The Different Pastry Doughs
Pie doughs are essential elements in pastry, which will allow you to make delicious 100% homemade pies, following the right techniques.
Sweet dough, shortcrust pastry and sweet shortcrust pastry are easy to make and will only take about 15 minutes to prepare.
Puff pastry, on the other hand, requires much more time, and its realization is also more delicate.
In our recipes below we have chosen to lightly flavor the pasta with powdered almonds, but this ingredient is not essential and can be replaced by hazelnuts, vanilla or cocoa powder, to give them different flavors .
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The Sweet Dough
It is particularly rich, but adapts to many tart recipes that are filled with a fairly compact filling, such as almond cream or chocolate ganache.
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Shortcrust pastry
As its name suggests, this paste has a sandy and crumbly consistency, fragile when spreading it, but it offers a very tasty texture on the palate. Unlike sweet and shortcrust pastry , it can only be made by the sanding method.
The shortcrust pastry and the sweet pastry can be made using 2 techniques called “ creaming ” or “ sandblasting ”.
The creaming method consists of first working the soft butter with the icing sugar (creaming) to give it the consistency of an ointment, then incorporating the eggs. The other ingredients are added afterwards.
The sanding method consists of directly mixing the butter with the dry ingredients, then rubbing the dough between your hands and working it with your fingertips (sanding) before crushing it (frasing). The sandblasting method requires less chilling time than the creaming method, which is its main advantage.
The Recipe for these 2 Methods
For 250g of sweet dough :
- 105g flour
- 50g of butter
- 50g icing sugar
- 1 case of powdered almonds
- ½ egg (25g)
For 250g of shortbread dough :
- 110g flour
- 65g of butter
- 45g icing sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 case of powdered almonds
- 20g egg
1. The Creaming Method
Preparation 15 min - Chilling 1 hour
In a bowl, whip the butter until it takes on the consistency of an ointment
Add the icing sugar and whisk well to keep the consistency of a homogeneous ointment
add the powdered almonds
Add the egg and mix well.
Finally add the flour and mix until the dough is smooth.
Form a ball of dough, flatten slightly and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. The Sandblasting Method
Preparation 15 min - Chilling 30 min
Put the flour, butter , icing sugar, salt and powdered almonds in a bowl.
Work the dough by rubbing it between your hands and mix it with your fingertips (sand)
Add the egg and mix with a spatula or spatula.
Pour everything on a work surface and crush the dough until you obtain a homogeneous consistency.
Form a ball of dough and flatten it slightly.
Wrap it in cling film and refrigerate it for 30 minutes.
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Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
Preparation 15 min - Chilling 30 min
For 250g of sweet shortcrust pastry:
- 125g flour
- 75g of butter
- 2 tsp icing sugar
- 1 tsp of water
- 1 pinch of salt
- ½ egg (30g)
For the realization of this sweet shortcrust pastry only the sandblasting method is possible.
Put the flour, butter, icing sugar and salt in a bowl.
Work the dough by rubbing it between your hands and mix it with your fingertips (sand)
Add the egg and water and mix with a spatula or spatula .
Pour everything on a work surface and crush the dough (fraser) until you obtain a homogeneous consistency.
Form a ball of dough and flatten it slightly.
Wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
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The puff pastry
Preparation 1h - Refrigeration 1h40
For 500g of puff pastry:
- 190g flour
- 45g hot melted butter
- 155g dry butter
- 10cl of water
- 1 tsp of salt
The puff pastry is completely different from the other 3 pastas, by its texture and its realization because it is much longer and more delicate to obtain a flaky and crispy effect.
Its preparation is done in 2 stages: the realization of the distemper, based on flour, water, butter and salt . Then the integration of dry butter by rolling which consists of folding the dough on itself several times. We give 6 turns to the classic puff pastry . Its realization also requires several additional refrigeration times.
Another variant, the inverted puff pastry makes it possible to make the famous millefeuille but also fine pies or puff pastries. Its particularity is the enveloping of the distemper directly in the butter.
Pour the cold water and salt into a large bowl, then stir in the hot melted butter.
Add the flour and mix the dough with a horn. The paste thus obtained is called “distemper”.
Place the tempera on a lightly floured work surface. Tap it several times on the work surface, then knead it lightly to homogenize well.
Flatten the tempera slightly with a rolling pin. Film and refrigerate for 30 min.
Soften the dry butter by tapping it with the rolling pin.
Cut it into a square, put the excess butter on top and flatten it slightly.
Lightly flour your work surface and roughly roll out the tempera .
Place the dry butter on top and fold the tempera over to envelop the butter.
Tap gently all over so that the tempera envelops the butter well.
Roll it all out with the rolling pin to incorporate the butter into the tempera and form a rectangle. Flour lightly if needed.
Fold a third of the dough over itself. Then fold the other third (1st round)
Turn the dough a quarter on your work surface. Flatten the dough again to obtain a rectangle.
Fold over a third of the dough , then fold over the other third (2nd turn). Flatten the dough slightly.
Mark the dough with your fingers to remember how many turns you gave (2 turns) Film the dough, then refrigerate it for 20 min
Take the dough out of the fridge , remove the film and place it in front of you. Repeat the previous operations, i.e. 2 turns twice, to obtain 6 turns in total, refrigerating for 20 minutes every 2 turns.
Form a rectangle of dough again. Film and refrigerate for 30 min.
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Do it yourself :
Now you have mastered the 5 types of pastry dough most used to make cakes, pies, flan, millefeuille, etc...
You have the choice between 2 different more or less fast preparation methods so that you no longer need to buy your dough in stores for the preparation of your next homemade recipe.
We regularly add recipes from top pastry chefs to this blog with their tips and tricks so that you too can make homemade pastries that will surprise your loved ones.
Discover the right equipment for the realization of your favorite recipe by clicking on the image below.
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