenly incorporated.

   
   

   Just after scraping: You can see different shades, showing that the egg hasn't been uniformly incorporated yet
   
   

4. Gradually add in the flour mixing on low until it is fully incorporated and forms a cohesive dough.
   
   
5. Gently shape the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Once wrapped, smooth any cracks on the edge or faces closed. If the cracks are not smoothed, they will only grow when you go to roll it out.
6. Chill in the refrigerator for ~2 hours until firm (you can chill up to two days if you like).
7. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and whack it with a rolling pin until it is pliable. If any cracks form, you can push them shut.
   
   
   
8. Place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll to size (~1 in. wider than the tart pan on all sides). This avoids adding extra flour to the dough and makes transferring it to the tart pan easier. To get a nice even circle, rotate frequently to many different angles as you roll out the dough. If you have large cracks or a very uneven shape, you can add some dough from part of the disk to close the crack/even out the shape and then roll over it to make it even.
   
   
   
9. Typically at this point, it is too difficult to remove the parchment paper without tearing the dough or having the dough stick to the parchment. If this is the case, you can place the rolled dough still between the parchment into the refrigerator for about ~3-5 minutes until it is firm. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, peel off one side of the parchment then re-place it lightly on top of the dough and flip it over. Remove the other sheet of the parchment. Once the dough is pliable again (~0-2 minutes), drape the parchment with the dough on it over your arm and flip it into the tart pan. Shape the dough into the tart pan quickly, making sure to press the dough into the corners and avoiding stretching the dough. Drape any excess dough over the side of the pan. If there are any tears, patch them with excess dough. Roll off the excess dough with a rolling pin to get a nice, even edge. Note that the dough is usually too sticky to use a rolling pin to transfer it.
   
   
   
   
   
10. Dock the tart shell with a fork, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for ~30 minutes.
    
    
    
11. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.
12. Remove the tart pan from the refrigerator, remove the plastic wrap, and place on a baking tray. Line the tart shell with parchment paper and weigh down with your weight of choice (pie weights, beans, rice, etc.)
    
    
    
13. Bake ~15-20 minutes until edges just begin to brown then gently remove the parchment paper and weights. If you take off the parchment paper too early, it can rip the dough.
14. Return to the oven for ~2-5 minutes until the surface of the dough in the center looks dry.
15. Cool for ~20 minutes until cool to the touch before removing from the tart pan.

For Shortbread Cookies:

1. Follow steps 1-7 above.
2. Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper until it is ~1/3 in. thick. Make sure that the shape you roll it into can fit on the pan you plan to bake it on. Place the dough between the two sheets of parchment paper in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.
4. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, and place it on a baking sheet. Peel off the top layer of parchment paper, and place in the oven.
5. Bake until the shortbread is lightly browned around the edges and the top of the shortbread looks dry (~15-20 minutes).
6. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack for ~20 minutes before cutting and serving.

Flavor Variations:

Now that we have a basic recipe, we can vary the flavor profile in many different ways with just a few tweaks. The easiest way to vary the flavor is by adding different extracts. If you want citrus flavors, then you could add some zest into the dough. Spices could also change the flavor profile. As we learned in week 6, you can get by without 30 grams of the flour without altering the dough too significantly. If you want nutty flavors, you could substitute 30 g of a nut flour like almond, pecan, or pistachio for 30 g of flour. Or you could substitute some of the flour for matcha or cocoa powder. There are so many possibilities now that we have a base, and I hope to explore some in future posts!

Tart Takeaways:

It has been a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...seven week long process with over 28 tart shells to understand what makes a truly great Pâte Sablée tart dough. So let's review my main takeaways:

Keep gluten low:

• Have as little water as possible (e.g. avoid adding milk and egg whites/whole eggs)
• Don't over mix or overwork the dough
• Don't add flour when you roll out the dough
• You can substitute some all-purpose flour with cake or almond flour to give a more tender bite

Egg yolks are a must, but don't overdo it. They keep the texture tender with their fat, and give the tart shell flavor. Too many egg yolks can lead to a metallic flavor. One egg yolk is enough to get all the benefits without an off flavor.

Whipped butter is better, but you need the right sugar. Butter whipped with granulated sugars (e.g. superfine) creates air pockets that make the tart super tender. Whipping butter with powdered sugar as many recipes suggest does nothing, so don't waste your time.

Superfine sugar is just fine! Many recipes claim that you must use powdered sugar or you will get crunchy grains of sugar in the final product. This is not the case, and superfine sugar works really well, especially if you want to whip the butter. You can make your own superfine sugar by pulsing granulated sugar in a food processor for ~15-20 seconds.

Thickness and bake time are critical. A slightly thicker shell will be more tender, and when baking, you want to ensure that you remove the tart from the oven just as you see the first browning on the edges as any over-baking will lead to a crisper, tougher shell.

82% fat European butter is fine, but doesn't make a difference. Many recipes claim that European-style butter will result in a greasy mess, but this was not the case. The flavor difference between the European-style butter and 80% fat American-style butter is negligible, so it's not really worth the added expense.

Extra sugar makes things crispy. Extra sugar can give some added sweetness, but it can also toughen the dough by making it crisper. Add extra sugar with caution.

Baking powder isn't necessary. It can add some different flavor, but it will make the final product slightly flakier and drier. It also makes the parchment paper stick more to the tart bottom.