(S3E3) Tart Week

The Showstopper

My sister said something funny to me after reading one of my posts a few weeks ago. She said, "I like reading your posts because it is like I am listening to one of you stories; like I am having a conversation with you".

And she is right.

When I write these posts, I am writing to you.

I am telling you my story.

Sometimes that story is about the challenge at hand and sometimes it is about the challenges in my personal life. Sometimes my cats will even make an appearance.

Who am I kidding; probably more than sometimes.

But, with that information, I want to thank everyone who has been reading these posts.

You have decided to take a few moments out of your day to read this post and I can't tell you how much that means to me.

They may not seem like a lot of work from the outside, but I I spend over 10 hours baking these three challenges and then spend more than 5 hours writing about them.

More than 15 hours working on one post that takes about 15 minutes to read.

However, I am happy with every second I spend on these challenges.

I am writing about something I love and thankfully I love writing about it too.

I love telling you my story and I love knowing I may make you smile.

I hope you do enjoy these posts.

Also, if you have any recommendations, let me know. I would be very interested in hearing what you think.

Now, let's get to the point of why we are all here!

Signature Bake: The French Classic - Tarte Tatin

Rule: Classic Tarte Tatin is traditionally made with caramelized apples, which are baked under a lid of pastry before being inverted, so that when it's served, the pastry is underneath and the filling on top. (An Upside-Down Tarte...)

Rule: Mary says, "The finished result should be a crisp pastry once they turn it out, and on top, a lovely, syrupy, shiny caramel".

Rule: Even though the classic one is made with apple, this one can be either sweet or savory

Time Limit: 2 hours and 30 minutes

I had no idea what a Tarte Tatin was before watching this episode.

The idea of flipping something out of a pan sounds terrifying.

And messy...

But it should be fun!

However, funny story, before we start the bake, I actually had the opportunity to practice this bake! Which is not something that happens often.

The reason for practicing this tart was actually for an interesting project.

My good friend Peanut Butter Jenny is a model and we had been planning on doing a photo shoot together. It just happened to be tart weekend when we wanted to do the photos and as you may know, tarts photograph beautifully.

So why not stick a pretty lady with a pretty tart?

Practicing was definitely a good idea too!

This first tart was not baked within the GBBS rules. I baked it in an hour instead of spending the two and a half hours on the tart instead. I needed to bake the tart quickly, so that we could head out to our shoot quickly. So, I ended up buying already made puff pastry instead of making my own.

Don't judge me...

However, the good thing about practicing this bake was, I realized I needed to cook the caramel a little longer in the pan because it had not set correctly.

Now, I had a little fun; was able to practice; and now it is time to get to work!

Ready. Set. Bake!

2 hours and 30 minutes left -

I don't make rough puff pasty very often, but I know it sometimes can't turn out right.

However, I read that grating the butter into the flour may help spread the butter out more evenly throughout the dough.

2 hour and 22 minutes left -

However, grating butter definitely takes some time.

But I do have to say the butter looks a lot more evenly spread out and I have more faith in this rough puff pastry turning out better than if I had cubed the butter into it.

All I have to do now is add a little water and press everything together into a nice smooth dough ball.

1 hour and 58 minutes left -

I have a smooth ball and have now realized I had not taken any pictures of this process, but I will at least explain it.

After creating a smooth ball, I needed to start folding it together so that way I could create the layers.

That is the most important part of puff pastry, layers.

So, I roll the dough out into a large rectangle and I fold the dough like a book, pulling the top to the middle and pulling the bottom to the middle, and then folding the book in half.

1 hour and 43 minutes left -

I wrap the "book" into plastic wrap and toss the dough into the freezer.

I toss it into the freezer in hope that the dough stiffens quickly.

Now, I need to prep the mangoes for the tart.

Carrot peelers can be used for so much and they are definitely perfect for peeling mangoes!

1 hour and 36 minutes left -

And they did peel quite quickly!

