Shortcrust pastry

Shortcrust pastry is a versatile dough used primarily as a base for tarts, quiches, pies, and flans (in British English). It works for both sweet and savory dishes, including apple pie, quiche, lemon meringue, and chicken pie. A sweetened version made with butter is used for spritz cookies.

Recipes typically call for twice as much flour as fat by weight. The fat—such as lard, shortening, butter, or traditional margarine—is rubbed into plain flour to form a loose mixture. A small amount of ice water binds it, and the dough is then rolled out and shaped for the top or bottom of a pie. Often, equal parts butter and lard are used, keeping the combined fat weight half that of the flour. Butter adds rich flavor, while lard ensures a good texture.

**Types**

Pâte à foncer is a French shortcrust that includes egg. The egg and butter are worked together with a little sugar and salt before flour is added, then cold water binds it.

Pâte brisée is similar to pâte à foncer but lighter and more delicate, with up to three-fifths the quantity of flour in butter. It is often made without sugar, serving as a savory crust for meat pies and quiches like Quiche Lorraine. The name means "broken pastry." According to the French-American Cultural Foundation, it is a classic of French pastry. It uses flour, cold or softened butter, eggs, salt, and ice water. Marie-Antoine Carême described making it by rubbing in butter and folding the dough by hand on a board, noting it is used particularly for gateaux des rois.

Pâte sablée contains more sugar, which sweetens the mix and hinders gluten development, creating a pastry that crumbles easily in the mouth. A gluten-free version is also possible.

Pâte sucrée shares the same ingredients as pâte sablée, but the butter is creamed with sugar and eggs before flour is folded in. This distributes the butter more evenly, causing the dough to puff less and produce a snappy, dry pastry rather than a crumbly one. Alternatively, according to the Traite de Patisserie Moderne, adding sugar to pâte brisée yields pâte sucrée.

**Techniques**

In preparing shortcrust, fat and flour are cut into each other rather than blended, and ingredients are kept cold. This keeps the fat distinct; when heated during baking, steam releases, creating pockets for a flaky crust. Water is added only after fat and flour are thoroughly combined, coating flour granules with fat to limit gluten development and ensure a crumbly or "short" texture. This can be done with a food processor, a pastry blender, two table knives held in one hand, or by smearing the mixture with the heel of the hand (fraisage).

Overworking the dough is a hazard, as it elongates gluten strands and makes the product tough. Low-protein soft wheat flour, like cake flour, is preferred because it resists becoming overworked and tough.

**Decorative Techniques**

A pie crust edge is often crimped for visual interest, and for two-crust pies, to seal the top and bottom together and prevent filling from leaking. Crimping can be done by hand, pinching the crusts to create a ruffled edge, or with a tool.

The top crust is often pierced to let steam escape and add visual appeal. Piercing can be done with a knife or through techniques like latticing, which involves interweaving strips of pastry. Another method is cutting horizontal slits into a whole crust and gently pulling them open, known as a "peekaboo" lattice.

**See also**

List of pastries Shortbread

**References**

**Further reading**

Pfeiffer, Jacquy; Shulman, Martha Rose (2013-12-03). The Art of French Pastry: A Cookbook. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-95935-5.