Shortbread dough is not at all fussy, its recipe is extremely simple and even a beginner can prepare it. Unsweetened shortbread dough can be prepared with different fillings; its main difference is that it is prepared without sugar.

In addition, this dough is well suited for tartlets, baskets, and cakes or snacks will look original and appetizing on any table.

• Premium flour - 200 grams;
• Butter 150 grams;
• Salt 0.5 teaspoon;
• Yolk - 1 piece;
• Water - 3 tbsp. spoons;

Step by step recipe

After you knead the dough well, you can put it in the refrigerator for one hour, covering the bowl with a towel or cling film.

The dough needs to be rolled out quite thinly, about 4-8 mm. The thinner the dough, the less it bakes. When rolling out cake layers or pastries, it is important to roll out each subsequent layer to the same thickness as the previous one.

There is no need to grease the pan before you place the crust. The dough is quite oily. The oven should first be warmed up well, and then place the molds with the dough. If during the baking process you notice that the cakes are burning on top, then they should be placed lower or covered with parchment paper.

A pie from this dough can be prepared in 20-30 minutes. The cake is baked at 220 degrees for 15-25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the cake and the type of filling. Products made from shortcrust pastry are crumbly due to the high fat content. This dough is suitable for small children and diabetics, because according to the recipe it does not contain sugar.

You can add starch to the dough instead of some of the flour. Just be careful while kneading so that the dough does not get warm, since the dough contains a lot of fat. In this case, the board for rolling out the dough should be cool and the dough should be kneaded for a minimum time.

If necessary, the dough can be put in the freezer and used, for example, when unexpected guests arrive. Only this dough can be stored in the freezer for no more than 6 months, and in the refrigerator for a maximum of 2 weeks. And if you are going to bake tomorrow, then today you should take the dough out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator.

You need to put the dough in the refrigerator in any case, regardless of whether you are baking today or in a week. If the dough stands for half an hour in the refrigerator, it will be manageable and will not stick to your hands. In addition, the dough will be easy to roll out. Before you start rolling out, the table should be well floured. Then the sheet of dough is rolled out and transferred into the mold with a rolling pin.

For sweet pies, you can also use unsweetened dough. In this case, you should use sweet jam or berries, adding sugar or powdered sugar at the end. Just first you need to bake the cake, having previously formed the sides. After the crust is almost baked, add the filling and bake the pie with the filling for about 10 minutes.

Pies made from unsweetened shortcrust pastry can be prepared closed or open. Closed pies are more juicy and the dough is softer than open pies. Covered shortbread pies have their advantages. The top of such a pie is covered in a variety of ways, laying out mesh, flowers, figures, butterflies, and animals from the dough. Closed pies look more beautiful on the holiday table.

The pie gets its original taste with lemon or orange zest. Sand pies with prunes, raisins, cinnamon and nuts are considered healthy. And cakes made from unsweetened shortbread dough with cream and nuts have long been considered a favorite treat for little ones with a sweet tooth.

This shortbread dough is also suitable for making pizza, but before adding the filling, the edges should be folded up a little. Then you can lay out the minced meat, sausage, vegetables and pour egg sauce over it. The pizza turns out crispy and tasty.

A properly prepared shortcrust pastry product is tender and crumbly, with a pleasant aroma of butter. In order for your dough to turn out exactly like this, you need to take flour and butter by weight in a ratio of 5 to 4. However, dough prepared only on the basis of good flour and high-quality butter turns out to be too fragile. To avoid this, it is enough to mix butter with vegetable solid fat in a ratio of 3 to 1. This finished product is more delicate, with a subtle aroma of butter.
The French, according to culinary tradition, lightly knead the dough with the heel of their palm at the end of cooking. This helps the flour and butter mix better. This technique is called fressage. We will talk about it later in the description of the cooking process.

Shortcrust pastry ingredients for savory pastries.

