Pastry is the foundation of everything from apple pies to quiches to tart shells. The good news: the basic technique for shortcrust pastry (pâte brisée) is the same whether you're making a sweet pie or a savory quiche. Master one pastry dough and you can adapt it to dozens of applications.
The Principle
Pastry is a simple ratio: flour, fat, liquid. The fat is cut into the flour until in pea-sized pieces, then the liquid is added until the dough just comes together. That's it. The art is in the details: keeping the fat cold, not over-mixing, and using just enough liquid.
Cold fat is essential. The fat should be refrigerator-cold, cut into the flour quickly, and not touched with warm hands. Warm fat melts into the flour and you lose the layering effect that makes pastry flaky. If your kitchen is warm, put the flour and fat in the freezer for 15 minutes before starting.
Pâte Brisée: The Basic Recipe
200g flour, 100g cold butter, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 3-4 tablespoons ice water. Cut the butter into the flour until in pea-sized pieces (you should see streaks of butter still visible). Add water a tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork until the dough barely holds together. It will look shaggy and rough — that's correct. Do not over-mix.
Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic, refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling. The rest allows the gluten to relax and the butter to firm up, making rolling easier and reducing shrinkage.
Sweet vs Savory
To make a sweet pastry, add 1-2 tablespoons of sugar to the flour before cutting in the butter. For a richer pastry (pâte sablée), add an egg yolk and reduce the liquid slightly. For a very rich shortbread-like pastry, cream the butter and sugar first, then add flour and work until just combined.
For savory applications, omit the sugar and add herbs, cheese, or spices directly to the flour. The fat and liquid ratios remain the same.
Blind Baking
For pie fillings that don't need to bake with the crust (like cream pies or fillings that are pre-cooked), you blind bake the shell: line the chilled pastry with parchment, fill with dried beans or pie weights, and bake at 200°C for 15-20 minutes until golden. Remove the weights and parchment, prick the bottom, and bake 5 more minutes until the base is crisp and dry.