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How to Make Pâte Sablée: Classic Pâte Sablée Recipe

Written by MasterClass

Last updated: Nov 27, 2024 • 2 min read

From the French sabler, meaning “to sand,” pâte sablée brings a buttery-sweet melt-in-the-mouth texture to the finest patisserie creations. The crumbly pastry dough is a staple of French baking.

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What Is Pâte Sablée?

Pâte sablée is a form of shortcrust pastry dough, used primarily in the construction of pastry tart shells. It is one of the standard French pastry doughs, along with pâte sucrée and pâte brisée.

Unlike flaky-style pie crusts like pâte brisée, pâte sablée is known for its delicate, shortbread crumble. Pâte sablée can sometimes be difficult to work with, especially if almond flour has been added to make the texture even finer.

Pâte sablée dough is made by creaming butter, powdered sugar, and egg together before incorporating the dry ingredients, much like cookie dough. (This approach makes it easy to experiment with flavorings like vanilla bean, citrus zest, and herbs like thyme or lavender.)

4 Ways to Use Pâte Sablée

Pâte sablée is most associated with the fine pastries that sit in the window display cases of artisanal bakeries: Namely, intricate, elegant sweet and savory tarts.

  1. 1. Fruit tarts: Layer thinly sliced fresh fruits over a layer of pastry cream set above an optional layer of jam, which delivers a concentrated burst of flavor.
  2. 2. Lemon tarts: For a classic tarte au citron, layer fresh lemon curd into a tart shell. Top with meringue and toast with a blowtorch as a finishing touch.
  3. 3. Savory tarts: For a quiche with more finesse, blind-bake the pâte sablée, then add the egg filling and any elaborate garnishes, like dollops of soft goat cheese, crumbled chorizo, thinly-sliced asparagus spears, or rings of sweet bell pepper.
  4. 4. Cookies: To turn pâte sablée into classic shortbread cookies, simply roll the dough out to your desired thickness, chill, and cut into small rectangles or press out designs with a cookie cutter before baking.

Classic Pâte Sablée Recipe

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makes

1 9-inch tart, or 4 small tarts

prep time

10 min

total time

2 hr 10 min

Ingredients

  1. 1

    In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, and continue to whisk until completely combined.

  2. 2

    Add the flour and salt, and mix on low speed just until there are no more visible flour spots—overmixing will lead to a tough texture, as with similar batters and soft doughs.

  3. 3

    Transfer the dough to a large sheet of plastic wrap. Using the plastic, compress into a disc and seal tightly. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

  4. 4

    When ready to use, remove dough from the refrigerator and let it warm up for a few minutes. Instead of lightly flouring your work surface, roll the dough out between two sheets of parchment paper, transfer to a tart pan and trim the edges with a paring knife. (If you’re having trouble rolling the dough in one piece, gently press the dough directly into the tart pan instead of using a rolling pin; just use the bottom of a glass or a measuring cup to achieve a level, even surface.)

  5. 5

    Pâte sablée is ideally a blind-baked crust: Before filling with pastry cream, egg, or fruit, line the dough with parchment paper and fill with a layer of pie weights. Blind-baking will ensure the tart shell doesn’t become too soggy.

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