Shortcrust Pastry (Pate Brisée)

Appetizers & Snacks, Desserts, Dinner

Pâte brisée is crisp, buttery, and just neutral enough to work with almost anything, from sweet tarts, savoury quiches, to tartlets and tourtes. It takes about ten minutes to make. The technique matters more than the recipe, and once you've got it, you've got it for life.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Servings 1 pie

Ingredients 

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• 200 gr plain flour
• 100 gr unsalted butter
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 pinch salt
• 30 ml water

Equipment

mixing bowl

rolling pin

cling film

Instructions

1. Sable the butter and flour

• Put the flour and salt into a large bowl. Add the cold cubed butter. Using your fingertips (not your palms) rub the butter into the flour in short, quick movements, lifting the mixture as you go to keep it cool. You're looking for a texture like coarse, slightly clumped sand, with no visible chunks of butter remaining. Work quickly. The whole process should take no more than two or three minutes. If your kitchen is warm, chill the bowl beforehand.

2. Add the egg yolk and water

• Make a well in the centre of the sandy mixture. Add the egg yolk and 20ml of cold water. Using a fork or your fingertips, bring the dough together from the outside in, mixing lightly until it just starts to hold. Add a splash more water if needed (a teaspoon at a time)but the dough should be on the dry side rather than sticky. Stop as soon as it comes together.

3. Fraise the dough

• Turn the dough out onto a working surface. Using the palm of your hand, push the dough away from you in one firm, short smear. Gather it back together and repeat once more. This technique, which is called "fraisage", makes the dough homogeneous without developing the gluten. Two times is enough. More than that and you're overworking it.

4. Rest the pastry

• Flatten the dough into a disc about 2cm thick, wrap in cling film, and refrigerate for at least one hour. This is not optional. The resting period relaxes the gluten, which has been activated slightly even with minimal working, and firms the butter back up. Both are essential for pastry that doesn't shrink when it bakes.

5. Roll and use

• On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to around 3mm thick, turning it a quarter turn after each roll to keep it even and stop it sticking. Use immediately to line your tin or rings. Once lined, chill again for 30 minutes before blind baking.

Notes

• Cold butter is the single most important factor. If your hands are warm, run them under cold water and dry them before you start. If the butter starts to feel greasy at any point during the sablage, put the bowl in the fridge for five minutes and start again.
• The fraisage step is what separates this from simply pressing the dough into a ball. It takes ten seconds and makes a real difference to the finished texture.
• Pâte brisée freezes well. Wrap the disc tightly in cling film and freeze for up to a month. Defrost overnight in the fridge.
• For a lightly sweet version (to use with fruit tarts or sweet fillings) add 15g of icing sugar to the flour at the start. This is the sucrée variation on the same base recipe.
• T55 flour is the standard French patisserie flour. It has a slightly lower protein content than other plain flour, which means even less gluten development. Worth using if you can find it, but not essential.

About this recipe

I learned this shortcrust pastry from my neighbour Nathalie, and honestly, once you’ve made it yourself, there’s no going back to shop-bought. The flavour is just so much richer, buttery, clean, and full of that homemade goodness you can really taste.

Once you get the knack of it, it becomes second nature. And the best part? You can make a batch, freeze it for a month, and just pull it out whenever you need it. There’s really nothing to it.

The foundation: Pâte Brisée as basic shortcrust pastry

Ask any French baker what they’d start with, and they’ll tell you: pâte brisée. It’s the shortcrust pastry that holds everything together, quiches, tarts, tartlets, tourtes, all of it. It’s what they teach first in cooking schools because once you get it, you’ve got the foundation for so much more. Simple ingredients, clear steps, and that satisfying crisp result.

This crust pastry belongs to the “pâtes sèches”, the “dry” ones with barely any liquid. They bake up golden and firm instead of soft. The whole point is keeping gluten low. In bread, gluten gives that chew; in short crust pastry, it just makes everything shrink or toughen. That’s why we use ice-cold butter, handle it lightly, and give it plenty of time in the fridge.

Sablage: the heart of shortcrust pastry

The real secret is called “sablage”, which comes from “sable” meaning sand. You rub the cold butter into the flour with just your fingertips until it looks like coarse sand. Every bit of flour gets coated in butter, so when you add water later, the gluten can’t really form.

Use your fingertips only, never your palms as they’re too warm and melt the butter. You want it clumped and dry, not smooth or greasy. That’s what gives you the crumbly, perfect texture of a good basic shortcrust pastry.

Fraisage: the step that sets it apart

Once it’s mixed, there’s one more thing called “fraisage”. Just smear small bits of dough flat with the heel of your palm, gather it back, and do it once more. It spreads the butter evenly without overworking anything, so your crust pastry holds together better and isn’t crumbly. It takes about ten seconds, and it really makes a difference.

Pâte brisée vs. other shortcrust variations

Pâte brisée keeps things neutral. It contains no sugar, so it works for sweet or savoury fillings as a reliable crust pastry. Pâte sablée has way more sugar and stays sandier, perfect for biscuits or delicate tarts. Pâte sucrée starts by creaming butter and sugar, which makes it denser, more like a cookie. All the French pastry doughs are listed here if you need to know which one to use for what.

When the filling is the star, like in most tarts, pâte brisée is your best choice. It stays sturdy even with wet fillings, it’s easy to work with, and it’s much more forgiving than the sweeter versions.

The classic ratio for reliable results

French tradition keeps it simple: 100% flour to 50% butter by weight. For a standard 24-26cm tin, that’s 200g flour and 100g butter. A bit of water (or egg yolk for extra richness) brings it together. The yolk is a newer addition, but it makes slicing even cleaner.

Why double resting is essential

Don’t skip the resting. First, give it 1 hour in the fridge after mixing, it chills the butter and relaxes any gluten. Then after rolling and lining your tin, another 30-60 minutes. This second rest keeps the edges from slumping in the oven. Miss either one, and you’ll see the difference.

Tart Rings

Use the shortcrust pastry with 8cm tart rings to make little tartlets, or a perforated fluted tart ring which is a bit higher (3cm) for quiche and other fillings. Both work fantastic with the baking airmat. You won’t be disappointed with the professional results.