Classic plum torte

Hi again! This one will be a quicky. Just wanted you to know about this if you aren’t already familiar with it. Perfect for fresh summer fruit nestled in a buttery cake. The recipe comes from Marian Burros and was published in the NYT every September from 1983 to 1989. Then readers were so bummed when it went AWOL that the Times makes sure the recipe is easily available for everyone. Play around with different fruits - I shared a peach/blueberry version with you back in an autumn update in 2022. You can add spices, sub in different flours - make it your own.

Here I’m using a mix of red and yellow plums from Nyblad, my favorite fruit vendor at the Fulton Farmers Market here in Grand Rapids. Now’s the time!

All mised up

It couldn’t be simpler and the results are delicious. You can choose an 8”, 9” or 10” pan such as a springform or round cake pan. Some folks double the recipe and bake it in a 9”x13” pan. I like to use my 8” springform - the end result is so pleasing to me. The coriander and ginger are my choices. You could add cinnamon if you’re of a mind.

Here goes. Heat oven to 350ºF. Butter the bottom of your pan, place a round of parchment in the bottom then butter/flour bottom and sides of the pan.

Cream 150 g / 3/4 cup sugar with 113 g / 4 ounces softened unsalted butter. Blend in 130 g / 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour (I do half all purpose and 1/2 whole wheat pastry flour), 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon coriander, a pinch of ginger, a pinch of salt and 2 large eggs. Beat well.

Transfer batter to the prepared pan, smooth top and place plum sections skin side up on the batter. Sprinkle top with granulated or turbinado sugar, 1/2 teaspoon coriander and a little lemon juice.

Marian’s original recipe calls for 24 halves of pitted purple plums. I eyeballed it, cut mine into narrower slices and had plenty for my needs. I like the mix of red and yellow skins.

Oooooh boy! Going in . . . .

Bake about one hour. Remove from oven, let cool about 10 minutes then release the springform ring. I carefully slide a long offset spatula underneath and slide the cake off the parchmented pan bottom. Cool fully on a wire rack.

Enjoy as is or top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or Chantilly. The cake freezes well for some weeks - be sure it’s well wrapped. Thaw at room temperature and warm briefly at 300º if desired.

More fun coming up - I’m on a roll!

Here’s a natural beauty I’m seeing along my walking route. Enjoy nature - it’s the best.

Elderberry bush

Tartelettes aux myrtilles et tarte aux prunes

Petite blueberry (myrtilles) tartlelettes

Plum (prunes) tarte

While I'm still on the summer fruits kick, I'd like to introduce you to just two of the many fruit-custard tarts that you can create pretty easily. Pâte brisée on hand in the freezer, summer berries or stone fruits of choice, a straight forward custard filling and off you go!

Michigan blueberries have been in plentiful supply (and wouldn't you know - I now have a number of bags stashed in my freezer).  They're especially tasty when baked into custard, so why not some tartlettes!

First I made my favorite pâte brisée using the by-hand flaking method with a couple of three folds for good measure. The process makes for such a wonderfully buttery, crisp yet flaky crust that is simply fantastic with custard and fruit. Visit this post for ALL the details.

You can make double or triple recipes of the dough, divide, wrap and stash in your freezer so you're ready to create to your heart's content. How great is that?!

For the custard, as is typically the case, one can find many versions of fillings out there in cyber space. Some involve simply whisking the ingredients together, pouring the custard over the fruit in your blind baked shell then baking til set. No stovetop prep there.

I opted for the stovetop method for a classic crème brulée type of custard. Heat the dairy (can be all cream or a cream/milk combo) in a saucepan, whisk egg yolks and sugar in a separate bowl, temper the yolk mixture into the dairy, then strain and set aside until ready to fill your tart. I went a step farther and cooked it to the anglaise stage before straining.

I just had to grate some fresh nutmeg and throw a pinch of coriander into the mix - so good with blueberries.