I don't know your opinion, but Mangoes are super weird to chop.

Thankfully, I love mangoes, so I have peeled them and chopped them before.

1 hour and 29 minutes left -

The hard part is making sure they are all about the same size.

Next step, roll out and fold the dough again.

1 hour and 22 minutes left -

Thankfully, the dough does not take long to to roll out, fold into a book, and then fold in half because it is already back in the freezer for the second sit.

That means that I already have 6 layers in the dough. I think I can get one more set in (3 more layers) before I have to prepare the tart.

However, there is not much I can do right now because I don't want to start the caramel yet and I need to let the dough sit for at least 15 minutes in the freezer before rolling it out again...

Well...this is definitely the perfect time to have a cup of tea.

Or maybe wine?

What do you think?

Yup, I agree. Wine it is.

1 hour and 10 minutes left -

Time to pull the dough out again, roll it out, fold it into a book, and then fold it in half again.

1 hour and 3 minutes left -

The dough is wrapped and tossed back into the freezer and we are good to start the caramel!

I add sugar, rum, and a vanilla bean into a shallow sauce pan and turn it on low heat.

You don't know this, but I hate making caramel.

I suck at making caramel.

I tried making it a few times back in December when I tried making a crockenbouche, but it went totally wrong. Totally wrong a few times.

It even went bad when I made it for my practice tart...

I really hope it goes alright right now.

All I know is I can't mix it, I have to leave it alone, and I have to wait for it to turn brown. However, it is hard not to touch, it is hard not to leave it alone, and it is hard to tell if it is brown.

Especially because the rum is brown...

Gahh!!!!

But, patience. That is all I can have right now.

And maybe have a big gulp of wine to relax and watch the caramel boil a little.

And boil a little more.

40 minutes left -

And boil a little more...

Until I feel as if I let it boil anymore I might have an anxiety attack thinking it is going to burn and then I won't have any time to remake it.

I would rather risk it being less caramal-ly than burnt.

Anyway, it looks browner than when it started, so I pull it off and hope it has caramelized enough...

Now, all I need to do is add the mango slices and butter into the caramel and lay the puff pastry over top.

But, first I need to roll my puff pastry out.

Which was a little harder than I would have hoped, but my dough was too long, so I had to cut it in half and press it together hoping it would not break while baked.

I didn't really know what else I could have done.

However, now that I am thinking about it, I could have folded my log of dough in half and rolled it out because I would have just added another layer.

Too late for that now, but next time!

36 minutes left -

Now I just need to add the mangoes.

In my practice one, I fanned the mangoes out having them face all the same way and I really liked the look of that.

So, I am just going to just make it easier and do it the same way.

And it does look pretty.

Like a swirling sun.

I add the butter cubs.

My personal opinion, I don't think you can ever have too much butter.

I then add the puff pastry over top the mangoes and butter, tucking them in as if they are going to bed.

A bed in the oven!

33 minutes left -

All I can do now is let it bake and hope the pattern under the dough turns out and the pastry cooks through.

While the tarte tatin bakes, I open up a can of coconut milk and stir it together to be served with the tarte after the bake.

6 minutes left -

The "top" (really the bottom of the pastry) looks beautifully golden brown, so I pull that tarte tatin out.

I have to let it cool before I flip it.

At least I think I do...

I feel like if I flip it before it cools, horrible things could happen.

Also, it gives me a reason to not have to flip it right this second.

2 minutes left -

I need to flip it.

I have given myself 2 minutes just in case I get freaked out.

Just in case it takes me an extra minute and a half to flip it...

So..

3, 2, 1, and...

Nope

3, 2, 1, and...3, 2, 1, and....

Gahhh

3, 2, Go, Go, GO!

Success!

And still 30 seconds left.

There was one thing about my flip that did not go well.

I got juice all over my hands and apron.

Good thing I had an apron on...

The Tasting:

This little, weird tart is probably one of the best things I have had in a long time.

