Recipe

Paule Caillat's Brown Butter Tart Crust

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Paule Caillat's Brown Butter Tart Crust

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by Sarah Shatz

Paule Caillat's Brown Butter Tart Crust

Photo 2 of 2
by Sarah Shatz

  • Chef

    Genius Recipes's Notes:

    Pie, without the masochism. This is a tart crust that loves you back, adapted from Parisian pastry expert Paule Caillat. Fill it with chocolate ganache, lemon curd, or sweetened mascarpone and summer berries.

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Makes 8 1/2" or 21 cm tart shell

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (the crust will crack less with higher-fat European-style butter like Plugra) Ask a question about this ingredient

Flour as necessary (about 5 ounces, or a slightly mounded cupful, per David Lebovitz) Ask a question about this ingredient

1 tablespoon vegetable oil Ask a question about this ingredient

3 tablespoons water Ask a question about this ingredient

1 tablespoon sugar (for savory fillings, just use 1 teaspoon) Ask a question about this ingredient

pinch of salt Ask a question about this ingredient

  1. Heat the oven to 410° F (210° C).

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  2. In a Pyrex type oven-safe bowl, combine the butter, oil, water, salt, and sugar.

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  3. Place in the hot oven for approximately 15 minutes, until the mixture is boiling and the butter starts browning.

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  4. Remove from oven, add flour quickly, until it forms a ball. Keep adding flour, one spoonful at the time, until it pulls off the sides of the bowl.

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  5. Once the dough is cool enough to touch, press it in to the tart mold evenly with your fingertips.

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  6. Pierce the bottom with a fork, line the sides with the back of the fork to form ridges.

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  7. Bake at 410° F (210° C) for 15 minutes or until the crust is light brown and shows fine cracks.

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  8. Remove carefully from oven. It is ready for filling.

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  9. Note: David Lebovitz recommends a brilliant patching technique for any cracks -- just reserve a small knob of dough to spackle into any cracks after baking while it's still warm. (No need to bake again.)

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3 Comments on Paule Caillat's Brown Butter Tart Crust

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Wicked easy and very good!

Reply

would like to try this with a gluten-free flour mix

Img_0946 Reply

The sparkles? Butter! Just sayin' ...

In step 4, do I add all the butter at once, reserving some to spoon in as needed, or just add spoonsful at a time?

If I wanted to use this tart crust for a savory filling, could I just omit the sugar?

I have a question about step 5 on the recipe "Paule Caillat's Brown Butter Tart Crust" from Genius Recipes. It says: "Line the tart mold evenly."

Regarding the flour recommendation of 5 ounces or a mounded cupful, wouldn't a cupful be 8 ounces? Also, is there any recipe for which this would not be an ideal substitute for the traditional pie dough? I was thinking of making a blueberry pie, and now I'm considering swapping this dough for the usual.

I have a question about step 5 on the recipe "Paule Caillat's Brown Butter Tart Crust" from Genius Recipes. It says: "Once the dough is cool enough to touch, press it in to the tart mold evenly with your fingertips. "

If you're using this tart crust for a tart that requires further baking (like Lazy Mary's lemon tart), do you follow the same procedure? I.e., bake the crust until light brown, fill, and then bake the whole thing for a further 40 minutes? Or do you pre-bake for a shorter amount of time? Or no pre-baking at all, perhaps?

I don't have an oven-safe bowl. Any idea if using my 2 qt saucier would work just as well? Another option I was considering was using a pyrex casserole dish and quickly transferring to a bowl once I pulled it from the oven. Thanks!

Hi ! Is it possible to make the dough ahead ? Or it has to be cooked right away ? Or can I cook it a day before I use it (I don't know if it will keep well during 24 hours) Thank you !

Is this crust easy to unmold, and does it hold together well after being unmolded? I'd like to be able to make individual tart shells, and I need to be able to unmold them prior to filling.

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