Home Made Flaky Sweet French Tart Crust (Pâte Sucrée)
This Sweet French Tart Crust, also known as Pâte Sucrée is an all round great recipe. It’s a slightly sweet short crust that is perfect for things like French fruit tarts that have no-bake fillings, all the way to baked tarts like my Crème Brûlée Tart. This recipe can be used for large tarts, and small ones too!
This recipe was originally posted on January 21, 2021. The recipe was re-worked and updated on June 15th, 2024.
Hey team! Coming in with my buttery tart crust recipe, which is perfectly sweet, crispy and light. In this post I’m going to take you through all my tips and tricks to making the dough by hand or in a food processor, forming the tart, blind baking and how to use it once you’ve made it!
One of my Favorite fillings for this tart is my baked Lemon Tart recipe which is so aromatic, but this recipe can be used for no-bake fillings too, like for my Passionfruit Meringue Tart. Because it’s blind baked, it’s great for wetter no-bake fillings like my Pastry Cream that I use in my French Fruit Tart.
If you’re looking for a chocolate version of this tart crust, try my Chocolate Tart Crust Recipe. I use that crust to make my Chocolate Caramel Tart, but you could even just fill it with Chocolate Ganache for a simple no-bake filling!
Why you’ll love this Tart Crust Recipe!
- This recipe is easy to work with – Unlike other recipes that use just egg yolks, this uses a whole egg which results in a crispier crust and one that doesn’t soften too quickly with wet filling, both baked and no-bake!
- It’s buttery and light!
- Not overly sweet – in my recipe testing, I adjusted sugar to a minimum without compromising the texture. That means you’ll get a tart that doesn’t make your filled and finished tart too sweet.
- Filling options are endless! – I’ll jump into the filling options a little further down in the post but this tart shell can be used for fillings that need further baking and ones that don’t need baking. Here’s some of my favorites though!
This Recipe Uses 6 Simple Ingredients.
- All-purpose flour – also known as plain flour.
- Powdered sugar – also known as icing sugar.
- Salt – I used fine salt.
- Vanilla Extract – Always use good quality vanilla extract when baking, it makes a huge difference. I have a great recipe here for it if you’d like to try your own!
- Butter – I used unsalted butter, straight out of the fridge. It’s got to be chilled.
- Egg – this tart used to use egg yolks, but I found that it resulted in a soft tart crust and not a nice crispy one which is why I changed it over to one whole egg. Plus there’s no waste!
How To Make A Sweet Tart Crust At Home
Making The Dough Using A Food Processor
- Add the flour, powdered sugar and vanilla extract to the bowl of a food processor and blitz for 20 seconds to combine. Next, add the butter and pulse until you reach lentil sized pieces.
- Add the egg and blitz until small clumps of dough form.
Making the dough by Hand
- Add the dry ingredients to a bowl. Then add the cold butter and rub it in using your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs
- Add the egg and mix it through using a spatula. Then bunch it with you hands to make sure it’s mixed in properly.
Rolling Out The Dough And Forming The Tart
- Turn the crumbly mixture out your workbench and bunch it together (without kneading).
- Wrap it up in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for one hour.
- Preheat a fan forced oven to 160°C / 325°F. Dust your workbench with flour and use a rolling pin to roll out to 14 inches wide.
- Carefully roll over the rolling pin and then transfer.
- Unroll over a 9-inch tart tin with removable bottom.
- Carefully lift the dough over the tart to allow it to naturally fall into the corners of the tart. You don’t want to stretch it or it will shrink as it bakes and become uneven.
- Roll the rolling pin over the excess dough to cut clean. Discard excess dough. Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Place the tart tin on a baking tray. Use a fork to prick holes into the bottom of the tart shell.
How To Blind Bake The Tart
Blind Baking your tart simply means, baking it before filling it. This helps stop it from going soggy once fillings are added. Here’s how to do it!
- Place the tart tin on a baking tray. Scrunch up a large piece of baking paper and then un-scrunch it. Place on the inside of the tart tin. Fill with baking beads. I used dried chickpeas. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Take it out of the oven, carefully lift out the beads using the corners of the baking paper. Bake for a further 15 minutes with the beads off. Then allow it to cool down completely.
Baking Times For No-Bake Fillings Vs Baked Fillings
- If using for baked fillings – Once you’ve taken the baking beads out, the tart shell will need a final 15 minutes of baking. This doesn’t fully bake the tart shell. It looks lightly golden on the outside and finishes baking with the filling that needs to be further baked. Let it cool completely before adding the filling and baking.
- If using for no-bake filling – bake for a final 20 minutes instead of final 15 or until golden in color. Allow to cool before adding your no-bake filling.
How To Use Your Tart Shell
I have loads of tart recipes on the website. Some of them require more baking, others are no-bake fillings.
- No-Bake French Fruit Tart
- No-Bake Passionfruit Tart
- Lemon Tart
- Pumpkin Chiffon Tart
- Crème Brûlée Tart
- Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe
You could even fill this tart with some of these delicious fillings!
Tips And Tricks For Recipe Success!
- Measure out using kitchen scales – measuring ingredients out by weight and not cups is the best way to get consistent results every time! I wrote all about this in my post about using digital kitchen scales!
- Don’t stretch the dough! – When you unroll the dough back into the tart tin, you must lift the dough to let it fall to the bottom of the tart tin instead of stretching. If you stretch the dough it will shrink as it bakes and become uneven around the top.
- Transferring the dough – To easily transfer the dough from your workbench to the tart tin, simply roll it over the rolling pin then unroll back over the tart tin.