I love mango, I love pastry, and I love the coconut milk fat that I put on top of this tart. It was so delicious.

10 out of 10.

I mean it.

Really fricken amazing.

And! And! And!

No soggy bottom!!!

It is flaky, crunchy, and beautifully golden brown.

I loved this tart so much that I have decided that I am going to bake this again and write a recipe post about it because I think you need to eat it too.

Actually, I don't think; I know.

It sounds intimidating, mostly because of that flip; but I promise if I can do it, you can most definitely do it too. And if you don't think you can, email me and I promise I will be your cheerleader while you flip your tart.

I am on such a high, I can't wait to start the next bake!

But, I am also going to admit something that I have never said about any baked goods I have seen. I am not excited for this technical bake. Not because I think it will be hard, but (sorry Mary Berry) I think this tart does not sound appetizing...

I love bread and if you have read my previous posts, you know I am not over exaggerating. I really do love bread.

However, why would I put ground up bread into a pastry?

Bread on bread?

I don't know...

The only way to find out if I like it is to make it though.

Let's get started!

Technical Bake: Treacle Tart with a Woven Lattice Top

Rule: Use the same ingredients and basic recipe Rule: Shell - Mix 2 parts flour (250 grams) and 1 part fat (130 grams) until it forms bread crumbs and then add water to create a dough.

Rule: Filling - Golden syrup (400 grams), lemon (2 lemons), and breadcrumbs (150 grams).

Rule: Every tart must have a perfectly even lattice on top (1 egg for egg wash)

Rule: Given the oven temperature (400 degrees F and then reduce to 350 degrees F), but exact baking time is unknown

Instructions: (I don't get the instructions, so I kind of have to make them up based off the show...)

- Make pastry and refrigerate

- Roll pastry out and line a 18cm deep fluted flan tin

- Mix breadcrumbs with warmed golden syrup and add lemon juice

- Fill pastry with the breadcrumb mixture.

- Place a lattice on top

- Bake

Time Limit: 2 hours

Ready. Set. Bake!

2 hours left -

Step 1, get the dough made and tossed into the refrigerator.

Grating the butter into the flour actually worked really well in the first bake (time consuming, but efficient), so I thought it would also work really well in integrating the butter into the flour in this bake as well.

Which, I was correct!

I go ahead and add a little water, knead the dough together, and create a smooth ball.

1 hour and 40 minutes left -

Hopefully I just didn't spend too much time on this dough; but I wrap it up, toss it into the fridge, and start on creating some bread crumbs.

Thankfully, it is not too hard.

I just cut off the crust, rip the bread into pieces, and toss it into the food processor.

I am pretty sure I am supposed to use stale bread; but honestly, I only took out 5 pieces of bread to help them get stale this morning, but realized that only made about half of the crumbs I needed, so I ended up grinding up none stale bread.

Again, I don't know how much of a difference that will make, but I don't really have a choice. I am kind of already in the middle of this bake...

1 hour and 30 minutes left -

In general, the bread crumbs look....bread crumb-y. I don't think I could possibly prepare them any better, so I put them into a bowl and set them aside until needed.

But, I now need to heat up my golden syrup to prepare that for my newly ground bread crumbs and lemon juice.

Thankfully, that is easy.

I pour, slowly, very slowly (not by choice), the golden syrup into a pan and place it onto the oven on low heat.

Now, to zest and juice my lemons!

1 hour and 25 minutes left -

That does not take long at all.

I have this handy dandy juicer that makes juicing these bad boys easy.

1 hour and 20 minutes left -

And within 5 minuets I have the zest and juice from both lemons ready for the bread crumbs.

But, I have to get my dough ready first.

I pull the dough out of the fridge and it is pretty sticky. I believe I have added too much water...

That is okay, I just add flour to my counter space, my rolling pin, and work my dough little by little.

It is so easy to overwork this dough, so I am trying to roll it out evenly the first time. I don't want to have to start over.

