Ingredients for a pastry for a 30cm wide baking pan : – 300g flour – 150g butter – 1 pinch salt – 1/2 glass lukewarm water (about 8cl à 10cl, we are talking about french a glass !)
Put the flour in a big bowl and add a pinch of salt.Melt 150g of butter.Put the melted butter on the flour in one go.Mix with the tip of your fingers by pressing small quantities.Continue until complete assimilation of the butter in the flour. It should look and feel like sand under your fingers. Actually, the french name of the sweet version of this pastry (which is very similar, just check the tips section at the bottom) is pâte sablée, meaning sandy pastry.Add to this the 1/2 glass of lukewarm water. Remember that this is a french glass, so this might be a really small glass for you, depending on where you live. I should amount to 8 to 10 cl of water.Knead the dough for a few minutes, don’t be afraid to spend some time on it before it becomes nice. If you find that the dough, after thoroughly kneading it, is still sticky, then you’ve put too much water and should add some flour to dry it out, before kneading the dough again. If it is too dry, the you should add some water. Repeat until the dough does not stick to your fingers anymore.Shape a nice ball and leave the dough to rest for half an hour under a clean dish towel, so that it does not dry up.Spread the dough directly on a parchment paper with a rolling pin. That way, you’ll be able to line your baking pan with adding any fat to avoid it to stick. Now, let your imagination run and prepare amazing tarts, pie and quiches, there are so many possibilities !
Tips
By adding 3 tablespoons of sugar (about 50g) and adjusting the water accordingly, you can turn this into a sweet shortcrust pastry. You can also add, both in the shortcrust pastry and the sweet shortcrust pastry, 1 egg yolk, which will bring more taste to the crust. It will also add some moisture to the dough, so you’ll have to put a bit less water during the preparation.
