Pâte brisée is one of the basic French pastry doughs which is commonly used as a pie crust. It’s crisp, buttery and flaky, and not difficult to make. This dough can be used for savory or sweet recipes, such as quiches, apple pie, or pumpkin pies.
What is Pâte Brisée?
Pâte brisée (pronounced “pat bree-ZAY”) is a French term for broken dough. Mainly used as a tart and pie crust. There is another basic French pastry crust dough pâte sucrée which is also used for a tart. The pâte sucrée contains sugar in the dough, however, the pâte brisée doesn’t contain or add only a little bit of sugar. Since pâte brisée is a more flakey tart shell, paté sucrée is light and crispy like cookies. Compared to pate sucre, pâte brisée can handle moistened or liquid filling, for example, the egg filling for quiche.
What is the Difference between American Pie Crust and Pâte Brisée?
Pâte brisée is very similar to American pie crust in texture and flakiness. Both are made from basically flour, fat and water, and salt. However, American pie crusts could have, shortening or lard sometimes comparison to only butter as a fat agent for pâte brisée. In addition, the American pie can be added, milk, sugar, vinegar or vodka, etc… It all depends on the recipe, however, the American pie crust tended to have more water than pâte brisée. This means, that the moist will encourage gluten development to make a stronger and, sturdier crust. Pâte brisée has finer and more delicate crumble than the American pie crust.
Ingredients for Pâte Brisée
- Butter: Unsalted butter. Should be cold.
- Flour: All purpose flour or pastry flour. I normally put them in the refregetrator after scall them. Cold flour can minimize the chance to melt the butter while making the dough.
- Water : It should be cold too. Helping to not melt the butter when incorpolating the dough.
- Egg : Adds more flavor and flakeness to the dough compared to not using. Egg yolk contains the lecithin which makes water finly disperess and wraps in the butter. So the water and flour do not have directcontact with each other that making the dough less sticky and more flaky.
- Salt: Add tiny amout but very important ingredients. Without salt the dough will taste really dull.
Other ingredient options
- Sugar : adds sweetness also makes the dough become nicely golden brown. You can add one table spoon or less sugar if you want.
- Powdered cheese such as cheddar cheese: I add cheese powder into brisee dough sometimes, especially when I make quiches.
Method to Make Pâte Brisée
Step1: Prepare all the ingredients
- Sift flour, cut the cold butter into the pieces. Mix the water, egg and salt together and transfer it to the refregerater until you need.
Step 2 : Cut the cold fat into the flour
- By hand on the cold surface (pictures on the left) : With your fingers, pull the flour into the butter and pinch. You can also use pair of bench scraper to this process. Repeat this motion trying to break up the cubes of butter into small peaches until like coursey or sandy. If you start to feel the dough getting a bit greasy, you have to stop. Transfer the all ingredients into a bwol and refregerate it for 10 to 15 minutes.
- By Food Processer (pictures on the right) : Add flour and cold cut butter into a food processor. Pulse a couple 8 to 10 times, then fully mix until the mixture become like a coarse meal
Step 3 : Gradually add cold liquid, mixing gently until the dough holds together
- Add cold liquid into the butter flour mixture little by little until the dough just comes together. Be careful not to add too much water, the dough should look like it is just barely held together and should not be moist or wet.
Step 4 : Form a disc with the dough
- Gather the dough into a ball and flatten like a disc. Then tightly cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly, about 1 hour in the refrigerator.
Flakey or Mealy?
The amount of flakiness in a pâte brisée crust depends on the size of the fat particle in the dough. I make it differently in depends on how I use the dough. The flakier dough is good when you make the less liquid filling like filled with almond cream and apple. I choose the mealy dough for liquid filling pie such as ‘quiche” because mealy dough resists moisture better than flaky dough.
Flakier Crust: If you leave the larger piece of butter, the pie crust will be flakier. The side of fat pockets is created during baking by melting fat and stem. Do not leave the larger than peas size of butter.
Mealy Crust: The fat is blended more thoroughly, till the mixture resembles coarse and because the fat pockets are smaller, the crust is less flaky
How to Store Pâte Brisée?
Pâte brisée dough can be stored in a refrigerator for up to 3 days. Or I roll the dough onto the parchment paper and wrap it, and freeze. This way, you can keep the dough much longer, for up to one or two months.
Ways to Use Pâte Brisée
You can make so many different dishes from pâte brisée. Pie, quiche, tart, etc.
Check out some of my recipes.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 g) of Pastry Flour or AP flour
- 12 tablespoons (170 g) of butter
- 1 pc (20 g) of egg yolk
- 3 to 4 (50 to 60 ml) tablespoons of ice-cold water
- Salt….½ teaspoons
Instructions
- Sift flour. Cut the butter into small pieces.
- Beat the egg yolk, salt, and cold water with a fork.
- Add flour and cold cut butter into a food processor. Pulse a couple 8 to 10 times, then fully mix until the mixture become like a coarse meal. (or make the mixture on the cold surface by using hand and a scraper)
- Add cold water mixture little by little. Then pulsing several times each time after adding the water.
- When you pinch some mixture, if the crumbly dough holds together, that means the dough is ready. If not, add more water.
- Dump the mixture to a clean surface. (Cold surface is the best.) Press the crumble dough together by using your hands. Shape them into a disk. Do not over-knead, your crust will end up tough and not fluky.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