Thankfully, I accomplish this goal!

I pick the dough up and press it into a round baking dish. I unfortunately don't have a tart pan like the ones the bakers were given, so I just have to work with what I have...

1 hour and 13 minutes left -

Thankfully, again, it works out just fine.

And my golden syrup is ready!

I toss the bread crumbs, lemon juice, and the zest from both lemons into the golden syrup.

And this is not the time to dillydally, so I mix the three ingredients together quickly and spoon it into my prepared shell before it starts to stiffen.

Unfortunately, because I don't have the correct tart pan, I have an excess amount of dough hanging over the edge. Instead of struggling at cutting it off, I just fold the dough oven the tart and call it good.

1 hour and 9 minutes left -

All I need to do now is prepare the lattice for the top.

The lattice scares a lot of people, but honestly, it is one of the things that does not scare me.

I am not trying to sound like a jerk or a know-it-all when I say that, I just have made a lot of pies, so I have had my practice.

And...within 18 minutes, I have a beautiful lattice top!

51 minutes left -

I prepare the egg wash and spread it over-top the tart making sure it is evenly covered.

46 minutes left -

I then toss the tart into the oven hoping it will be baked and browned with no soggy bottom by the end.

6 minutes left -

I need to pull this tart out, so it has time to cool before I can pop it out of the tin.

I have to pull the tart out a little sooner than I would have preferred because I am using a round cake pan and not a tart pan that has a bottom that pops through the top.

1 minute left -

The tart popped out of the pan so nicely, I was shocked!

The Tasting!

I am not too pleased with this tart. Not because it is not baked through, or not baked enough, or not made right; but because I am just not a big fan of this tart.

The bottom is baked beautifully brown and the inside has a very interesting filling, but I don't know what to say about it. I don't even know what Paul and Mary would have said about it because I don't even know if this is how it should have tasted.

This bake is an unknown.

Maybe I just don't like it...

Have any of you ever had this tart?

The Showstopper: Blueberry Curd Tart with Kiwi Decoration

Rule: 1 large designer fruit tart

Rule: Make it as ornate and elaborate as you can

Rule: Pastry, filling and fruit topping are up to the baker, but the tart needs to be fit for window display

Time Limit: 3 hours

I am not one to bake patterned desserts.

Not because I don't think they are pretty, but because they take so much time!

Funny thing is, I practiced this tart as well.

It also had to deal with photos!

One of my other friends, Katie, who came over and took photos of me as I baked.

So, I went through the whole process of making the tart shell, making the curd, and adding the fruit to the top of the tart.

But again, I made the tart in an hour and a half instead of 3 hours.

My curd was definitely not as tasty as I would have liked and it was still warm when I added it to the tart shell.

If you don't know, curd should be cold.

Curd is not meant to be eaten warm.

Also, the design on the top was not as "ornate" or "elaborate" as it should have been...

But again, that was practice!

Now for the real thing.

Ready. Set. Bake.!

3 hours left -

I toss the flour, sugar, salt, butter, and vinegar into a large bowl and press it together until it mimics fine bread crumbs.

But guess what!?

I used the grating technique for the butter again; which again, worked great!

Time consuming; but I am telling you, it makes mixing the butter into the flour so much easier.

I mean, look how beautiful this dough looks.

2 hours and 45 minutes left -

Now that I have done the grating technique a few times, it has only taken 15 minutes to get to this moment.

How great is that?!

What excites me about this tart is this tart is pre-baked.

So, question as to if I am going to have a soggy bottom, or if the bottom won't be cooked through, or if that bottom is going to be wet is out!

If my bottom is wet at all, then I should never bake a tart again!

Now, lets continue with this bake.

I press the crumbs into the bottom of my tart pan and make sure the tart shell is completely even.

Then, I add the beans.

Normally you would add baking beans.

Baking beans are these ceramic balls that you place into a tart shell or pie shell, so you can bake it without worrying that your shell shifting, growing, or doing anything it is not supposed to do.

