Classic Shortcrust Pastry, Crumbly and Easy to Roll
Classic Italian shortcrust pastry (pasta frolla) with flour, butter, sugar, and eggs: crumbly, fragrant, and easy to roll. The base for tarts, cookies, and tartlets.
Want a shortcrust pastry that’s crumbly and fragrant, the kind that rolls out without cracking and stays crisp after baking? Then follow this recipe: it’s the classic base for tarts, cookies, and tartlets.
Shortcrust pastry (pasta frolla) is one of the base preparations of home baking. Just a few ingredients, flour, butter, sugar, and eggs, but a result that depends entirely on technique: how you work the butter and how much you handle the dough.
It has at least three real advantages: it’s made with ingredients you always have, it’s the base of countless desserts, and it’s prepared ahead because it can rest in the fridge or wait in the freezer.
The most important tip is just one, but it counts double: use cold butter and work the dough as little as possible. If you warm the butter too much with your hands or knead it for long, you develop the gluten and the pastry turns hard instead of crumbly. And don’t skip the rest in the fridge: it relaxes the dough and makes it easy to roll.
If the pastry softens too much while rolling, put it back in the fridge for a few minutes instead of adding flour, which would toughen it.
Ready? Let’s make shortcrust pastry.
To make this recipe
A small selection of handy tools to keep within reach. Some links may be affiliate links.
Digital kitchen scale
In leavened recipes and baked goods, it lets you accurately weigh flour, liquids, and yeast.
Steps
- In a bowl, mix the flour with the sugar, salt, and lemon zest.
- Add the cold cubed butter and work it quickly with your fingertips until you have a sandy mixture.
- Add the whole egg and the yolk, then knead just enough to form a smooth, compact dough, without warming it too much with your hands.
- Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic, and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- After resting, the pastry is ready to roll out and use for tarts, cookies, or tartlets, according to your chosen recipe.
Helpful tips
Use cold butter and work the dough as little as possible: that's the secret to a crumbly, not tough, pastry.
Chilling is essential: it relaxes the gluten and makes the pastry easier to roll without shrinking while baking.
If the pastry is too soft to roll, put it back in the fridge for a few minutes instead of adding flour.
It keeps 2 to 3 days in the fridge and freezes for up to a month: thaw it in the fridge before rolling.
Average nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 280 kcal
- Carbohydrates
- 34.0 g
- Sugars
- 14.0 g
- Protein
- 4.0 g
- Fat
- 14.0 g
- Saturated fat
- 9.0 g
- Fiber
- 1.0 g
- Sodium
- 70 mg
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