Flour – 140 g
Butter – 85 g
Vegetable fat (solid) – 30 g (2 tbsp.)
Water – 3-4.5 tbsp.
Salt – 0.5 tsp.
Sugar (optional, for color) – a pinch

How to prepare shortcrust pastry for savory pastries.

1. I would like to immediately note that shortbread dough can be prepared either manually or using a food processor. Let's consider both options. The first method is manual. Shortbread dough must be kneaded very quickly so that the butter does not have time to melt in the dough; not only can the butter melt from the warmth of our hands (excessive touching the dough), but it can also be quite warm in the kitchen. If you get used to the dough, you can knead it quite deftly, touching it only with your fingertips, without using your palms.
2. Before mixing all the ingredients for the dough, butter and vegetable oil must be pre-cooled, then cut into small pieces. Place the butter in a large bowl, then add all the other ingredients except water (flour, salt and sugar) into the bowl. Add sugar as desired, it gives the dough a beautiful color. So, rub all the ingredients with your fingertips until the butter turns into small pieces. You shouldn’t grind the mass too much; we’ll still have time to do that. Next, add ice water to the mashed mass, mix the dough with one hand, cupping your palm, and gather the dough into a ball. If all the dough does not fit in your palm, sprinkle it with a small amount of ice water (up to 1 tbsp) and add it to the main mass. Next, roll the dough into something like a ball with quick and confident movements. The resulting dough should be soft and hold its shape, but in no case sticky.
3. Next, consider the second option for preparing shortcrust pastry - using a food processor. Of course, this method is easier, because the machine will do almost everything for you. For this amount of ingredients, a 1 liter bowl will be enough (if desired, you can increase the amount of all ingredients several times and use a large food processor bowl). Place the attachment with a knife into the combine bowl and add all the bulk ingredients (flour, salt and sugar). Cut the cooled butter and vegetable fat into small pieces (for ease of mixing the dough), while trying to touch the butter with your hands as little as possible. Place it in the combine bowl and turn it on 4-5 times in Pulse mode. Then add ice water and immediately turn on the food processor again 2-3 times in Pulse mode. If enough water has been added, dough should gradually gather on the blades of the knife attachment. Otherwise, add just a little more water (gradually - add a drop, turn on the food processor, check if this amount of water is enough, add again if necessary, etc.). Very soon the dough will begin to come together, you can stop kneading at this point so as not to overdo it. Place the finished dough on the work surface and begin kneading.
4. We will use the fressage method. Using the heel of your palm, press on the edge of the dough and spread it 15 cm away from you with quick and confident movements. In this way, knead all the dough. Next, using a spatula, gather all the dough into a pile and form it into a ball. Wrap it in cling film or wax paper and put it in the cold so that the dough “hardens” (for 1 hour in the freezer or in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight).
By the way, this dough can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days or in the freezer for 2-3 weeks.
5. As we said above, shortbread dough, which contains a large amount of butter, needs minimal contact with your hands. The same applies to rolling out; you need to do this quickly and confidently, otherwise the dough will melt, after which it will be impossible to work with it. Place the chilled dough on a floured work surface and sprinkle the dough with flour as well. Place a rolling pin in the middle of the lump of dough and roll it back and forth several times with confident movements, lightly pressing it onto the dough so that the dough begins to move. Next, we place the rolling pin just below the middle of the cake and begin to roll it out with even movements away from us, not reaching the edge of the dough by 2-3 cm. Then we turn the dough over and begin to rotate it in a circle by 15-20 degrees, continuing to roll it out with even movements, time sprinkle the dough with flour from time to time. As a result, we should get a circle 3 mm thick. The diameter of the circle should be 3 cm larger than the diameter of the shape in which you will cook the pie. It often happens (especially among novice housewives) that the circle of dough turns out to be uneven; in this case, you should cut off the protruding edges and put them where there is not enough dough. The rolled out dough must be used immediately, otherwise it will melt.
6. The pie dough is ready. All that's left to do is put the dough into a baking dish and put the intended filling on top. It can be anything: cheese, bacon, sausage, vegetables, mushrooms. Very often, open pies are made from shortcrust pastry, for example, French quiche with open walls that support the filling. In France, they use a baking ring for such pies: place it on a baking sheet, and carefully place the dough into the ring itself. When the pie is ready, the ring is simply lifted up and the pie is transferred to a plate. You can also use a 4cm high, straight-sided round baking dish with a removable bottom. The mold with the finished pie is placed on some container (for example, a jar), the sides of the mold are carefully lowered, after which the pie is carefully transferred to a dish.

