Tarts

TARTS are glorious! I remember my grandfather, Pepé, making fruit tarts with fresh fruit from his trees in northern California. Nectarine! Plum!
Fig! What bliss! I can still see him pressing dough into a jelly roll pan, sprinkling sugar and laying the fruit. I prefer my tarts like that, with fruit spread in a single layer over a scant amount of sugar, and I make them big.. Because they're impossible to stop eating.
Galettes, shown here, are another version of a tart. Gallete means 'a flat cake', so we can take liberty with interpretation. The dough is rolled in a round, the fruit and sugar centered and the edges folded over and 'pinched'. Sometimes I put a nougatine on top, made with an egg white beaten with sugar and sliced almonds, it bakes into a wonderful candy-like, crunchy topping, that ends up causing pushy fork fights. 
I'm giving you an easy, always reliable recipe for this crust. It is different from a Paté Briseé, what many know of as tart dough, or a short crust. This is buttery, puffy, flaky, crunchy and perfect. My husband would like just crust sometime..it's that good. From this base, you can get very creative with your fillings (or, none!) Try pear, apple ( I use this dough for Tart Tatin ), any of the summer fruits or berries. Strawberry is terrific, Strawberry Rhubarb is even better and this summer I discovered how much I adore just Rhubarb, alone, cooked down briefly in a bit of sugar! Next summer try making hand pies with this dough; squares of dough filled with fruit and sugar, then folded into rectangles.. remember these?



The basic recipe is a ratio of 3 to 2 to 1. Flour, butter, iced water..and a pinch of salt.

          Tart Dough 
3 cups flour
2 cups cubed butter, 10 oz. put in freezer for 20      minutes
1 cup cold water, with ice cubes in it..so about 5-6 oz water
1 tsp. salt
Place flour, salt, butter and half of the ice water (no ice) in food processor and pulse briefly. You want the dough chunky with butter.  add the rest of the water and pulse just until the dough starts to pull together, but not completely. Dump the dough onto waxed paper, parchment or plastic and mush into a disc. wrap this up and refrigerate for 1/2 hour before rolling out. This recipe will make one 12x18 jellyroll pan or two smaller tarts.

see the chunks of butter? This is what makes the tart puffy and crunchy, when all that fat melts in layers..mmm.

It is best to bake this dough at 400〫





A good winter tart is cream cheese and jam, preferably homemade! Use 4 oz cream cheese, or goat cheese, spread on the bottom of a dough round (1/2 the recipe) and top with any good jam you've got.

      Pear is a wonderfull fruit for fall and winter tarts. Roll out 1/2 the dough into a round, sprinkle with sugar, then add thinly sliced fruit. pull these sides of the dough in and pinch it all around. Bake these tarts for 30 min., check and bake a bit longer until a golden crust is formed. 

Tart Tatin is another way of baking a tart. Baked with the dough on top then flipped at serving.

6 oz butter
1/2 cup sugar
thinly sliced apples or pears
1/2 recipe tart dough rolled and kept in fridge until ready.

In a heavy oven proof skillet, I use a Le Creuset pan, melt 4oz butter with 1/4 cup sugar until melted and beginning to caramelize. Add sliced fruit in single layers, making a pattern if you wish, this is the top of tart! Once bubbling comences, the fruit is cooking a bit, add the other 1/4 cup sugar and bits of the 2 oz butter (If you prefer a sweeter tart, add more sugar here. )
Remove from heat, place dough round on top tucking sides INTO pan around fruit. Place pan on a baking sheet to catch overflow and bake at 400 for 30 minutes, check and bake until crust is golden. 
Let this cool a bit, while it's still warm though, loosen sides of crust gently with a knife and carefully flip out on to a plate.. Voila!