16 September 2021
Recipe from America's Test Kitchen
This recipe is from a recent edition of the ATK TV show. It uses some of my favorite summer fruits and looks to be quick and easy to make. Fortunately I decided to make it just before the end of the summer fruit season here. If it's a good recipe, I may have to wait until next summer to make it again.
Flour and salt were combined in a food processor. Small pieces of unsalted butter, frozen, were scattered over the flour mixture and processed until the mixture resembled coarse sand. Ice water was added in one tablespoon portions and processed until the dough holds together when pressed between fingers. The recipe said 2-3 tablespoons of water but I needed just 1. The dough was dumped onto a lightly floured surface and formed into a rough rectangle about 3" by 8". It was then massaged, a technique called fraisage, where it was smeared with the heel of the hand into flakes. These were reassembled into a rectangle and the process was repeated. The dough was divided in half and each half formed into a 3-inch disk. These were wrapped and refrigerated for an hour. It took about 25 minutes to make the dough to this point.
The dough was removed from the refrigerator and rolled into 7-inch circles between two sheets of parchment paper. These were returned to the refrigerator to chill for 15-30 minutes. I'm not very good at rolling dough into a nice circle, thus these will be "rustic" tartlets. Many of my pastry desserts turn out to be "rustic".
The filling was made from using wedges of tree-ripened peaches (any stone fruit could be used) and blackberries (raspberries or blueberries would also be good.) The fruit was gently tossed with some sugar, I didn't need much because the fruit was ripe. It was then mounded into the center of the dough circles leaving a 1½-inch border. The border was pleated around the berries, pinching the layers of dough together. Finally, the dough was brushed with a little water and dusted with sugar. The tartlets were baked for about 45 minutes at 400°. Total time was three hours, but much of this was waiting for the dough to chill after being worked.
We liked these desserts and look forward to having them next summer. We shared each one so got four servings from the two tartlets. They kept well and were as good the second day as the first. They are easy to make and good to eat. The crust was flaky and buttery and the overall dessert was not too sweet. This is an easy pastry dessert to make and so good if you are new to working with pastry dough. The flour and sugar on the parchment burned during baking and was a little bitter, being a little neater would solve this.