Eggless shortbread dough can be used as the basis for a huge variety of baked goods - from simple shortbread cookies to gourmet pies. Here I will share four shortcrust pastry variations - 2 sweet pastry variations and 2 savory pastry variations. Sweet can be used for pastries, cookies and sweet pies, and savory - for baskets, tartlets, pies with vegetables, cheese, salty snacks, or, conversely, for pies in which the filling itself is very sweet and does not require additional sweetness of the dough .

The ingredients are for a small amount open cake with a diameter of 20 cm. For a closed pie of the same diameter, increase the amount of ingredients by 1.5 times.

Unsweetened shortbread dough without eggs. Option 1.

Ingredients:

• 250 grams of flour;
• 125 grams of butter;
• 2.5 tablespoons of sour cream;
• a pinch of salt.

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Cooking process:

1. Butter for shortcrust pastry should be very cold. Cut it into small cubes.

2. Then sift the flour mixed with salt into a bowl with butter.

3. Grind flour and butter until coarse crumbs form.

⇒ By the way, you can even cook from such flour crumbs!

4. Add sour cream and knead into a thick, homogeneous dough. Try to knead it quickly so that the butter that is included in the composition does not melt, otherwise the products from this dough will turn out tough.

5. When the dough is ready, put it in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes, then use according to the recipe.

Unsweetened shortbread dough without eggs. Option 2:

Ingredients:

• 250 grams of flour;
• 125 grams of very cold butter;
• 50 ml very cold water;
• a pinch of salt.

Cooking process:

1. Grate the butter, add salt and grind into crumbs with flour.

2. Gradually pour in cold water, kneading into a homogeneous dough. Also, as in the previous version, you need to work with the dough quickly so that the butter does not have time to melt from the heat of your hands. Place the finished dough in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes, then work with it according to the recipe.

Sweet shortcrust pastry without eggs. Option 1:

Ingredients:

• 250 grams of flour;
• 125 grams of butter;
• 2.5 tablespoons of sour cream;
• 50 grams of powdered sugar;
• a pinch of salt.

Cooking process:

1. Cut the cold butter into cubes, add powdered sugar and grind.

2. Add a pinch of salt and sift the flour into the butter mixture.

3. Mix everything thoroughly until coarse flour crumbs form.

4. Add sour cream and knead the dough until smooth. As with all variations, do this quickly to prevent the butter from melting.

6. Before using, put the dough in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes.

Sweet shortcrust pastry without eggs. Option 2:

Ingredients:

• 250 grams of flour;
• 125 grams of cold butter;
• ½ teaspoon of soda;
• 50 grams of sugar or powdered sugar;
• 45 ml ice water.

Cooking process:

1. Grind butter with sugar, combine flour with soda.

2. Combine both mixtures, grinding them into crumbs.

3. Gradually pour in cold water and knead the dough as quickly as possible.

4. Place in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes before further use.

Eggless shortbread

You can make shortbread cookies from sweet shortbread dough ( and you can see the recipe for delicious chocolate shortbread cookies).

To do this, roll out the chilled dough into a layer 0.5-1 cm thick and cut out the cookies of the desired shape.

Bake at 200 degrees for 10-15 minutes (depending on the thickness of the cookies and your oven settings).

All is ready! Bon appetit!

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This is an intermediate option between shortcrust pastry and puff pastry. It is crumbly but firm, making it suitable as a base for large pies and quiches.

