Luca Montersino’s shortcrust pastry is a perfect base for tarts, tartlets, sweets, and cookies. The presence of powdered sugar makes it delicate and extremely crumbly.
The shortcrust pastry is a versatile base widely used in pastry making. Every pastry chef creates their own variations by adjusting the amount of flour, butter, sugar, and eggs. Each modification yields a different result. For example, Ernst Knam adds a bit of baking powder, making his white shortcrust pastry or cocoa shortcrust pastry truly special.
Today’s recipe, thanks to the presence of powdered sugar, falls under the category of “fine shortcrust pastry“. Montersino flavors it with vanilla and lemon zest, but you can use any flavors you prefer. Avoid vanillin as it gives an artificial taste.
The dough needs to rest in the fridge to stabilize and acquire the right consistency. If you have time, let it rest for 3/4 hours before using it; if you have time, prepare it the night before.
Always use quality ingredients and store it in the fridge for 10/15 days. If you don’t use it all, you can freeze it for 2 months.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: about 1.2 lbs of shortcrust pastry
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 224.52 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 25.53 (g) of which sugars 9.45 (g)
- Proteins 3.19 (g)
- Fat 12.59 (g) of which saturated 7.85 (g)of which unsaturated 4.61 (g)
- Fibers 0.51 (g)
- Sodium 73.87 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 2 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 10.5 oz butter
- 0.5 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp egg yolks
- 0.25 tsp salt
- Half pod vanilla
- to taste lemon zest (grated, I use the zest of half a lemon)
Tools
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Work surface
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Scale
- Plastic wrap
Steps
You can knead the dough either by hand or with a mixer. Using the mixer prevents the ingredients from heating up, and you’ll need only a few minutes to prepare it.
For fine shortcrust pastry, the butter should not be too cold. The optimal temperature is around 55°F. It may seem trivial, but the butter’s temperature is crucial for a perfect pastry. If you use fridge-cold butter, around 39°F, it won’t be workable and won’t allow the flour to be properly mixed, affecting the success of your cookies.
The flour should be low in gluten with a low W index to obtain crumbly cookies and tarts. If we used a flour with high gluten, we would get chewy products.
Put the flour in the mixer bowl, add the butter, and mix the two ingredients until you get a sandy texture (many separate crumbs).
Add the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, and lemon zest, mix everything, then add the egg yolks and start kneading until you get a compact dough.
Work it quickly to avoid heating the butter too much, form a block, wrap it in plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge to rest for 1 hour.
After resting, take the dough and work it on the work surface or with the mixer for 1 minute. This operation will ensure a homogeneous and plastic dough perfect for your recipes.
Luca Montersino’s shortcrust pastry is ready. Use it for preparing cookies, tarts, and tartlets.
Tips
Storage
Always use quality ingredients and store it in the fridge for 10/15 days. It can be frozen for 2 months.
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FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Can I replace the butter with oil in shortcrust pastry?
Yes, instead of butter, you can use delicate extra virgin olive oil or lard, but the recipe must be balanced with appropriate calculations.
Can I change the amount of butter and sugar in the dough?
You can decrease or increase the sugar and butter based on the type of recipe you want to make. Increasing the sugar will make the dough crisper, increasing the butter will make it more crumbly and vice versa. To do this, the dough must be re-balanced with appropriate calculations.
I don’t have time to let the dough rest in the fridge, what do I do?
If you have little time to let the dough rest in the fridge, instead of wrapping it in plastic wrap as a block, you can place it between two sheets of baking paper, roll it to the desired thickness with a rolling pin, and put it in the fridge. It will cool and reach the right consistency quickly. Resting in the fridge is necessary.