However, this lady right here, being me, has not bought baking beans yet in her baking journey. Instead, I just have beans.

And don't worry, I read that you can use regular beans.

The one thing about using regular beans is that during the baking process and after, your home may smell like beans.

That is not all that bad though.

At least my tart shell will still be pretty after the bake!

My apartment will just smell like beans...

2 hours and 10 minutes -

Now that the tart shell is in the oven, I can move on to making my blueberry curd.

I toss the blueberries into a pot; which takes no time.

Add the sugar and add the juice from 1 large lemon.

And I mean large.

I mean the size of my fist.

So, in a normal sized lemon world, maybe the juice of two small lemons.

1 hour and 55 minutes left -

Perfect! I got my blueberries cooking, my tart cooking.

Now for the hard part, cutting the fruit.

I have dragon fruit, golden kiwis, and green kiwis. I also have mint leaves.

The mint leaves kind of worry me though because I think it might be too strong...

The flavor I mean.

I'll see what happens when I get there though because I really don't have an idea of what I will do at this time.

1 hour and 40 minutes left -

My blueberries have been boiling for about 15 minutes now and they look juicier and beautiful.

The fruit is still being cut up, but I can always come back to that.

I have a feeling that I am going to be cutting up fruit for a while...

So, back to the blueberries; I have to strain them, but I want to check on my tart shell first.

I take the tart out, remove the beans, and the tart is starting to look really good.

But I want to bake the inside a little more to make sure it is cooked through, so I pop it back into the oven to brown the inside without the beans and turn back to the blueberries.

1 hour and 35 minutes left -

I pour the blueberries into a wire strainer so that I only get the juice of the blueberries.

The most important thing to remember while working on this specific task is wear an apron...

If you remember right, my apron got dirty from my first bake. I spilled mango juice and rum caramel on myself and my apron, so I had to hand wash my apron.

Well, it is not dry yet.

So, for some reason I thought wearing a white t-shirt while working with blueberries was a good idea.

As you can imagine, I have little purple dots all over my pretty white t-shirt now.

Well, that was a goofy decision on my part, but there is nothing I can do about it now...

Bake to the bake...

1 hour and 27 minutes -

Oh poop!!!

My tart!

I throw the oven door open and my tart has definitely browned...

Thankfully it is not burnt, but I really hope it does not have an over baked flavor.

All we can do is wait for the tasting to find out.

1 hour and 25 minutes left -

I get my blueberries juiced and back in the pan to keep warm while I prepare my eggs.

This is definitely the most intimidating part about this whole process. I have to pour my warm blueberry juice over top the eggs without cooking the eggs.

It is a fast process and I can't hesitate.

1 hour and 20 minutes left -

I prepare the eggs by whipping them together.

They are slightly green because I placed them in the bowl that I held my blueberry juice.

There is nothing wrong with my eggs, I promise.

Now, this part.

I have to pour a little bit of my blueberry juice into the eggs while mixing continuously.

After pouring about half of my blueberry juice over the eggs, I need to pour the egg and blueberry mixture back into the pan with the remaining blueberry juice and mix constantly until the blueberry mixture stiffens.

Thankfully, this part is easier; however, my arm gets so tired because I have to keep mixing.

1 hour and 12 minutes left -

And mixing.

1 hour and 8 minutes left -

And mixing.

1 hour and 2 minutes left -

And mixing.

55 minutes left -

Until the mixture finally thickens.

Now that is has thickened, I can pour the blueberry curd into a shallow bowl and set aside until it has cooled.

I will cover the curd with plastic wrap and toss it into the fridge soon, but I wish for it to cool slightly.

But for now, it is too hot. .

50 minutes left -\

Now, back to the fruit while everything else cools.

I have my dragon fruit and kiwi cut into slices and my mint leaves are washed.

