Pâte Sucrée - French Sweet Tart Crust (pastry dough)

Steps

1. Mix Dy Ingredients: Whisk together flour, icing sugar, salt and almond meal in a bowl.

2. Add butter: Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles breadcrumbs. (Note 4).

3. Add egg: Mix with a rubber spatula until it becomes too hard to stir anymore, then use your hands to bring it together into a dough.

4. Bring dough together: Turn dough out onto a work surface, then knead to bring together into a smooth ball. Flatten into a 2cm / 0.8" thick disc. Wrap with cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

5. Unwrap chilled dough. Place on a lightly floured work surface.

6. Roll out into a 32cm / 13" round (3mm / 1/8" thick).

7. Line tart tin: Roll pastry lightly on to a rolling pin (ie. so it wraps around itself). Then unroll it gently over the tart tin.

8. Fit pastry: Adjust the pastry to fit into the tart tin, fitting into the corner, taking care not to stretch it (causes shrinkage during bake).

9. Trim excess dough: Roll the rolling pin over tart tin to trim excess dough. Pictured tart tin is 24 x 3 cm / 9.5 x 1.2" - you can use any up to this size.

10. Prick the base of the pastry 30 times with a fork. Not all the way through - just make a light prick on the surface.

11. Chill pastry in tart tin for 30 minutes.

12. Preheat oven to 200°C / 390°F (180°C fan).

13. Baking beads: Cover pastry with 2 sheets of baking paper (parchment paper), in a "X" arrangement. Fill with baking beads (or 2 cups dry raw rice or beans).

14. Baking times for a Par Baked Tart to be used for tarts that are baked for > 30 minutes once the filling is added into the cooked tart shell.

15. Bake 15 minutes the remove from oven. Use excess paper to remove baking beads.

16. Bake uncovered 5 minutes: Return tart crust to oven for 5 minutes. Pastry should be light golden, crispy on surface, but slighty undercooked inside (will finish cooking once filled and baked again).

17. Use these baking times if the tart shell is to be used for raw fillings (ie tart not baked once crust is filled) OR fillings that are baked for < 25 minutes.

18. Bake 15 minutes the remove from oven. Use excess paper to remove baking beads.

19. Bake uncovered 10 minutes: This will fully cook the pastry through and give it nice colour which we need as the pastry won't cook through in less than 25 minutes once filled.

20. Cool: Remove then cool in tart tin before filling (this ensures crust stays crispy once filled), then baking again if filling needs to be cooked (like this Pistachio Frangipane Pear Tart).

21. Make ahead up to 3 days, suitable for baking once filled.