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Sheila the Pastry Chef“Create masterpieces from your own kitchen”.
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Pate Sucre' is Sweet Tart DoughPate' Sucre', also known as pastry dough, tart dough, sugar dough, or short dough. It is used for making sweet desserts, like fruit tarts, or a lemon curd.
Like pate brise', this dough is also known as 1-2-3 dough, or 1-2-3 cookie dough. That's because it is, too, made with 1 part sugar, 2 parts fat and 3 parts flour by weight. 
No matter what name is used, pate' sucre' is one of the most frequently used dough in the majority of pastry shops. The short dough is named due to its short, crumbly quality, produced by the shortening/fat coming from the butter or margarine.
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A Very Versatile Dough
I once worked in a pastry shop that used short dough for 30 % of everything they produced. I used to make an average of 19 pound batches of this dough per week to accommodate the many varieties of tarts on the menu. 
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That was a lot of flour, butter, and sugar used .This tart dough recipe is a very forgiving dough. Easy to roll. Doesn't do a lot of 'sticking'. You can re-roll the scraps as needed. |
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The Fruit TartFruit tarts are pretty and delicious. First you have the creamy pastry cream and the buttery crunch of the tart shell. Then there's the sweet fruit with their juices bursting in your mouth.
To keep the bottom of the tart from getting soggy from the cream, you can brush chocolate over the baked tart shells. Allow the tarts to set in the refrigerator for at lest one hour before serving.. |
If You're Making Tarts, You May Need Some Tart Pans
To make successful tarts, you're gonna need a tart pan. Tart pans are round or oblong shallow pans with smooth or fluted sides. Some varieties contain removable bottoms so the contents can be removed clean & easily, while retaining its shape. They come in individual round servings, sizes 3 to 5 inches in diameter while the larger commonly range in sizes 9- 11 inches in diameter.
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There's a Science Behind ThisLike the water in the pate' brisee, the sugar in this recipe here is also a liquefier, binding the ingredients together. My sugar preference is powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar. |
The sugar crystals in powdered sugar are smaller, dissolving much easier than the crystals from granulated sugar. Although, I typically use only butter, however, this formula is a combination of both butter and shortening. |
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90 percent of tart recipes will require you to blind bake the tart prior to filling. Blind baking is simply baking the short dough without a filling. In most cases, your filling would be an already prepared pastry cream, or a lemon curd. Since these fillings are already cooked, there is no need to cook them again during the baking process.
Since there is no filling to weigh down the dough during blind baking, you need something to keep that dough from shrinking during baking. You can use pie weights, or dried beans. Make sure to place parchment paper between the weights and the dough. Bake for 15 minutes, at 350° F, with the weights, then remove the weights and parchment paper for the last 5 minutes of baking,
so that your crust can brown.
Since there is no filling to weigh down the dough during blind baking, you need something to keep that dough from shrinking during baking. You can use pie weights, or dried beans. Make sure to place parchment paper between the weights and the dough. Bake for 15 minutes, at 350° F, with the weights, then remove the weights and parchment paper for the last 5 minutes of baking,
so that your crust can brown.
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Tender and Crumbly 
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In the end, the goal is not to get a flaky crust, but simply a tender , crumbly crust. If you've have cookie cutters on hand, you can also roll the dough to make yourself a batch of shortbread cookies. |
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Lemon TartsLemon curd is the perfect filling for a quick lemon meringue tart. There are only three ingredients needed to make a lemon curd.
Start this project in the morning and you'll have lemon meringue tarts for lunch or dinner. Or make ahead of time. Refrigerate the tarts at least one hour, then top with the meringue. Broil the meringue just enough to toast. |
Necessary Tools for Juicing the Lemons for Lemon Curd
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The Cookie Bottom Base This dough also makes a cookie bottom base. A great foundation under a mousse cake. Once you roll out your dough, use 
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Tips for Preparation
Before getting started, check out these preparation tips
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Tip for Step 1
Place sugar, butter/shortening, eggs, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Your ingredients should be room temperature so they will incorporate together more easily. 
Powdered sugar is used because it blends easier, and faster, than granulated sugar does with the other ingredients.
Allowing less mixing time, plus avoiding air bubbles and lessening gluten development. |
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Tip for Step 2
Mix only at low speed just until combined. Don't over mix, or cream the mixture. We don't want to incorporate any air into this dough, that can create a dough too soft, making the dough difficult to roll. 
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Cake Pans
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Tip for Step 3
On low speed, add flour and mix only until the dough is smooth. Again, do not over mix. Over mixing will encourage gluten development, causing all kinds of problems with your dough. Examples include a tough dough, instead of crumbly, or worse shrinkage during baking. 
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You can substitute cake flour, for the all purpose flour. All flours contain the proteins that create gluten, but cake flour has the least amount of gluten of all the wheat flours.
Cake flour will yield a more tender result once baked. Pastry flour even better. Make sure to scrape the sides of the mixing bowl. You want everything in that bowl to come together. Once your dough begins to come together... |
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Tip for Step 4
Scrape the dough out of the mixing bowl, onto your, lightly floured, work surface and press out into a flat disc. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap to cover up and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. 
This dough can be stored in the refrigerator for several weeks, and frozen up to 2 months, if triple wrapped in plastic first. At this point this dough can be used for a number of applications.
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Pate' Sucre'/ Sweet Tart Dough
Tips
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Wait !
Don't forget you tart pans!
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Pate' Sucre'/ Sweet Tart Dough
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Make sure all ingredients are room temperture.
Yields:
One - 9" tart pan; either round or rectangular Four 4" round tart pans |
Preparation Step 1 Place sugar, butter or shortening, eggs, vanilla in a mixing bowl. Step 2 Mix at low speed just until combined. Don't over mix, or cream the mixture. Step 3 Add flour and mix only until the dough is smooth. On low speed. Again, do not over mix. Step 4 Scrape the dough out of the mixing bowl, onto your, lightly floured, work surface and press out into a flat disc. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap to cover up and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. |