I know...it seems ridiculous to spend the next 50 minutes cutting and playing with fruit, but I want to make sure it is as pretty as possible because this decoration needs to stand out.

I already know what I want to do with the fruit, but to cut these kiwis and the dragon fruit into prefect triangles...I know this is going to take a lot of time.

35 minutes left -

Yup, definitely taking time.

I take a break from chopping fruit and toss my blueberry curd into the fridge and slid my tart onto a serving platter.

As I do this, I think to myself: "why not use the bottom of the tart pan as a practice surface, I know it is the same size as my tart."

I am brilliant!

Sometimes...

At least in this instance, I was!

30 minutes left -

I prepare the tart bottom by wiping it down.

Now, to start.

I place the dragon fruit around the outside and work my way in.

15 minuets left -

However, I am going to make a scary decision.

A decision that could screw me over...

I am going to not use the dragon fruit.

I don't really like the look of it, so I am going to just use the green and gold kiwis.

I spoon the blueberry curd into the pasty and start working faster.

The only way I am going to get this done is if I focus hard now.

Thankfully, I have an excess of gold kiwis and I have already cut so many triangles, that I feel good about this.

And it looks great. I am so happy I took the dragon fruit off and replaced is with gold kiwis.

10 minutes left -

But, I need to get the kiwis transferred to the tart.

I start in the middle with the two rings.

Then I put on the outside ring.

And then I put in the middle ring and I am working on the last few pieces of kiwi.

5 left.

4 left.

I can feel that I am almost out of time.

3 left.

2 left.

Then, as I am putting the last piece of kiwi into the circle the timer goes off.

No joke!

I have my piece of kiwi sitting on my knife and I am transferring it to the tart, I have it in the blueberry curd, and as I am sliding it off the knife, and then the time goes off!

I am not over exaggerating. If I was being taped, we would have all been holding onto our couch cushions because that was intense!

No matter, I finished!

The Tasting:

It is interesting how the different lights effect the light.

For example, this picture below:

This picture represents the color a lot better.

I would really hope that Paul and Mary would be happy with the decoration on this tart.

It is not extremely colorful, but I feel like it is intricate and ornate.

However, what do you think?

If you saw this in a french pastry shop window, would you want some?

Now, let's move onto the more important part. The tasting.

Well, my curd clearly did not set well enough because it is sliding off the sides of the slice instead of staying firm.

Again, the question is: how does it taste?

And....

Holly Crap! It tastes amazing!

So good that I would make this for my boyfriend so he could take it into the office because it is so good and I feel the need that other should eat it.

The blueberry flavor is coming through, but the lemon adds a little zip of sour to every bite.

The crust is not burnt at all; instead the butter has this lovely deep browned flavor.

Almost liked browned butter crust.

This tart is to die for.

So good.

No question.

And I am pretty picky about what I make...

I am sure, most positive, that Paul and Mary would have great things to say about the flavor. The thickness may be one thing, but everything else.

If Paul and Mary came to my place tomorrow and asked me to make them something, this is what I would make.

Probably hands down, one of the best tarts I have ever made.

It goes this tart and then the mango tart.

What a delicious week!

Success!!!!!

I don't normally leave the week feeling really great about all the bakes.

Well, I mean, I questioned the technical, but that is partly because I have no idea how it is supposed to taste and how the texture is supposed to be.

But, all in all, I think this was a fantastic week.

Great bakes and great company.

Also, a little update on personal life and moving.

Michael and I have figured out how we are moving the cats to Germany, which was one of the biggest stresses we had.

One thing partly checked off the list.

We have also decided that I am going to be selling pretty much everything I own except for my clothes and baking supplies.

If you know me, you know clothes and my backing tools are very important to me.

So, that is another thing figured out.

We are getting there.

But lets get back to the real stress.

Next week will be dessert week.

I will be baking a torte cake, no idea what that is, a technical challenge that has something to do with dessert, and a meringue dessert; which I honestly have no idea what that is either.