Cuisine type: French
Course: Dessert
Favourite flavours: Cakes/baking

Australian House & Garden recipe for pate sucree from Michel Roux's Pastry cookbook.

INGREDIENTS

250g plain flour
100g butter, cubed and slightly softened
100g icing sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
2 eggs, at room temperature

This sweet pastry is mostly used for fruit tarts. It is easier to work with than pâte sablée and, once cooked, pâte sucrée pastry cases are less fragile. The dough can be made in advance and kept well wrapped in the fridge for several days, or frozen for up to 3 months.

METHOD

1 Put the flour in a mound on a work surface (ideally marble) and make a well. Put in the butter, icing sugar and salt, and mix these ingredients together with your fingertips.

2 Gradually draw the flour into the centre and mix with your fingertips until the dough becomes slightly grainy.

3 Again, make a well and add the eggs. Work them into the flour mixture, using your fingertips, until the dough begins to hold together.

4 When the dough is well amalgamated, knead it a few times with the palm of your hand until smooth. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film, and rest in the fridge for 1-2 hours before using.

5 When the dough is rested and you are ready to use it, unwrap and roll out on a lightly floured clean surface to a 2-3mm thickness.

See related recipe Chocolate and raspberry tart