Parisian Strawberry Tart - Part One Paris Sweets Pâte Sucrée Recipe

This is a brilliant recipe from a fantastic book, I love Dorie Greenspan and Paris Sweets is one of my favourite cookbooks.   I am going to post this recipe in two parts, this post, part one I will give you the fantastic sweet tart dough recipe I used.  This pastry is a little difficult to work with but well worth the effort, it is absolutely delicious and would be scrumptious no matter what filling you choose. 

My tarts are filled with pastry cream, sweetened crushed strawberries and topped with halved strawberries and strawberry jam.  The strawberry tart filling is also from Dorie Greenspan's Paris Sweets and is adapted from the Ladurée Tarte aux Fraises a la Guimauve Fraiche Recipe.

Sweet Tart Dough / Pâte Sucrée

Recipe From Dorie Greenspan's - Paris Sweets

Makes enough for three 9-inch (24cm) crusts

'This is a really classic sweet tart dough, the one pastry chefs learn as apprentices.  It is really a cookie dough and is perfect with any sweet tart, whether the filling is fruit, ganache, or custard.  With dough like this the texture is always better if you make a large batch, so it is best not to cut the proportions; rather, make the full recipe and freeze the dough you don't need at the moment.' 

2 1/2 sticks (290g) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups (150g) confectioners' sugar, sifted

1/2 cup ground almonds, lightly packed

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs, at room temperature

3 1/2 cups (490g) all-purpose-flour

To Make The Dough

Place the butter in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade ans process, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until creamy.  Add the confectioners' sugar and process to blend well.

Add the ground almonds, salt and vanilla and continue to process until smooth, scraping the bowl as necessary.  Lightly stir the eggs together with a fork and with the machine running, add them to the processor bowl.  Process for a few seconds to blend.

Finally add the flour and pulse until the mixture just comes together.  Do not over beat.

Gather the dough into a ball and divide into three pieces.  Gently press each piece into a disc and wrap each disk in cling film.  Allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or for up to 2 days, before rolling and baking.

The dough can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to a month.

To Roll Tart Crust:

For each tart butter the tart pan and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  If you are making more than one tart work with one piece of dough at a time.

The easiest way to work with butter rich sweet tart dough is to roll it out between to sheets of cling film or plastic wrap.   Lay a sheet of clingfilm over your counter place the pastry on top and cover with another sheet of cling film.  Turn the dough often so you can roll it out on both sides.

If the dough becomes to soft to work with, just slip it, still in between its plastic sheets into the fridge for a few minutes.

Remove one sheet of plastic wrap and centre the dough (exposed side down) over the tart pan.

Press the dough against the bottom of the pan and against the sides., remove the top sheet of film and roll your rolling pin across the rim of the pan to cut off the excess.  If the dough cracks or splits while your working, don't worry - you can patch them up with leftover dough.  Be careful not to stretch the dough in the pan (what you stretch now will shrink later).  Chill for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

To Bake Tart Crust:

Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C)

Line the crust with a circle of parchment paper or foil and fill with dried beans or rice.

Bake the crust for 20 - 25 minutes, or until very lightly coloured.  if the crust needs to be fully baked (it does for this strawberry tart recipe), remove the parchment and beans and bake the crust for another 3 - 5 minutes, or until golden.  Transfer to a rack to cool.

Keeping:

Wrapped airtight, the dough can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 days or frozen for a month.  Frozen discs of dough take 45 - 60 minutes at room temp. to reach a good rolling out consistency.

I will post Part 2 a.s.a.p.

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Parisian Strawberry Tart - Part One Paris Sweets Pâte Sucrée Recipe