For my tartelettes I blind baked the pâte brisée in small brioche molds, popped in three berries, poured the custard over and baked them until the custard was set.

Once cooled, a dusting of powdered sugar adds just the right touch. Serve and enjoy.

Local yellow plums

My plum version came about due to the NEED to use up some ripe plums in my fridge. When browsing at the Fulton Farmers Market, I try sooooo hard to buy only the fruit that I'm pretty sure I'll use up quickly. Best laid plans  . . . .

I went with a variety of greenish-yellow, peachy and red fleshed plum varieties for this project . . .

and had just the right amount of dough on hand for my 16 cm square open tart form.

Lining a square form takes just a bit more finesse than a circle, since it's important to get the dough properly tucked into the corners. Dock the dough with a fork . . . .

then place the pan into the freezer while heating the oven to 400ºF.

Line the frozen dough with parchment, fill with dried beans or ceramic weights and bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove the weights and parchment then pop back into the oven for another 5-7 minutes until lightly golden.

Reduce the oven to 325ºF and proceed with final assembly.

Blind baked and ready for final assembly

I sprinkled some almond flour on the crust, placed the multi-colored plum slices just so . . .

and poured the custard over until it reached just below the top edge of the dough.

A final sprinkling of vanilla sugar and into the oven it goes.

Bake about 25 minutes until the custard is set and there's some browning and a hint of bubbling from the plums.

Just out of the oven

After a few minutes, lift off the tart form and finish cooling to room temperature.

Check out that flaky dough

Steve and I had a small sample after our pizza supper. Wonderful buttery, crisp crust, luscious custard filling and tartly sweet plums - yes indeed.

In a nutshell, here's the recap/ custard recipe.

1. You choose what size and shape you'd like your tart or tartelettes to be.
2. Have your pâte brisée ready to go (Visit this post).
3. Roll your dough to about 3 mm thick and line your chosen tart tins or forms. Prick the dough all over with a fork and place in the freezer while you heat your oven. Pâte brisée bakes best at high heat, 400-425ºF.
4. In general, blind baking requires 12-15 minutes with weights, then another 5-10 without until nicely golden (watch what's happening in that oven of yours!!!).
5. Decrease the oven to 325ºF.
6. You'll have to eyeball the fruit quantities you'll need for your given size. The tartelettes are easy - a few berries each. For the 16 cm square I used about 350 g of fruit - choose your favorite berry, stone fruit or combination thereof and have it prepped and ready to go.
7. For the custard, heat 1 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup whole milk to barely simmering. 
8. In the meantime whisk 4 large egg yolks and 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a separate bowl; temper in half of the heated dairy, then return all to the saucepan and cook to the anglaise stage (82ºC or 180ºF). NOTE: I added a skosh of freshly grated nutmeg and good pinch of coriander.
9. Strain into a 2 cup Pyrex-type pour spout container and set aside.
10. Sprinkle a shallow layer of almond flour on the bottom crust, arrange the fruit to your liking, then pour the custard over til it reaches just below the top edge of the crust.
11. Bake about 8-10 minutes for tartelettes and about 25 minutes for larger tarts until the custard is set with a hint of a jiggle in the center.
12. Let cool.
13. Enjoy slightly warm or at room temperature.
14. Best eaten the day it's made but will keep covered in the fridge for a day or twol

Enjoy!!

Gateau Breton

Perhaps I've mentioned this wonderful goodie in previous posts, if only to speak of its ease of preparation and its delightful taste and texture.  In the wake of making a walnut version recently, I thought it time to focus on Breton dough a bit more.  

Absolument!

Gateau Breton au noix

In Brittany a simple gateau Breton is a common offering for petit déjeuner.  It's hard to describe its texture - kind of a cross between cake and shortbread.  When you first take a bite, there is a crispiness to the exterior, but then you reach a dense, almost cake-like interior full of buttery goodness. So deelish.

