Pastry School Fun!
There’s something quite satisfying about making art with your food!
Fresh Fruit Tart
Tart Shell – Pate Sucre
2-1/4 cups (284 g) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (170 g) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (100 g) white sugar
1/2 whole egg (25 g) (take a fork to it and then weigh)
1 egg yolk (18 g)
1-1/2 tsp (3 g) lemon zest
1/2 tsp salt (3 g) table salt
1 T + 1 tsp (20 g) water
Combine all the dry ingredients until well combined. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles rolled oats. Add the eggs and then the water until the dough comes together. Flatten out the dough, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for four hours.
When it’s time to roll out the dough, place it between two pieces of parchment paper and firmly roll it to approximately 3/16”. Lay the dough into a 9” tart pan (with removable bottom) and press firmly into the sides (avoid stretching the dough or it will shrink when baking). Use the rolling pin on the top of the tart pan to trim any extra dough on the top. Refrigerate for 30 minutes and then bake it at 350°F for 30 minutes (It’s not necessary to use pie weights for this kind of tart).
Pastry Cream (Make ahead)
2 cups (500 g) whole milk
1/3 cup (62 g) granulated sugar
2 egg yolks (45 g)
2 extra large eggs (62 g)
1/3 cup (38 g) cornstarch
1/3 cup (62 g) granulated sugar
1 T (30 g) unsalted butter
1 T (12 g) vanilla extract
It’s easier to do this if you do your measuring first and have everything ready in separate little bowls (a technique called ‘mise en place’ which translates to ‘put in place’). Put the milk and the first round (62 g) of sugar and vanilla into a heavy saucepan and bring it to a scald.
In a medium bowl, whip the cornstarch and the second batch of sugar in a bowl then add eggs and egg yolks and whisk until light yellow.
Temper the eggs by adding about 1/3 of the scalded milk to the eggs, whisking continuously as you do so. After 30 seconds of this, add this tempered mixture to the rest of the egg mixture in the pan and continue to whisk for about three minutes at medium heat. Once it comes to a boil, let it bubble for about a minute, still stirring. After it thickens, stir in the butter completely.
Pour the mixture back in the bowl and put this bowl over a bigger bowl filled with ice water, (just the bottom half of your pastry cream bowl should be submerged). Give it an occasional stir over the next ten minutes or so. Once it is cool, you can store it in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble the tart (put some plastic wrap directly on top of the pastry cream to keep it from drying out). It will keep up to a week or so in the fridge if you don’t use it all. It also freezes well.
Prepare the Fruit
14-16 fresh strawberries, medium sized (128 g)
4 fresh kiwi, equal sized, peeled and sliced (3-4 slices/kiwi) (140 g)
Pint of fresh blueberries (125 g)
6 satsuma oranges, peeled and de-pithed (654 g)
1/4 cup fresh pomegranate seeds (you won’t need the whole fruit, so save the rest for another use)
Prep the fruit as outlined above, making sure everything is cut to similar sizes. Dry them and lay them out on a tray, roughly how you want them to look on the tart. This will help ensure you have enough of each fruit.
Apricot Glaze
1/2 cups (165 g) apricot preserves
3 T water (45 g), or if you want to get fancy, Grand Marnier or orange juice
Put the preserves and water (or liqueur or juice) in a small saucepan and bring it to a simmer. After it melts down, passed the mixture through a fine sieve and return the liquid to the pan. Simmer an additional five minutes until it’s a little thicker. You can test if it’s ready by putting a little bit in the fridge. If it thickens up within five minutes, it’s ready. This will be brushed over the fruit at the very end to give the fruit a lovely shine and protect it from losing its freshness.
Tart Assembly
To assemble the tart, take the baked and cooled pate sucre and top the entire crust with about 1/3rd of an inch of pastry cream. Then lay the fruits out in your design and glaze the top with a light coat of the apricot glaze. This is best eaten shortly after assembly, but if you need to delay, make sure you store it in the fridge. It can also be enjoyed the next day.
Adapted from Professional Baking by Wayne Gisslen
