Sweet Dough, Pâte Sucrée, is a recipe from the Butter Book, a fantastic online training tool, that welcomes you to the world of baking. Pâte Sucré, pronounced (pat-sue-cray) is a crust for many desserts. The principal ingredients are flour, eggs, butter, and sugar. In addition, the almond powder and eggs add richness and a cookie-like texture. The taste and texture of Pate Sucrée remind one of shortbread or cookies. The dough maintains its cookie, shortbread-like texture even when chilled, which makes it ideal for tarts that require refrigeration, like a French fruit tart.
I promise the Sweet Dough, Pâte Sucrée recipe will serve you well for the rest of your life!!
I’m not a pastry chef, however, I love to bake and the Butter Book teaches me the science of classic pastries at home and helps me to become a better baker. It includes 200 + video lessons, recipes, and expert tips, shared by master chefs. Suppose you’re a beginner looking to master the pastry basics, a seasoned home baker looking to take your confectionary skills to the next level, or a professional pastry chef eager to reconnect with classic recipes.
The Butter Book is for you! Get started today when you sign up for a free 10-day trial. Easily accessible on a mobile device and with courses available on-demand anytime, you can opt to learn how to decorate an ombre cake at 3 a.m. or bake cream custard during your child’s naptime. A subscription is $24.99 a month or $199 for a year. Please review the link from Saveur magazine about the Butter Book as the best online baking platform.
The Butter Book is a creation of world-renowned Pastry Chefs Sébastien Canonne, M.O.F., and Jacquy Pfeiffer who are also the founders of the French Pastry School in Chicago, Illinois. For over 25 years, Chef Sébastien and Chef Jacquy have been training thousands of pastry chefs. Regardless of where you are on your pastry-making journey, through this site, you can learn the intricacies of baking croissants, éclairs, and many other delicious recipes. I used the sweet dough recipe for the Rahmkuchen from their Butter Book online baking platform.
Follow the link for the fantastic step-by-step training video on how to make Pate Sucrée / Sweet Dough.
The link is provided by the Butter Book and published with the permission of Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer and Chef Sébastien Canonne, M.O.F. the founders of the French Pastry School.
Bing Cherry Chocolate Tart, Vanilla Yogurt Cream Custard
With this tart, I’m using the Sweet Dough, Pâte Sucrée recipe
with added Cocoa powder
Rahmkuchen aka Brûléed Yoghurt Cream Tart
Bake the Seasons
This peach tart is the perfect combination of Pate Sucrée
and sweet peaches that beautifully showcase fresh summer produce.
Measuring flour:
The recipe is written in ounces and it gives you the option to convert the ingredients into grams. You may wonder why the butter book ingredients on their online training are written in grams. First, in baking to ensure you’re using the right amount of flour, it’s recommended to measure the flour by weight with a scale preferably in grams. Grams are always a measure of weight so there is no confusion. Ounces and pounds are primarily used in the USA. The beauty with grams is that you can use recipes from worldwide. Another reason to use grams, it is easier to weigh out 500 grams on a scale than 1 Lb, 1.64 ounces. If you want to measure in ounces or cups fluff up the flour with a whisk and spoon it into a measuring cup, sweeping off any excess flour with a knife. This will help you measure out cups of flour that weigh about 4 1/4 ounces per cup.
Interesting facts:
Today the metric system is the official system of measurement for every country in the world except three: the United States, Liberia, and Myanmar. The British Imperial System of Weights and Measures was replaced by the European metric system in 1968.
Measure the accuracy of your scale
I recommend measuring ingredients in weight because it is more accurate than measuring in volume. If you weigh small quantities like salt or spices or you want to know if your scale is accurate and does what is supposed to do then you need to check your scale. Set your scale to zero, change to grams, and weigh a penny or two. If your scale is meant to be accurate to 1 gram the weight of a single penny will be rounded up to 3 grams. A new penny should weigh 2.5 grams, 2 pennies should weigh 5 grams and a nickel should also weigh 5 grams.
Sweet Dough, Pâte Sucrée
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Dough
- 3 ounce sugar
- 8 ounce cake flour
- 4 ounce butter, unsalted
- 1/4 tsp sea salt, fine ground
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 ounce almond flour
- 1 egg
Instructions
Make the Sweet Dough
- Scale the ingredients precisely and bring them to room temperature. Sift the confectioners’ sugar on parchment paper and set it aside. Sift the flour on a separate parchment paper and set it aside.
- Cream the butter and salt in a stand mixer bowl at low speed for about 10 seconds using the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla and incorporate. Add the confectioners’ sugar and almond powder. Mix on low speed to combine. Then scrape the side of the bowl.
- Now add the egg. Mix on low speed until combined. Then scrape the bowl. Mix in one-third of the flour at low speed. Then mix in the remaining flour until it is well incorporated. Finally, to ensure the dough is lump-free, the next step is to Fraser the dough.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 3 hours or preferably overnight. Letting it rest cools the dough and allows the starch in the flour to absorb the moisture, making the dough rollable.
Chef Notes
- I always double the dough recipe and freeze 1/2 of the raw sweet dough in plastic wrap, in an airtight plastic container or plastic bag, and store it for up to 1 month. To defrost, I transfer the sweet dough to the refrigerator for 24 hours before rolling it out. The dough will still need to be refrigerated for at least 1 hour after rolling and shaping
- Do not overmix the dough, overmixing will make the dough tough and rubbery and very difficult to roll out.
- It is recommended to chill the sweet dough for a minimum of 3 hours, preferably overnight, to rest the sweet dough. Letting it rest cools the dough and allows the starch in the flour to absorb the moisture, making the dough rollable.
- Use preferred spices to flavor sweet dough differently, but always make sure that they do not overpower the overall flavor of the recipe.
- You can omit the almond powder in this sweet dough recipe, but be sure to replace the weight of the almond powder with flour. Note that almond powder brings excellent flavor to the sweet dough, and omitting it changes the flavor profile slightly.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate
I’m highly allergic to corn. Is there a substitute for powdered (confectioner’s) sugar that I can use to make pâte sucré?
Thank you
Hi, Dorothy, I’m not sure and don’t want to tell you something wrong. I would research anything with arrowroot ??
Sorry best Norbert