- How to easily cut off excess dough! – Here’s a really fun tip! It’s my favourite part of making this recipe because it takes second and is so satisfying. Simply use your rolling pin and roll it over the top of your tart. It will perfectly cut it off!
- Baking Beads – You can use dried chickpeas or rice instead of actual ceramic baking beads which can be expensive. Simply fill them as you would baking beads then once you’re finished with them, let them cool completely in a bowl before placing back in a container or zip lock bag.
- Let the tart shell cool completely before adding no-bake fillings or fillings that need further baking. This is to prevent the tart crust from going soggy.
- When rolling out the dough, roll and spin the dough around 30 degrees as you roll. This will give you a nice round shape when rolling.
- Pour the baking beads back into the container with the lid off and allow them to cool down completely before placing the lid back on.
Frequently Asked Questions About Making A Sweet Tart Crust
How to store the baked tart shell
You can make your tart shell up to three days in advance. Store in the tart tin and wrap in plastic until ready to use.
How to store the filled tart
Depending on the filling you use, the moisture in the filling can cause your crust to soften. That’s completely normal.
How to store the dough if preparing in advance.
The dough needs to rest in the fridge for an hour before using. But you can keep it in there for up to 24 hours.
Why did my tart shell shrink?
That’s normal! The tart shell does shrink a little when baked and finished baking. This won’t affect your fillings or cause them to crack as you let the tart shell cool down completely after baking before adding fillings. To store a filled tart, place in an airtight container for 2-3 days. Depending on your filling, you may need to store it in the fridge.
What if I don’t have a Pastry mat?
I used a pastry mat to roll out my tart shell. I make a fair few tarts so getting one of these is a good investment. The pastry doesn’t stick to it which is great. If you don’t have one of these you can place the tart dough on top of a large piece of baking paper, place another large piece of baking paper on top and roll out using a rolling pin. The awesome thing about this is that it won’t stick to the rolling pin as you roll.
What exact size tart tin did you use?
My tart tin is 22.5cm / 10-inches in width and 3.5cm / 1 1/4-inches in height. You can use this tart crust recipe for any size tart shell you like up to a 22.5cm / 10-inch wide and 5.5cm / 2-inches in height tart tin.
Why is this recipe is in grams and not cups?
The short answer is accuracy! It is far easier, more accurate and you get more consistent results when you measure ingredients by weight, especially in dessert and bread baking! I wrote all about this in my post about using digital kitchen scales!
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Sweet French Tart Crust Pâte Sucrée
Serves 1
Ingredients
Sweet Tart Crust
- 235 g all-purpose flour, plain flour
- 50 g powdered sugar, icing sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 110 g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 1 large egg, 55g, whisked
Instructions
Preparing the tart tin
- Line the bottom of your 10-inch tart tin with baking paper by removing the bottom, tracing around it on some baking paper and then placing on top of the bottom. This will stop the tart shell from sticking to the bottom of the tart tin. An issue I found I had in my testing. If you have a non-stick tart tin, sticking shouldn’t be an issue.
Crust (food processor)
- Combine dry ingredients – Add the flour, powdered sugar and salt to the bowl of a food processor and blitz for 20 seconds to combine.
- Add butter and egg – Add the vanilla extract and butter and pulse until you reach lentil sized pieces. Add the whisked egg and blitz until small clumps of dough form.
Crust (by hand)
- Combine dry ingredients – Add the flour, powdered sugar and salt to a large mixing bowl and use a whisk to combine.
- Add butter and egg – Add the butter and use your fingertips to rub into the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs that look like they’ve been flattened. Add the whisked egg and vanilla extract and use a spatula to mix in until the dough begins to clump together and becomes too hard to mix with the spatula.
- Form dough ball and chill – Turn the mixture out your workbench and bunch it together (without kneading). Form a rough disc shape and then wrap in plastic. Chill for a minimum of 1 hour.
- Roll out dough – Lightly dust your workbench and rolling pin with flour. Place the chilled dough disc on the workbench and lightly dust the top with flour. Use a rolling pin to slowly roll dough disc out to 14 inches wide. Turn your dough as you roll and pinch together any cracks that might form around the edges as you roll.
- Transfer dough over tin – Carefully roll over the rolling pin and then transfer and unroll over a 10-inch tart tin with removable bottom.
- Form the tart – Carefully lift the dough over the tart to allow it to naturally fall into the corners of the tart. You don’t want to stretch it or it will shrink as it bakes and become uneven. Roll the rolling pin over the excess dough to cut clean. Discard excess dough.
- Dock the tart – Place the tart tin on a baking tray. Use a fork to prick holes into the bottom of the tart shell. This is called ‘docking’ and will prevent your tart from puffing up too much as it bakes the second time.
- Chill your tart – place the formed tart in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat a fan forced oven to 150C / 300F (170C / 340F for no fan).
- Blind baking your tart shell – Scrunch up a large piece of baking paper and then un-scrunch it. Place on the inside of the tart tin. Fill with baking beads, dried chickpeas or dry rice. Bake for 20 minutes. Take it out of the oven, carefully and slowly lift out the beads using the corners of the baking paper. Place them into a bowl or container to cool down for re-use.
- If using for baked fillings – bake for a final 15 minutes. Once baked, allow to cool on the baking tray at room temperature until ready to use. Letting it cool before adding the filling is important as adding the filling in while the tart shell is warm can cause it to go soggy.
- If using for no-bake filling – bake for a final 20 minutes instead of final 15 or until golden in color. Allow to cool before adding the fillings.
Notes
Nutrition
3 comments
I already tried this recipe and it works perfectly! Thank you for share! (Greetings from Chile!)
Thanks so much Angel! So glad to hear that! N x
So excited for you guys to try the updated recipe!