Miss XS commented that the pastry cream was too egg-ish for her liking, and preferred a lighter style of custard. I was fine with it, but I'll imagine one way to address the issue would be to fold half a cup of whipped cream into the finished custard. Another recipe, from the Joy of Baking, has a lower proportion of egg yolks.
Berry Tart Recipe
To make the DOUGH
From David Lebovitz's French Tart Dough Recipe
One 9 (23 cm) tart shell
Small cracks in the dough are normal so I wouldn’t use this for a thin, custardy filling, although it works well filled with chocolate ganache and I would imagine it would be lovely filled with fresh berries resting on a base of pastry cream.
Do be careful with the hot bowl of butter. Not only will the butter spatter a bit when you add the flour, but it’s uncommon to have a very hot bowl on the counter and easy to simply give in the urge to grab it with your bare hands.
90 g (3 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used canola)
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
150 g (5oz, or 1 slightly-rounded cup) flour
Preheat the oven to 410º F (210º C).
1. In a medium-sized ovenproof bowl, such as a Pyrex bowl, combine the butter, oil, water, sugar, and salt.
2. Place the bowl in the oven for 15 minutes, until the butter is bubbling and starts to brown just around the edges.
3. When done, remove the bowl from oven (and be careful, since the bowl will be hot and the mixture might sputter a bit), dump in the flour and stir it in quickly, until it comes together and forms a ball which pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
4. Transfer the dough to a 9-inch (23 cm) tart mold with a removable bottom and spread it a bit with a spatula.
5. Once the dough is cool enough to handle, pat it into the shell with the heel of your and, and use your fingers to press it up the sides of the tart mold. Reserve a small piece of dough, about the size of a raspberry, for patching any cracks.
You can use a fork to reinforce the dough to the sides, though D Lebovitz notes he didn't find that necessary. I didn't do this either.)
6. Prick the dough all over with the tines of a fork about ten times, then bake the tart shell in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the dough is golden brown.
7. Remove from the oven and if there are any sizable cracks, use the bits of reserved dough to fill in and patch them.
I find it best to pinch off a small amount of the reserved dough, roll it gently between your fingers to soften it, then wedge it into the cracks, smoothing it gently with your pinky.
8. Let the shell cool before filling.
To make the PASTRY CREAM
Recipe taken from here. (playingwithflour.com)
Original recipe from David Lebovitz, Ready for Desserts
- Makes 2 1/2 cups or enough to fill one 9-inch tart shell -
2 cups (500 ml) whole milk
6 tablespoons (60 g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
Pinch of salt
6 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons (1 ounce/30 g) salted or unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Lightly whisk egg yolks together in another bowl.
In a saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat until it begins to steam. Slowly add the flour mixture, whisking constantly to prevent lumps, until the mixture begins to bubble and is thickened. This takes about 2 minutes.
Take about a ladle of the hot milk mixture and whisk it into the egg yolks to bring their temperature up a little. Then pour the warmed yolk mixture into the rest of the thickened milk. Continue to cook, again whisking constantly, until the pastry cream starts to come to a boil.
Take the pan off the heat and add the butter and vanilla extract. Whisk together until butter is melted. Strain the pastry cream through a mesh strainer and into a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap directly touching the surface of the pastry cream and chill, preferably overnight. Just stir or whisk if necessary before using. The pastry cream can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
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| Ladle the pastry cream into the cooled pie crust, then smooth out and chill. |
So summer-y and refreshing!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I love summer fruits, and would be happy eating just the fruits. But I was aching for something to do that day:)
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