Not one to make excuses, I'll simply apologize for unposted missives of late.
I busied myself with an apple tart several weeks ago for the following reasons. One, I love apples. Two, I have been meaning to work on my pie crust technique. Three, we were having fondue for dinner, and I wanted to contribute something that's not overly decadent after a potentially heavy meal.
Being a relative novice at pie dough, I wanted to approach this exercise well-equipped with at least an understanding of where I would go wrong. So I turned to the Pie Crust section of my new Christmas gift, "CookWise". A wealth of information! Shirley Corriher, the author, points out that flakiness and tenderness don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. A dough that produces a flaky crust needs pockets of butter that will melt, creating airy spaces within the dough (this same "butter pocket" technique is critical to bobka). A dough that produces a tender crust needs to have the fat broken up into many tiny pieces, such that it coats (tenderizes) the flour well. I decided that my goal (it's good to have goals) was a flaky crust. And I wanted one that's very thin, highlighting the fruit over the crust.
Next- flour, fat. I used a mix of whole wheat pastry and all-purpose flour with the thought that the pastry flour, which has less gluten, would lead to a more tender crust and would also provide a nuttiness to the finished dough, and I added sugar to tenderize the dough. I followed her lead in the fat department.
120 g w.w. pastry flour (1 c)
60 g unbleached all-purpose flour (1/2 c)
3/4 tsp sugar (this also helps to tenderize the dough)
1/4 tsp salt
8 T butter, cold
2 T crisco
approx 5 T ice-cold water
Mixed together dry ingredients, cut in the fats with a pastry cutter, still leaving large chunks of butter and then put the bowl in the freezer for 10 min.
Took it out, dumped everything on a cutting board, and rolled over it with a rolling pin a few times to flatten the butter, making large flakes, rather like dried potato flakes. Then I added the water 1 T at a time until the dough came together.
Shaped the dough into a 4" round disk and put into the fridge for about 30 min while I readied the apples.
The Apples:
I used 2 Braeburn and 3 Granny Smith apples (both large). Peeled and cored them, reserving peels and cores. I sliced them as thin as I could, squeezed just a bit of lemon over them and sprinkled with 2 tsp sugar. Tossed the apple mixture with my hands, set it aside.
I rolled out the tart crust as thin as I could get it, trying not to over-flour or over-work the dough. I didn't want to destroy all those lovely butter pockets, and I didn't want to build up gluten, which will toughen the crust. It was nice and thin, so I folded it in half, then half again and transferred it to the greased tart pan.
Arranged the apples in there in concentric circles, on their sides, slightly overlapping, and piled a few extra up by the border of the tart pan. I folded about an inch of crust on top of the tart, and crimped it every inch or so. Brushed the whole thing with melted butter and sprinkled with 2T sugar, then put it on the baking stone in a preheated 400F oven.
Baked for about 50 min, rotating every 15 min to ensure even browning.
Apple Glaze:
Meanwhile, with those leftover bits of apple: put them into a pot with a bit of water, maybe 1/2 cup, and 1/2 cup sugar, plus 1" of a split vanilla bean (scrape the seeds out into the pot), 2" of cinnamon stick, and a sprinkling of ground cinnamon. Boil that up while the tart bakes- about 30 min, it will reduce to a syrupy glaze. Strain it through a mesh colander or cheesecloth, pressing down on the apples to get out all the juices.
The best bit:
What do do with the leftover scraps of pie dough and apples? I gathered the scraps and pieced them together in the cups of my mini-muffin tin, which I greased with the extra melted butter. I chopped up the extra apples and sprinkled them into my little dough cups. Sprinkled sugar all over that and popped it into the oven, under my tart.
The crust is good and flaky, the tartlettes stand up well on their own, and they're so cute! I wish I had a whole batch of these. I can just imagine a few on a plate with a little dollop of whipped cream. Oh, or better- a cube of sheep's milk cheese and a cube of cheddar. Well, the family gets the big tart, and the tartlettes are the baker's treat. Shhh...