In a recipe, you can add the word “cold” before each ingredient and item, and this should not be neglected. The water should be ice cold and the oil should be rock hard. It's a good idea to keep bowls, knives and even the board on which you will work with the dough in the freezer. It is better to move the cutting table away from the radiator or open the window.

The secret of shortcrust pastry is in butter. It is thanks to him that the baked goods turn out crumbly.

All this trouble to prevent the butter from melting. Because otherwise you will get a completely different product.

Classic way

Ingredients

• 200 g butter;
• 300 g flour;
• a pinch of salt;
• 50–100 ml of water.

Preparation

Chop the cold butter into small cubes and place in the freezer for 15 minutes. At this time, sift the flour and salt and pour it onto the table or board. Place the butter cubes on top, sprinkle them generously with flour and use a knife or two to cut into the dough.

It is important to touch the oil with your hands as little as possible: body heat will quickly melt it, and the consistency will not be what you need.

When the butter and dough come together and turn into small grains, add water little by little, kneading the mass into a plastic ball. Place it in the freezer for 15 minutes. Then roll out the dough, put the filling, for example, and put it in the oven.

Lazy way

Technological progress does not stand still, why not use it in cooking. You will need the same ingredients and a food processor with blades. It is not necessary to chop the butter into small cubes: the device will handle it itself. Place butter and flour in a bowl and whisk. The main thing is not to overdo it; in the end you should get the same grains.

Gradually add ice water until the dough begins to come together into a ball. The following instructions are the same as in the classic recipe.

Shortbread dough can be stored in the freezer for several weeks.

Supplements

You can deviate from the basic recipe. Here are some ideas:

1. Place 50–100 g of sugar into the sweet pie dough.
2. Replace 30 g of flour with the same amount of cocoa - you will get chocolate dough.
3. Add up to half a glass of finely chopped nuts.
4. Flavor the mixture with citrus zest or vanilla.

This recipe will yield a more flexible dough that is easier to roll out. Baked goods made from it crumble less. By the way, in culinary disputes, some confectioners refuse to call chopped dough shortbread. They believe that only with the help of such a recipe can they obtain a classic base for tarts and baskets.

The oil should not be cold, but chilled. It is impossible to explain how one state differs from another. Just remove the product from the freezer an hour before cooking.

Ingredients

• 100 g butter;
• 100 g sugar (preferably powdered sugar);
• 250 g flour;
• 1 egg (or 2 yolks).

Preparation

It is better to mix the ingredients with a spatula or spoon, and use your hands only at the last stage, when you need to gather the dough into a ball. Cream butter and sugar, add flour, then egg.

If you have a food processor, delegate all these responsibilities to it.

You can chill the dough and then cut it. You can first give it the desired shape and then put it in the freezer. It is important that it goes into the oven cold.

3. Curd shortbread dough

This dough is less finicky to work with than its counterparts without cottage cheese, and has less calories, since the fermented milk product replaces half the butter.

Ingredients

• 100 g cottage cheese;
• 100 g butter;
• 180 g flour;
• ½ teaspoon of soda;
• ½ teaspoon salt.

Preparation

Rub the cottage cheese through a sieve, grate the cold butter. Mix both ingredients with a fork, add flour, soda and salt. Quickly knead the dough until smooth, put it in a bag and put it in the refrigerator for an hour.

What to do next

If there is a pie on the menu, roll out the dough to the size of the mold, pierce it several times with a fork to prevent it from swelling, cover with parchment paper and cover with a weight. Special heat-resistant balls or beans and peas can be used as a weighting agent. This design is baked for about 15 minutes at 180 °C. Then remove the weight, add the pie filling and cook until done.

It is better to choose the filling adjusted for the sugar content in the dough. Unsweetened chopped is suitable for quiches with filling, pies with meat and vegetables. Dough with added sugar will be the basis for fruit and berry

Baskets are baked in the same way, only the cooking time must be reduced in proportion to the reduction in the size of the cakes. It is enough to bake cookies and other small products in the oven until lightly browned, otherwise they will be too hard.