The Balanced Pastry Chef

Sable Dough

What Is Sable Dough? Sable is the French term for "sand," and sandy is a good description of the texture of sable dough. Sable dough is rich and buttery and sturdy enough to work as a tart shell for full-sized tarts. The egg adds additional richness and structure. It slices cleanly and has a wonderful crumbly mouthfeel. If you like Pecan Sandies cookies, you're pretty much eating sable cookies with pecans in it. Good stuff! How to Flavor Your Tart or Cookie Dough Most of the ... continue reading...

Pâte Sucrée

Sucre is French for sugar. This yields a sweet dough that is fairly crumbly and is good great for lining tart pans. This is a pretty rich, sandy dough, thanks to the yolks and cream. ... continue reading...

Nut Dough

This is a tender and yummy dough, thanks to the added fat from the nuts. It is especially good for fruit tarts or galettes.** You can even roll it and cut it for cookies. They'll be like delicate nut shortbread cookies! This is also the dough of choice for linzer tarts or linzer cookies. Depending on the nuts you use, this dough is perfect for all types of fruit and/or chocolate tarts. Use almonds for stone fruit tarts or try hazelnut or pistachio for chocolate tarts. You really are limited ... continue reading...

Swiss Meringue

A Swiss meringue starts with the same proportion of whites to sugar as French meringue, but the preparation is a bit different and results in a firmer meringue that is useful for crisping to make layers, or piping on Baked Alaskas. Swiss meringue also makes an excellent filling for my Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies. So good! Even though you are heating the whites, they never get hot enough to eliminate the minuscule threat of salmonella, so be wary if you're cooking for the elderly, ... continue reading...

Italian Meringue

Italian meringue is a bit trickier to make than French or Swiss meringues, but Italian meringue is very stable. Since it is made with sugar syrup that has been taken to the soft ball stage, it won’t weep and deflate upon sitting like other meringues, which makes it Perfect for topping a pie. You can use it straight-up as a nice airy cake frosting, top a pie (brown before serving), or use it as the base for Italian butter cream. *When working with sugar syrup, have a bowl of ice water right near ... continue reading...

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