Sweet Tart Pastry Recipe- Pâte Sucré

Adapted from Ladureé’s recipe book, this has to be one of the better tart recipes I have come across. Not too sweet, crumbly, with a hint of almond, to give it that unique boost of flavor.

Do make sure you work in a well ventilated room or in a space that is cool-temperatured, to ensure the butter doesn’t melt and separate the pastry. If you are working in an environment like Hong Kong (humid and hot), I recommend blasting air-con or placing the pastry immediately in the fridge if you feel it softening too much. Then continue working the pastry when it begins to firm up again.

Doesn’t hurt, if you are willing to fork out a few extra bucks, to get a marble slab or rolling pin to keep your pastry cool while rolling!

[Tart Pastry]

Prep Time: 20 mins                Refrigeration Time: 2 hours

Ingredients & tools:

• 120g very cold butter, in small pieces
• 70g icing sugar, sifted
• 25g  Almond flour/ ground almonds
• 200g Cake flour (plain flour if you can’t find any)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla paste (if not vanilla extract)
• 1 pinch table salt

How to: 

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1. Using a Food processor or standing mixer, add the small pieces of butter in the bowl. At a low -medium speed (setting 2), homogenize butter with the paddle attachment.
2. Sift the following in this order, into the butter; Icing sugar, almond flour, salt, vanilla, egg and flour.
3. Combine ingredients until a dough forms. DON’T OVERWORK.
4. Use your hands to bring the dough together into a ball. Cling wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours. 

Blind baking

Cooking Time: 20 mins

Cooking : 180°C/ 356 °F/ Gas mark 4

Tips: Roll the pastry out between sheets of grease-proof paper for easy transfer onto the tart tin! 

1. Using a fork, lightly poke the base of the casing without piercing through
2. blind bake pastry for 15 minutes, lining the casing with aluminium foil filled with weights (beans, rice or baking beads).
3. Take out the tart base and remove the ‘foil tray’. Using a sharpe knife, trim off excess pastry hanging off the sides of the tin.
4. Further bake casing (without the weights) for another 5 minutes, or until golden brown.

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