Logo
  • Home
  • Pastry theory
    • Quick breads
    • Puff pastry – Pâte feuilletée
    • Choux pastry
    • Savarins
  • Recipes
    • Cakes
    • Cookies and brownies
    • Creams, custards and sauces
    • Enriched yeast doughs
    • Frozen desserts
    • Laminated doughs
    • Macarons
    • Meringues
    • Pâte à choux
    • Quick breads
    • Tarts
    • All recipes
  • About me
  • Contact
Copyright, 2015
May 10, 2014
Rob
Cookies and brownies
1

Recipe: Breton shortbread (Sablé breton)

Brittany is a charming region in the north of France. It is very close to the UK, with which it shares some traditions and cultural aspects (and also the weather, I would say).

The region is also famous for two great local products: butter and sea salt.

No wonder, then, than the recipe for the Breton shortbread (“Sablé breton” in French), a specialty of the region, is characterised by a remarkable amount of butter and a perfectly balanced salty aftertaste.

Recipe-Breton-shortbread-Step10

Breton shortbreads can be eaten as simple biscuits, but also used as tart crust, with their very rich taste and crumbly texture.

The recipe is quite particular since here, unlike in other common tart dough, flour is the last ingredient that is incorporated.

The resulting dough is very soft and needs to be rolled out between two sheets of parchment paper. Even if you can cut the shortbreads before baking, it is easier to cut them as soon as they come out of the oven: this way you won’t need many metal cookie cutters/tart rings. The scraps can be kept and coarsely crushed into crumbs to add a crunchy texture to desserts (try with ice creams!).

Recipe-Breton-shortbread-Step09

 

Breton shortbread

Print recipe
  • Print with all photos
  • Print with main photo
  • Print text only
Breton shortbread

Ingredients

4Egg yolks
140gGranulated sugar
160gUnsalted butter (room temperature)
210gPastry flour
6gBaking powder
2 pinchesUnrefined sea salt

Directions

1
Whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar in a bowl
2
Add the diced soft butter
3
Whisk vigorously until you obtain a smooth mixture, then incorporate the salt
4
Add the flour sifted with the baking powder
5
Stir quickly with a spatula until you obtain a smooth texture
6
Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper to 1cm thick
7
Remove the top sheet of parchment paper and bake at 180°C for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. 10-15 minutes might be enough if the dough is as thin as a normal tart dough (i.e. 3-5mm)
8
As soon as you take the pan out of the oven, cut the shortbread of any shape you like. Round or regular shapes are perfect for tartlets as well.

Note

Breton shortbread can keep perfectly for several week if stored in an airtight container.

More Posts Like This One

Recipe: Rich shortbread

September 5, 2013

Recipe: Raspberry tartlets with ginger and lime cream

May 18, 2014

Recipe: Mille-feuille (Cream Napoleon)

November 26, 2013

Recipe: Tarte Tropézienne

July 13, 2014
BretagneBretonBrittanyButterEgg yolksFrenchShortbreadShortbread tart doughTart dough
Share this
1 Comment General

1 Comment

  • John Smith
    October 10, 2017 11:27 pm

    Ads are annoying on websites. Can you try not having them on your site!!!???

    Reply

Leave A Comment Cancel reply

 

WELCOME

Hi, my name is Rob, I work in IT but I love baking and I also got a pastry diploma. I created this blog to keep track of my journey from complete beginner to world pastry champion (I'm not there yet).

MOST POPULAR POSTS

Recipe: Pistachio macarons (with Italian meringue)

Some time ago I decided to make green macarons and so I bought a powdered green colouring (which for some

Recipe: Chocolate mirror glaze

This is one of the pastry “secrets” that differentiate a home-baker from a “pro”. I’m talking about this super-shiny chocolate

Recipe: Pistachio paste

Now that I don’t have to “study” for my pastry exam anymore and I don’t have to prepare the old-fashioned,

Recipe: Mille-feuille (Cream Napoleon)

You can’t go more classical than this! The mille-feuille is a traditional French pastry that can be found in any

Recipe: Chocolate Royal cake (“Trianon”)

So yes, last month I celebrated my birthday. 29 years. For the third time. For some, a birthday is a

ALSO READ…

Video: Strawberry, rhubarb and almond tart
Milk chocolate, caramel and apple yule log
Recipe: Chocolate Royal cake (“Trianon”)
No-bake cheesecake with fig and damson plum confit
Crêpes with apples, cinnamon and salted caramel chantilly

Archives

Subscribe to our Newsletter



Select list(s):