Tarts! Tarts! Tarts!

A while ago, I was enjoying a fabulous brunch amidst wonderful company and the topic turned to cooking, specifically baking.  My pals confessed to loving dessert and attempting to bake on occasion but a bit of a general unease when it comes to certain things like pie crust and other finicky recipes.  I told them tarts are the way to go, much easier than pies. They mentioned that they’d like to learn more about it, which is convenient because not only am I a pastry chef but I do exactly that – I teach folks to bake.  So I think it’s safe to say, I know just a little about this topic.  I volunteered to teach them and we started brainstorming ideas.  There’s nothing I love more than talking about food while eating food.  And I love people who can do this with me.  So anyway, they had two requirements:  something chocolate and my sour cherry tart.  In the end, we also decided to make 5 kinds of tarts that covered a variety of flavors and techniques but had wait until July when sour cherries were in season.

Fast forward several months.  Several unseasonably cold, wet, overcast months.  This was the weekend that the sour cherries made an appearance at the market in all their bright red tart glory.  This was the weekend the four of us got together and cranked out 5 beauties.  This was the weekend we ate 5 desserts for dinner.  I HIGHLY recommend this.  Especially if you can fit in a nap shortly thereafter.

the three tarts in person

We made a basic tart dough, a chocolate version and a savory dough too (no sugar.)  Using my farmers market finds of the day prior, we turned these into a fresh apricot crostada, chocolate ganache tarts topped with red and black raspberries, a blueberry custard tart, a sour cherry lattice tart (which I forgot to photograph) and a few savory zucchini ricotta galettes.  They were great sports, digging right in and cheerfully putting on some bakers hats I dug out of a closet.  Truthfully, they wore them for about 2 minutes, however, Hilary put hers back on later when she was having some challenges rolling out the dough and wanted to “channel her inner pastry chef.”  I think it worked fantastically.

I’m often asked “what’s your favorite thing to bake?”  This is an incredibly difficult question for me because I suffer from dessert indecisiveness.  What I like today is not necessarily what I’ll be in love with tomorrow, next week or next month.  But, if I HAD to chose (as in my life depended on it and when will that ever happen?) I’d probably say a tart of some sort.  Tarts are easier than pies and less intimidating if pie crust throws you for a loop.  The dough is so much more forgiving than a pie crust, they’re rather elegant and if baked in pans with removable bottoms, there’s no pesky pan to worry about taking home at the end of a night.  I really dislike waiting around for my goopey pie pan at the end of a party and 9 times out of 10 will forget it anyway.

There are just a few things to know before you start that will help make things a lot easier…

TART BASICS
Tart crusts differ from traditional pie dough in that they are richer and sturdier because they need to support the filling without the benefit of a pan.  They typically have more butter, sugar (and usually an egg) to make an almost cookie-like crust.  Since flakiness isn’t as much of a concern, you don’t have to be as careful when mixing the dough as you would with a more traditional pie dough recipe.  Also, whereas pie crusts can be made with butter, shortening or lard, tart crusts are nearly always made with lots of butter.

ROLLING TIPS:
–      After you make the dough, pat it into the shape of the tart you’ll be making – a flat circle for a round tart, a rectangle for a rectangular tart, and individual rounds for small tarts.
–      Chill for at least an hour to make it easier to roll and give the dough time to relax.  You can roll it directly after making but this requires a bit of patience and you need to work quickly.  If you have the time, chill the dough or better yet – make it the night before and let it rest in the refrigerator.
–      Remove tart dough from the refrigerator and let stand for 15 minutes to take off the chill.  You want the dough to be cool to the touch but roll easily without cracking.
–      On a lightly floured surface, sprinkle the top of the dough with flour and roll with your rolling pin of choice – from the center out – to an inch or two larger than your pan.
–      Make sure to keep the dough moving and checking underneath frequently to make sure it isn’t sticking to the work surface.  If you’re having trouble, roll the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap or parchment paper.  If it gets too warm and sticky, slide it onto a sheet pan and pop into the fridge for 5-10 minutes to cool.
–      Roll dough up on rolling pin and carefully unroll over the tart pan.  Carefully ease the dough into the corners and pinch or roll off excess.  Reinforce the sides with excess dough where needed.
–      Place pan(s) on a baking sheet and chill or freeze while preparing the filling.  Tarts will always bake better and shrink less if the dough is cold before going into the oven.
–      Extra dough can be gathered and frozen for another use or cut with round biscuit cutters and sprinkled with a bit of sugar or cinnamon sugar for a nice, simple cookie.

Hints:
–      When baking small or mini tarts, it’s much easier to roll the dough into one large sheet and cut pieces to fit each pan as you go.
–      Be careful when re-rolling tart dough – it will become tough if over handled.  Try to fit in as many as you can on the first pass and only re-roll the scraps once.

BAKING TIPS:  The type of tart you make determines how you bake the crust:
–      Unbaked:  filling is poured directly into the chilled, unbaked crust and then baked
When? Tarts with a baked filling such as the sour cherry tart or the baked custard tart.
–      Partial blind bake:  a partially baked empty tart shell which is then filled and baked again.  This ensures that the crust is crisp and cooked through when baked with a wet filling.  If have a recipe where the filling is poured into a raw crust then baked but you find the finished crust a bit soggy or underdone, try a partial blind bake.
When? Tarts with a heavy raw filling such as pumpkin or pecan
–      Full blind bake:  a fully baked empty tart shell; use with a cooked filling that will not be cooked further in the oven.
When?  Tarts with pastry cream or lemon curd fillings.

To blind bake:
–      Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and chill or freeze for at least 30 minutes.
–      Two ways to do this next step:

• Traditional: Crumple up a sheet of parchment and lay over a chilled tart crust and fill with pie weights, raw rice or dry beans.
• Untraditional: freeze the dough until frozen solid, 30-60 minutes.  Skip the parchment/pie weights completely and the frozen dough goes right into the oven.

–      Bake:
For partial blind bake: bake 10-12 minutes until just barely golden, remove weights (if using), fill and continue baking
For full blind bake:  bake 12-15 minutes until golden brown, remove weights (if using) and cool before filling.
–      If you find that during further baking with the filling the crust edges become too dark, cover the top or just the edges with aluminum foil and continue.
Hint:  when baking small or mini tarts (1-2 bites), it becomes a bit of a hassle to do the parchment/pie weight thing.  A much easier method is to line a pan with tart dough and top with another duplicate tart pan.  The additional tart pan acts as the weight to keep the dough from puffing and it’s a lot easier than the traditional weight method and works better than the untraditional freezing only method above.

BASIC SWEET TART DOUGH
Makes one 9” crust or enough for six 4″ individual tarts (plus scrapes for snacking)
This is a very easy tasty dough – sweet, sturdy enough to roll into a crostada/galette without a pan and bakes up beautifully.

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 ½ Tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
6 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, ½” chunks
1 Tablespoon cold water
1 egg yolk

1. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt.
2. Add the cold butter cubes and toss to coat.
3. Using your thumb and first two fingers, rub the butter and flour until the mixture is the size of small peas.
4. In a small bowl, combine the yolk and the cold water.
5. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add the yolk/water mixture and begin to combine.
6. Gently knead the mixture together making sure to work in all the dry bits of flour.
7. Pat into a round shape, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least ½ hour.  Will keep in the fridge for 2 days or frozen up to 2 months.  Defrost overnight in the fridge.