strawberry tart

How To Make strawberry tart

• 1

  I started weighing my ingredients a few years ago and my cakes and pastries have taken a decided turn for the better. Too much flour will make dough tough and dense. Also, make sure you keep your cold ingredients cold. I keep a bottle of water in the freezer and run it under hot water when I need a little ice-cold water. It seems I just can't keep an ice maker working, so I make due. You can also add lemon zest to the custard portion of this tart but I prefer it without. You may also wish to experiment with different fruit and flavored custards. Usually, a glaze of watered-down apricot jelly is used but I never seem to have any on hand when I make this tart. Since that first time I had to improvise, this is the tart that my family requests. Often.
• 2

  For the pastry: This recipe will make enough dough for two 9 inch tarts. Cut the butter into small pieces. If you have a food processor, pulse the salt and cold butter into the flour. Adding butter a little at a time and use short pulses. You want different size pieces of butter left in the dough. Drizzle water in while pulsing just until the dough comes together. Remove, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour. The longer the dough rests, the less gluten builds up, the flakier the crust. I do have to note that I prefer to do this part by hand, so for everyone who does not have a food processor, this is how I build a crust. Cut up the butter into small pieces then separate the butter into 3 batches and keep in the fridge. Add the salt to the flour and whisk together then drop the butter pieces in a few at a time, coating them with flour. With your fingers or a pastry cutter, blend the butter into the flour. Once the butter looks like coarse sand, add in the next batch of butter and mix together but leave this batch about pea-sized chunks before adding in the last batch. By the time you are finished, you should have small, medium and large chunks of butter in your mix. Using a fork, stir mix around while sprinkling with a tablespoon of water at a time. Once there is enough moisture in the dough, the dough will form on its own without pressure. If the dough has too much moisture, sprinkle with a touch of flour and move the dough around with the fork. Try not to touch the dough with your hands too much since the heat from your hands will melt the butter. If the dough still looks too dry, add a tiny bit more cold water and move around with the fork until the liquid is absorbed by the flour. Wrap in plastic wrap, flatten and stick into the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes. This will allow the butter to firm up again as well as let the gluten relax.
• 3

  To blind bake this tart crust prior to use: Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out the pastry dough to about a quarter of an inch then transfer to a buttered tart or pie pan, prick the bottom all over with a fork to prevent air pockets. Place a piece of buttered aluminum foil or parchment paper onto the tart dough, making sure to form it to the pan. If you wish to seal the tart crust, whisk two egg whites together and use a pastry brush to spread it over the bottom and sides of the pastry prior to baking. Place beans, rice or pie weights onto foil or paper, gently pull up on sides of foil or paper in order to really get it into the corners and edges to hold the dough down. Bake for 18 minutes.
• 4

  If you want more custard in your tart than shown in the pictures, double the filling recipe and adjust the cooking time by 10 minutes. Make sure to protect your crust's edges with aluminum foil. While the tart crust bakes, gently whisk together, by hand or mixer, all ingredients for the custard. If too much air is mixed into the cream cheese then it will collapse after baking. As soon as the tart crust is done, pour the custard into crust and continue to cook for 17-20 minutes, depending upon your oven. You may wish to cover the edges with aluminum foil to prevent the edges from over-browning or burning.
• 5

  While the tart is cooking, place 1 cup of sugar in a small pot with lemon juice, a pinch of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of clear vanilla extract. Stir once then bring to a boil. Do not stir or even touch the sugar with a utensil while it boils, it will make it cloudy. Also do not caramelize, you want this clear to show the pretty fruit though it. Cook 5 to 8 minutes. While the sugar boils, follow the instructions on a packet of gelatin. Usually, this involves dissolving it in cold water. Take boiling sugar off the stove and whisk into the gelatin. Set aside.
• 6

  Take the tart out of the oven. While the tart is cooling, clean strawberries and remove the stem and leaves then cut them in half from top to bottom. Line the tart with the strawberries and finish with whatever pretty design you wish. Pour the glaze over the strawberries and take a pastry brush and brush the strawberries with the glaze. Place the tart in the fridge to cool completely and set the glaze.
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