Hello everyone. This sweet basic shortcrust pastry recipe is delicious for a tart pastry, and is mainly intended for sweet fruit or cream-covered cakes. This basic recipe is ideal for sweet tarts and tartlets, which are topped with different fruits or filled with cream after baking. It also works well for the classic chocolate tart or Lemon Pie. The tart or tartlets are always blind-baked in advance unless otherwise described. This is very simple and uncomplicated. You will find out exactly how it works below. Basic sweet shortcrust pastry recipe for tart, Quiché, and pie.
You’re likely to encounter this simple shortcrust pastry more often on my blog as time goes on. The dough is super quick and easy to make and incredibly versatile. Since I’m a huge fan of tart and Quiché, I make this recipe so often now that I can
actually master it in my sleep. All you need for the simple pastry base is flour, butter, sugar, and eggs. I like to replace 50 grams of the flour with ground almonds, as the flavor of the almonds fits perfectly and makes a great tart base.
Homemade shortcrust pastry base
French tarts and quiches The original French tart and Quiché dough are actually prepared neutrally, without adding sugar or salt. This has the advantage that you can prepare the base without having to decide whether it will end up as a sweet or savory pastry. Since I always prepare the dough quite specifically, I already distinguish when preparing the cake
base whether I prepare a sweet or salty dough and therefore add sugar or salt or spices to the tart dough.
The basic recipe of sweet shortcrust pastry for tart, Quiché, and pie You can also freeze the tart base quite well or store it for a few days in a well-sealing cookie or metal container. As already briefly mentioned above, I add other ingredients to the tart dough depending on the recipe or vary a little. The tart base gets a special boost, for example, by adding the essence of a vanilla bean or lemon, or orange zest. I also always and exclusively bake all my cake bases for tart and Quiché with butter and not with margarine. The butter gives the base a wonderful flavor, and I like it the very best that way.
Quick and easy – sweet tart pastry as a base for Tarte & Pie
I usually use the dough from this recipe in a 24 cm tart mold, but it is also sufficient for a 26 cm mold or for about 10 small tartelette molds when rolled out a little thinner. I always roll out the dough between two layers of floured baking paper, this prevents the rolled-out dough from breaking or sticking and also makes it much easier to place in the tart mold later. Whenever the dough sticks a little, you can sprinkle a little flour over it and then roll it out further. This makes the job much easier and ultimately saves you a lot of time, because the longer it takes, the warmer the dough gets, and
that makes it stickier. It is therefore important that the dough rests in the refrigerator for a while after kneading.
The basic recipe of sweet shortcrust pastry for tart, Quiché, and pie
On my blog, you can find a recipe for an insanely delicious and refreshing “Tarte au Citron” or “Lemon Meringue Pie”, a delicious lemon tart. I always use the sweet shortcrust pastry base and homemade lemon curd for this fruity tart. The summer Lemon Meringue Pie tastes deliciously fresh and is truly a treat for the eyes.
- Tarte au Citron // Lemon Meringue Pie
- Homemade Lemon Curd
I hope you enjoy reading, strolling through, and trying out my cooking and baking
recipes!
Equipment
- 1 tart pan 24-26 cm
- 1 Mixing bowl
- 1 scale
- 1 knife
- 1 backing paper
- 1 weights for blind baking
Ingredients
- 210 g flour 1,5 Cup + 1Tsp
- 50 g ground almonds 1/2 cup
- 1 egg large
- 80-100 g sugar 1/2 cup
- 125 g Butter cold 1/2 cup +1 tsp
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 vanilla bean or orange or lemon zest
- 1 pith of egg yolk
Instructions
- Prepare all the ingredients, measured and weighed. Mix the flour with the almonds, salt and sugar.
- Roughly divide the cold butter (no margarine please!) into cubes and add to the flour. Then add the egg as well.
- Mix the dough quickly with your hands and knead it thoroughly.
- Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. As the butter melts during the kneading, the dough loses texture and must therefore be allowed to cool before rolling it out flat.
- Now grease the tart let molds or a large tart mold and cut out the dough with the mold and press it well into the mold.
- Cover the dough with baking paper and fill it with dried lentils (or beans, peas, etc.) or special baking weights.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 360° F. for about 15 minutes. When the time is up, carefully remove the baking paper and lentils and bake the tart base for another 3 to 4 minutes. Small tartelettes need a few minutes less, they should still have a light yellow color. Allow the pastry to cool slightly and then carefully remove from the mold and leave to cool completely.
- If you want to top the tart base with chocolate cream or something else instead of fresh fruit or berries, pre-baking for 15 minutes is enough, as the base will then go back into the oven for the time it takes to bake the topping.
- Short crust pastry bases can be stored in a tin for 2-3 days. Often it is even advisable to prepare the tart base the day before, as this gives more time the next day and the pastry is completely cooled.
