For a tart, you need a tart shell and the question arises: what dough to use. For the Semi-Confit Cherry Tomato Tart I blogged two days ago, author Michel Roux of Pastry suggests this Pâte Brisée. This is a short pastry, so called because it does not contain any leavening agent that would make it rise. You want that tart bottom to just “be bottom.”

Roux has two short pastries: this Pâte Brisée, which is more delicate, and a firmer Pâte à Foncer. Suzen has made this Pâte Brisée many times. The recipe is flawless, the taste immense.

We’ll test and blog the other short pastry shortly.

This pastry can be prepared in just a few moments. Less time that it would take you to drive to the store and buy a “manufactured” crust. You get a twofer with is recipe: you save gas and you get a much, much, much better tasting pastry shell.

Pâte Brisée

Yield: about 1 pound

Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ [250 grams] cups all-purpose flour
• ⅔ [150 grams] cup butter, cut into small pieces and slightly softened
• 1 teaspoon of fine slat
• Pinch of superfine sugar
• 1 medium egg
• 1 tablespoon cold milk

Preparation:

Heap the flour on a counter and make a well. Put in the butter, salt sugar, and egg. Using your fingertips, mix and cream these ingredients together.

Little by little, draw in the flour, working the dough delicately until it has a grainy texture.

Add the milk and incorporate gently with your fingertips until the dough begins to hold together.

Using the palm of our hand, work the dough by pushing it away from you 5 to 5 times, until smooth. Roll it into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill until ready to use.

Source: Pastry by Michel Roux