The sugar pastry is one of the most used pastries in the CAP Pâtisserie (alternating with the shortcrust pastry). Its particularity comes from the fact that it contains almond flour, which gives it a slightly indulgent touch that I adore! Today, I will describe step by step how to successfully make your sugar pastry!
Sugar Pastry: Sablage or Cremage?
The sugar pastry can be made using two methods: the sablage and the cremage. But generally, the process is similar. You have the option to mix the butter and flour first (called "sablage", which we usually use in shortcrust pastries - logical) and the cremage, which consists of mixing the butter and sugar (see almond flour).
Which Flour for a Sugar Pastry?
To make a sugar pastry, the ideal is to use T55 flour. This contains less gluten and it will make your fitting easier!
Order of Ingredients
Honestly, I have never seen a difference between the cremage and sablage on the final result. Personally, I always prefer to add the flour last. In fact, it is the flour that will allow gluten development and I like my dough to be somewhat homogeneous before adding the flour (this prevents overworking the dough with the flour and thus avoiding disasters in baking).
The Ingredient That Changes Everything
In the recipe I am putting, there is a small proportion of almond flour. I recommend using a recipe with it as it is much easier to work with, especially if you are starting and it's a bit warm in your kitchen.
How to Make a Sugar Pastry?
As I said before, we start by mixing the butter and sugar (here granulated sugar). We mix until we get a homogeneous cream.
Then we mix the salt with the flour and add it to the first mixture. Finally, we add the egg and almond flour and mix until you can obtain a flat that you cover and put in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. This step is INDISPENSABLE to avoid having a tart dough that retracts during baking.
How to Fit a Sugar Pastry?
Once the dough is well chilled, take it out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature for 5-10 minutes (otherwise, it will break when you start rolling it). Then, roll it out calmly to fit your mold size (to get a perfect circle, turn your dough an eighth of a turn before using a rolling pin to flatten it). Your dough should be rolled out to about 3 mm thick and should extend at least 2 cm beyond each side of the circle.
Finally, "fit" the circle by placing the dough over it and pressing firmly against the edges. You should get a perfect right angle at the bottom. For this, you can lift slightly the circle when pressing the dough on top of it.
Put it back in the fridge for 10 minutes and after that, cut off any excess with a knife
