How to roll out pastry for a tart


How to roll out pastry for a tart
Lining the bottom of a tart tin with pastry is not as simple as it sounds.

To help you get it right every time, here's an illustrated procedure.
316 K 4.0/5 (60 reviews)
Grade this recipe:
Keywords:
Last modified on: October 13th 2010
For this recipe: Comment Send to a friend Ask me a question Follow Printable Diaporama
For 1 tart, you will need:

Change these quantities to make:
Change measures:
Times for this recipe
Preparation: 25 min.
When should you start or finish this recipe?
If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time
To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe


Stage 1 - ⌛ 1 min.
How to roll out pastry for a tart : Stage 1
To start with, it is necessary to use pastry:
  • Which is not in a ball, but rather flat like a thick pancake.
    • In a ball, you will break it rather than spread it with the rolling pin.
  • Which is very cold, straight from the fridge if possible.
    • If pastry is warm, therefore soft, it will be easy to roll out but will stick to the rolling pin and will be practically impossible to put in the mould.

Stage 2 - ⌛ 10 min.
How to roll out pastry for a tart : Stage 2
Dust working surface and rolling pin generously with flour (don't worry about using too much, the surplus will be removed before baking).

Roll out pastry with the rolling pin, and for that here is the most important knack: you should always roll from the centre out to the edge of the pastry.

Stage 3
How to roll out pastry for a tart : Stage 3
Never pass the rolling pin over the whole surface of the pastry, you will inevitably made a bump in the middle.

You should work as quickly as possible so that your pastry stays very cold. Flour the top, and/or turn the pastry during this operation.

Roll out to the required thickness (2 or 3 mm usually), or size, depending on your mould (to try, put your mould gently on the pastry, which should be about 2 cm larger all round).

Stage 4 - ⌛ 3 min.
Once the pastry is rolled out, it is necessary to transfer it to the mould, which is a delicate operation.

For this, the best way is to pass a metal spatula or slice underneath, then wrap it around the rolling pin, and then unroll it over the mould.

You can watch a video demonstration on the right.

Stage 5 - ⌛ 3 min.
Then, you need to press the pastry into the bottom and sides of the mould, so that it is properly lined, and so that the bottom of pastry when cooked will be nice and solid.

You can watch a video demonstration on the right.

Stage 6 - ⌛ 3 min.
How to roll out pastry for a tart : Stage 6
Once this operation is complete, trim off the surplus pastry with a knife by following round the top of the mould.

Note: With this surplus, you can make small tarts, or if it is a sweetcrust pastry, small biscuits to serve with coffee for instance.

Stage 7 - ⌛ 2 min.
How to roll out pastry for a tart : Stage 7
Remove any surplus flour with a brush.

Stage 8 - ⌛ 1 min.
How to roll out pastry for a tart : Stage 8
And finally, prick over the bottom of the mould with a fork or a "pique-vite", to avoid the pastry bubbling up during baking.

Put the mould in the fridge for one hour so that pastry firms up before baking, it is then ready for use.
Remarks
In the photographs I'm using a tart ring (which is a kind of bottomless mould) rather than a classic mould, I recommend it to you because it's much more practical and easy to remove a tart from the circle than from a mould. You can find all sizes in specialist stores, choose stainless ones.
Source: Home made.
Nutritional information
Proteins (gr)Carbohydrates (gr)Fats (gr)Energy value (in k-calories)Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe270 RDI=100 %1,520 RDI=140 %1,140 RDI=170 %17,440 RDI=870 %73,010 RDI: 870 %
Per 100 g90 RDI=30 %510 RDI=50 %380 RDI=60 %5,810 RDI=290 %24,340 RDI: 290 %
The % figures are calculated in relation to the Recommended Dietary Intake , or RDI of 2,000 k-calories (or 8,400 k-joules) per day for a woman
Possible allergens in this recipe: Gluten, milk, egg, Nuts
How much will it cost?
  • For 1 tart : 1.55 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.
This recipe uses (among others)
Sweetcrust pastry (pâte sablée)
Sweetcrust pastry (pâte sablée)

You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Bounty-style tart for Alison, Exotic fruit tart, Parisian-style chocolate custard tart, Apple custard tart, Strawberry Verveine Tart , ... See them all 45

Other recipes you may also like
Candied grapefruit peel
Candied grapefruit peel
Not really a dessert, more a kind of sweet. After soakiing, strips of grapefruit skin are cooked very slowly to conservethem in sugar. It's a real treat with coffee at the end of a meal.
December 20th 2018396 K 14 1 day 1 hour 25 min.
Rice pudding (riz au lait)
Rice pudding (riz au lait)
My personal version of this classic family recipe.
December 18th 2018417 K5 40 min.
Bouquet garni
Bouquet garni
Used very frequently in French cuisine, a secret of French chefs, it adds flavour to a lot of recipes, and it's easy to prepare. The basic principle is to make a small bundle of herbs, bind them in green leek leaves and to tie it up, so that the whole thing can be removed and discarded easily after cooking.
March 21th 2017438 K3.5 15 min.
Vanilla sugar
Vanilla sugar
Almost essential in patisserie, you can find it in expensive little sachets of about 10g. It's necessary to distinguish between the vanilla sugar which really contains vanilla, and vanillin sugar, purely chemical which has never seen a vanilla pod. Here is how to quickly make a whole jar full of your own vanilla sugar.
August 12th 2018444 K 15 30 min.
Clarified butter
Clarified butter
This is a way of melting butter to eliminate all the impurities. The clarified butter can then be heated without spoiling, and is more digestible. It is ideal for cooking at high temperatures where small black specks would spoil the appearance, or for emulsified sauces like béarnaise or mousseline.
June 21th 2017485 K4.2 2 hours 15 min.
News list of cooking-ez.com

Sign up to receive the latest recipes (next batch due to be sent on 2026-03-01)

*Your e-mail Your first name or nickname
I am not a leaving thing
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Post a comment or question
Posted by:
I am not a leaving thing

Follow this recipe (as 2 people already do)
If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
I am not a leaving thing
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.

Back to top of page