Breton dough is in the sablé category of dough, but differs from some pâte sablés by changing up the sugar, butter and flour ratios, adding more egg yolks plus baking powder, not a typical ingredient in shortbread and tart doughs.

There are many Breton dough recipes out there.  Most of them utilize equal weights (or close) of sugar and butter in addition to a number of egg yolks, and an amount of flour that is usually about 2 times by weight of that of the sugar or butter.  You can replace some of the flour with a ground nut flour of choice, e.g. almond, pistachio or walnut. Tons of variations exist!

The beauty of Breton dough is its ease of mixing and shaping.  Plus, depending on how thick you bake it, you'll end up with a crispy shortbread (baked thin) or a classic gateau Breton (baked thick).  How can you go wrong with those choices?!

For my walnut version I used Christophe Felder's sablé Breton recipe from his book Les Folles Tartes, replacing the almond flour with toasted, then ground walnuts (toasting nuts before using brings out their flavor!).

I'm a pastry chef who takes lots of notes.  In Felder's book the dough is described thus:  "sablé aéré et léger", and my notation of 2/11/11 was "c'est vrai!" On that date I baked this Breton dough in 60 mm rings and served it with ricotta custard, almond nougatine and a blackberry/raspberry sorbet.  Wow! 

How can something be dense yet airy and light at the same time?  You just have to taste it to understand.

I've since created versions of Breton tarts by topping the dough with almond or pistachio cream and berries or cherries before baking.  You can also add a layer of raspberry or apricot jam (or any flavor you want!) between two layers of dough before baking.  Or bake it plain and top with citrus curd and fresh fruit or coconut cream, candied lime zest and chopped crystallized ginger.  Just use your imagination!

On to the recipe.

les ingredients

There are different methods of mixing the dough - I use the one I learned at LCB in Paris in which one puts all the ingredients except the yolks in the mixing bowl, brings it to the crumbly stage, then adds the yolks and mixes just until the dough comes together.  So easy.

Here goes.  Place 140 g sugar, 150 g diced/cool butter, 200 g all purpose flour, 70 g ground toasted walnuts (almonds if you're following Felder's recipe), 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt in the mixing bowl.

NOTE:  Felder calls for 20 g baking powder which is about 2 tablespoons.  I opted to cut it back so as to avoid too heavy of a baking powder taste.

Mix with the paddle on low until coarse crumbs.  Have 3 egg yolks standing by.

ready to start mixing

coarse crumbs

Now add the 3 yolks and blend just until the dough comes together.

c'est fini!

I baked my gateaux Bretons in 80 mm (~3") wide, 2.5 cm (1") tall open rings.  Butter them first and place them on a parchment lined sheet pan.  Heat the oven to 325ºF (I use convection).

Here's the beauty of Breton dough.  When baking it this way, you don't have to chill it or let it rest first.  You can simply press it into place.  I divided the dough up among 6 rings ( ~105 g per ring) and pressed it down evenly.

all divided up

all pressed down evenly

On a side note, if you're baking this dough as a thin cookie, you should wrap and chill it for a couple of hours first.  Then you can roll it out on a lightly floured surface and cut shapes of choice.

Bake these gateaux for about 20-25 minutes and REMEMBER - always watch what's going on in your oven. You're looking for golden brown deliciousness, and the dough should have risen up along the edges of the rings.

golden brown

looks yummy

Let cool for about 10-15 minutes before gently removing from the rings.

I served the gateaux with warm, sautéed plums prepared as follows.

Thinly slice 4 plums, toss them with a bit of lemon zest,  about 1/4 cup of vanilla sugar and  a couple of teaspoons of cornstarch . . . .

all mixed up

then sauté them over med-low heat until the juices are released and start to thicken, 5-10 minutes.

thickened up and ready to go

And the piéce de resistance . . . .

Gateau Breton with sautéed plums, chantilly cream and nut crumble

Très, très délicieux!

Happy autumn tout le monde!!