Pour the flour, the grated parmesan, the salt and the diced butter, refrigerator-cold, into a food mixer.
Blend on and off for a few seconds until you have a crumbly texture. This is known as the sablage method of making shortcrust pastry, which results in a firmer and more crumbly dough. Then add the yolks and the egg to the mixer. Continue blending until you have an even and compact dough, without overworking it.
Remove the dough from the blender and, if necessary, finish kneading by hand on the worktop. Form into a very thin ball, about 2 cm thick, cover with cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 3 hours, or all night.
When you are ready to use it, remove the dough from the fridge, leave to soften for a few minutes, then roll out directly without kneading it again to soften it. This way the dough will stay more elastic. After a few minutes at room temperature, place the slightly softened pastry dough on a worktop that has been dusted with flour. Start patting it with a rolling pin, in both directions, to roughly thin the ball, then roll the dough to the desired thickness. The pastry offcuts can be combined, kneaded and rolled out. If necessary, before rolling out the offcuts put them in the freezer for 10 minutes to cool them down and restore their consistency.
If you plan to use the pastry as the base of a savoury tart, the dough should be rolled to a thickness of about 4-5 mm. To blind bake before filling with a cold topping that doesn’t require cooking, cook on the bottom rack of a pre-heated conventional oven for 25-30 minutes at 175 °C. If the shortcrust base is to be covered with a filling that requires cooking, we recommend blind baking the base to make sure the bottom of your tart is not raw. As a rule of thumb, cook on the bottom rack of a pre-heated conventional oven for about 20 minutes at 175 °C, then remove from the oven, add the filling and continue cooking at the same temperature (the time will depend on the quantity and the consistency of the filling, usually this second cook lasts between 30 and 50 minutes).
If you use this shortcrust pastry to create the bases of a savoury cream tart, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 4-5 mm. Cook on the middle rack of a pre-heated conventional oven for about 20 minutes at 175 °C.
6
15 mins
