Sweet Tart Crust

A good tart begins with the crust. Here is a sweet tart crust that a French pastry chef shared with me. The process for making it is a bit involved, which is how you know it’s French. What you will get though, is a great tasting crust that holds together well in any mold and nicely complements your tart. When making tarts, you make the crust and then add the tart filling. That means you are baking the crust unfilled, so to keep the dough in place, you have to fill the tart pan (or molds) with weights. The pros use baking beans but you can use rice or even marbles.

Ingredients

  • 180 g Flour – All purpose is fine (1.25 cups)
  • 55 g Powdered sugar (0.5 cups)
    • or you can use 0.25 cups granulated sugar
  • 115 g Butter – cold and cubed (0.5 cups)
  • 1 egg
    • or 1 egg yolk + 2 TBL heavy cream
  • g Salt (0.25 tsp)
  • g Vanilla extract (0.5 tsp)

Process

  1. Mise en Place – measure and prepare your ingredients prior to starting.
  2. In a food processor
    1. Mix flour, sugar, and salt.
    2. Add butter and pulse until dough is crumbly (~15 pulses).
    3. Add egg and vanilla and blend ~10 secs. Dough should be crumbly in large clumps.
  3. On floured surface, (or Silpat) form dough into a ball and then flatten to a disk.
  4. Wrap disk in film and refrigerate a minimum of 1 hour.
  5. Remove from fridge and let rest a few minutes to soften and ease rolling.
    1. Roll into an 11″ circle or equivalent rectangle if you are using a sheet pan for a mold.
    2. You can also use small single serve tart molds, in that case cut the dough to match the mold and press into the mold.
  6. Put dough in tart pan (bottom separates from sides), and freeze for 30 mins.
  7. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 F (190 C).
  8. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit inside the tart pan, and press against the dough.
    1. Fill pan with weights (like rice or baking beans).
    2. If you are using small tart molds, you need to fill the mold with weights to keep the crust in place.
  9. Bake 20 mins.
    1. Remove weights and parchment paper
    2. Remove from tart pan and bake 5 mins (partial) to 10 mins (full), or until lightly browned.
  10. Allow to cool
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