brisée

Brisée, or pâte brisée, is a basic French pastry dough commonly used for tarts, quiches, and pies. In English culinary terms, it is known as shortcrust pastry. The name brisée, meaning broken, refers to the dough’s crumbly, short texture achieved by cutting fat into flour rather than kneading to develop gluten.

The dough typically combines all-purpose flour, salt, and fat such as cold unsalted butter (sometimes with a small amount of lard or shortening) in a ratio that yields a crumbly to sandy texture. A small amount of cold water or egg yolk is added to bring the mixture together, with minimal handling to avoid overdevelopment of gluten. The resulting dough is shaped into a disk and chilled before rolling. It is rolled to about 3–4 mm thick, then fitted into a pan. For a prebaked crust, the dough is docked, sometimes lined with parchment and weighed with baking beads, and baked blind until firm and lightly colored.

Uses and variations: Brisée provides a sturdy, crisp crust suitable for fruit tarts, custard pies, and savory quiches. It differs from pâte sablée, which is richer and sweeter and has a more crumbly texture, and from puff pastry (pâte feuilletée), which puffs into layers. Some recipes enrich pâte brisée with egg yolk or a touch of water, or adjust the fat ratio to alter texture. Proper chilling before rolling and blind baking are common techniques to ensure a smooth, level crust that holds fillings without sogginess.