The Perfect Sweet Pie Dough Recipe

A sweet pie dough recipe, also known as pate sucree, is a rich and sweet pastry with a crisp cookie-like texture. I use this recipe daily in the bakery as it is ideal for making both large and small sized tarts.

Additionally, it works beautifully for decorative crust work as it maintains its shape well while baking. I hope this sweet pie dough recipe will become your 'go-to' recipe as it is mine.

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Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Rolling the dough
• Top tip
• Baking the crust
• Partial baking crust
• Storage
• Pie filling ideas
• 📋 Recipe

Ingredients

• Unsalted butter: Bring your butter to room temperature (65° - 70 °) before starting on the dough.
• Egg yolks: use large eggs (save those egg whites for an omelet, meringues, macarons, etc...).
• Salt: salt acts as a tenderizer and flavor enhancer in this pie dough recipe.
• All-purpose flour: I recommend using an unbleached flour but any all-purpose flour will work fine.

Instructions

A stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment works well for making this recipe but a hand mixer may also be used.

Rolling the dough

• If the dough was left in the refrigerator for more than 20 minutes it may be too cold to roll out. You will know this if the dough cracks while rolling out. If so, let it rest at room temperature for 10 - 20 minutes until it has softened enough to roll out.
• Generously sprinkle flour on your work surface and rolling pin before rolling the dough. Form the dough into a disc and begin rolling from the middle of the dough outward, turning the dough 90 degrees after each roll until your reach your desired thickness (my preference for thickness is about ⅛ inch).
• I prefer to use a plastic rolling pin for pie doughs as I find the dough sticks less to the pin.

Top tip

This sweet pie dough will be difficult to roll out if it is too cold. You will know this if the dough cracks while rolling out. If so, simply let the dough rest at room temperature until it has softened sufficiently.

Baking the crust

Gluten strands are formed while rolling out the dough which can lead to a tougher crust. For this reason I will always place my rolled pie crust in the freezer or refrigerator for at least 15 minutes to allow the gluten to relax. This ensures minimal shrinkage while baking.

Partial baking crust

Some pie recipes will call for partial baking of the pie crust before adding the pie filling. To partially bake this crust:

• Using a dinner fork, poke holes in the dough in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle a dusting of flour on the dough (this will help prevent the foil from sticking to the raw dough).

• Place a sheet of aluminum foil on top of dough. The foil should reach to the bottom of the pan and over the sides. Parchment paper may also be used for this process.
• Place pie weights (or dried beans or rice) on top of the foil. The weights should cover the bottom of the pan and halfway up the sides.

• Bake for 15 minutes at 350°. Remove from oven, lift foil and weights out of the pan, return to oven and bake another 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
• The tart shell should only be partially baked and starting to turn golden. It will be fully baked after the tart is assembled and baked.

Storage

This dough will last up to a week in the refrigerator if wrapped in plastic wrap. Alternatively, wrap the dough and freeze for up to 2 months.

Pie filling ideas

The following recipes work well with this pie crust:

📋 Recipe