Dry Sugared Paste for Various Purposes

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •3 quart mixing bowl
• •Wooden spoon or flexible dough scraper
• •Metal bench scraper
• •Rolling pin
• •Parchment paper
• •Airtight wrap

Instructions

1. 1

   Scale and sift

   Weigh the ingredients before you begin, because this paste depends on the book's proportion of flour, butter, sugar, and egg. Sift the flour into a wide bowl and sift the powdered sugar separately if it carries any hard lumps. The butter should bend beneath a finger without looking oily; if it is hard, leave it briefly at room temperature, and if it shines or smears, return it to the refrigerator for ten minutes.

   The gram weights preserve the original ratio most accurately. Use the volume measures when necessary, spooning the flour lightly into its cup rather than packing it.
2. 2

   Make the paste

   Work the butter and powdered sugar together with a wooden spoon or flexible scraper until they form a smooth, pale paste, but don't whip air into them. Stir the orange-flower water into the beaten eggs, then add the egg mixture to the butter in three additions, mixing each one in before the next. If the mixture looks curdled, stop beating and work in a tablespoon taken from the measured flour. Ça se rattrape. Add the remaining flour and fold just until no broad pockets of dry flour remain; the dough should still look rough.

3. 3

   Fraiser it twice

   Turn the rough dough onto a clean, cool counter. Using the heel of your hand, push portions of dough forward across the surface in one deliberate pass, then gather everything with the bench scraper. Repeat the pass once, and only once. This is the source's instruction to knead twice: enough work to distribute the butter and smooth the paste, not enough to make it elastic. If the dough becomes sticky after the first pass, scrape it into a mound and chill it for ten minutes before completing the second; don't bury it under more flour.

4. 4

   Ball and chill

   Gather the dough without further kneading and roll it gently into a ball, as the original directs. Wrap it tightly so no dry skin can form, then refrigerate it for at least two hours. The old pastry room supplied constant coolness; the refrigerator supplies it at home. The paste is ready when it feels firm throughout rather than merely cold at the surface.

5. 5

   Roll and patch

   When the next preparation calls for the paste, cut the chilled ball in half and let one portion stand for five to ten minutes, just until a rolling pin can press it without splitting the edges. Roll it lightly to about 3 mm (⅛ inch), preferably between sheets of parchment. If cracks open around the edge, the paste is too cold, so wait a few minutes. If it tears, press a scrap over the gap and roll once to join it; if it smears or sticks, slide it onto a tray and chill it for ten minutes. Sugar makes pâte sucrée fragile, not ruined. Line the tart tin or cut the shapes required by the next preparation, then chill the shaped pastry for thirty minutes before baking.

Chef Tips

• •Use real butter, cool and pliable rather than icy or greasy. Hard butter leaves lumps that tear the paste; warm butter soaks into the flour and makes the dough sticky. We don't apologize for butter, and we treat it properly.
• •Use food-grade orange-flower water, not orange extract. Its floral bitterness is part of this specific formula, and vanilla or citrus zest would make a different paste.
• •There is no added water, salt, or baking powder in the source. The eggs supply all the moisture and structure the flour requires, so don't add liquid merely because the mixture looks rough before the fraisage.
• •This entry ends with a chilled raw paste, so it has no independent baking time. Bake it according to the tart, tartlet, biscuit, or other preparation in which it is used.
• •Patch tears with the same dough and continue. A perfectly seamless raw shell earns nothing at the table; an evenly baked, tender shell does. Never apologize at your own table.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare the pâte sucrée at least two hours before rolling it. Tightly wrapped, it keeps in the refrigerator for up to three days.
• •For longer storage, divide the rested dough into two portions, wrap each tightly, and freeze for up to two months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before rolling.
• •A tart tin can be lined a day ahead, covered, and refrigerated. Keep the pastry cold until it goes into the oven so the butter stays distinct and the edges hold their shape.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 40g)