There are three types of pastry dough in a classically trained chef’s arsenal that should be known by heart. To the uninformed observer, these doughs may seem quite similar, even interchangeable. However subtle their differences may seem they are each important and when used correctly transport a pie or tart to new heights of glory. We’ll deconstruct the differences between each dough for you so you’ll know when and how to use each.
These three doughs can be remembered by association:
SUgar for SUcrée SAndy for SAblée BRoken for BRisée
This is the most basic of our three crusts and contains only flour, butter, salt, and cold water making it great for savory bakes. Think of it as the standard French crust. The ingredients are very similar to our American flaky pie dough but the incorporation of ingredients are slightly different.
With American pastry, we emphasize the “rubbing in” of cold butter into flour which gives us that irregular flaky texture. While the French also mix their butter into flour while it’s still cold, they generally rely on the use of a standing mixer. Sometimes going as far as adding an egg yolk (in which case the crust is then referred to as a pâte à foncer). These slight alterations yield a crust with a finer, stronger, crumb, which is much more uniform but lacks the flaky quality of its American counterpart.
Great for: Savory meat pies and quiche
Sucrée
Think sugar when making a paté sucrée, its name even means “sweet dough” in French. Very similar to the paté brisée ingredient-wise, the sucrée differs slightly when it comes to method. When making the sucrée you cream together the butter and sugar, then add the egg and flour. What you get is a light, crisp dough. With a tight cookie-like crumb that’s strong enough to hold liquid fillings without the worry of leakage.
Great for: Cream pies, chocolate ganache pies, and fruit curd tarts.
Sablée
The richest of our three doughs the sablée is one of the most delicious and one of the most difficult crusts to work with. Sablée is reminiscent of a good shortbread, both in flavor and in its rough-on-the-tongue texture. Like the sucrée, it is a sweet dough and generally utilized for a lot of the same dishes. The method is also similar to the sucrée as it too uses the creaming method.
However, the end result could not be less similar. Sablée is named after the French verb “sabler”meaning to “make sandy” and its texture is truly a crumbly “sandy” product. The addition of almond flour in many sablée recipes undermines gluten formation even further and adds to that delicate texture, making sablée sometimes difficult to roll out. When lining a tart tin we actually suggest pressing the dough in, instead of rolling the dough and transferring it as you might with other doughs.
Great for: Fruit Tarts
Notes on Pastry
The golden rule when making a pastry dough is “quick and cold.”Whether using your hands or a machine, work swiftly so the butter stays cold and the dough is not overworked.
While sweet doughs take well to “blind baking” both the American and French savory doughs do not. If using either of these consider baking with a filling.
Use cake flour for the sweet doughs sucrée and sablée, while all-purpose works well for the savory brisée dough in tarts or quiches.
When you are planning on blind baking these empty and filling them later with custards or fruits, etc., brush the inside of the dough with egg white before you bake it. This will “seal” the shell, so to speak, which will slow down the process of the shell getting soggy and soft.
There are three types of pastry dough in a classically trained chef's arsenal that should be known by heart. To the uninformed observer, these doughs may seem quite similar, even interchangeable.
There are three types of pastry dough in a classically trained chef's arsenal that should be known by heart. To the uninformed observer, these doughs may seem quite similar, even interchangeable.
There are three different types of dough that leavened dough, dough made with boiling water and unleavened dough. This is mainly about their textures and how to use them for your home baking.
A pâte brisée is like a traditional pie crust, sometimes called a short crust pastry (made with just butter, flour, and a little water and salt). A pâte sablée is the same, but with sugar and is sometimes called a sweet crust pastry in English. A layered puff pastry type crust is called a pâte feuilletée.
Pastry is a type of dough made with flour, water and shortening. Baked pastry dough can be sweet or savory, and consumed alone or with fillings. Pastry is characterized by its flaky and crumbly texture, and rich buttery flavor.
Keep everything as cool as possible otherwise the fat may melt which would spoil the finished dish. Introduce as much air as possible during making. Allow to relax after making to allow the fat to harden.
Initial development: dough gets warmer, smoother and drier. Clean up: dough is at maximum stiffness and comes together as one cohesive mass. Final development: Dough is at the correct temperature and handling quality (gluten film is visible, and the dough is ready to be discharged from mixer).
French for “broken pastry,” pâte brisée is a flaky, buttery, crispy pie crust. The shortcut pastry which is made using only a handful of ingredients—flour, butter, salt, and water—is a commonly used dough in French baking.
Pâte sucrée (French for “sugary dough”) is a type of French pastry dough made with egg yolks, butter, flour, and sugar. The flaky shortcrust pastry is typically used as a pie crust for fruit tarts and other sweet desserts.
While Pâte Sablée is made by rubbing the cold butter and flour, Pâte Sucrée is made by creaming the softened butter with sugar before adding the flour and other ingredients.
There are five main types of pastry dough for creating pastries: flaky, shortcrust, puff, choux and filo. All of them are made primarily from flour, water and fat. However, these five types of pastry dough each have slightly different core ingredients, different ratios of ingredients and, ultimately, different uses.
Shortcrust pastry is the best for pies that fully encase a filling as they tend to be firmer and less likely to leak. Puff pastry is great if you prefer just a pastry lid on top of the filling. Ready rolled shop-bought pastry are easy to handle and quite reliable - even professional chefs appreciate the convenience!
Is Pastry Dough the Same as Pie Dough? Pastry and pie doughs are very similar and can often be used interchangeably. A classic pie crust has a spoonful of sugar to sweeten and tenderize the dough, but both recipes have a buttery flavor and flaky texture.
Introduction: My name is Domingo Moore, I am a attractive, gorgeous, funny, jolly, spotless, nice, fantastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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