Apple pie tart

It’s a pie! No wait, it’s a tart! What?? Frankly, it kinda looks like some kind of coral reef creature.

For a recent supper at cousin Jen’s, I was in the mood to make something apple. Besides that, I had sprung for a bottle of boiled cider from King Arthur Flour and was so ready to try it out. It’s made in Springfield VT, a state which Steve and I called home for nearly 12 very enjoyable years.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve most likely realized by now that I LOVE reading baking and pastry books, comparing recipes and techniques and continuing to gain knowledge about this craft. They give me much pleasure and inspiration to boot! Some of my faves are FOOD 52’s “Genius Desserts” and anything by Rose Levy Beranbaum. They are chock full to overflowing with cool stuff.

As I approached this apple project I reviewed apple pie recipes (again!) from “Tartine”, “Art of the Pie”, “The Baking Bible” as well as “Genuis Desserts”. GD’s is essentially a review of RLB’s recipe for fruit pies, creating a filling with concentrated flavor by cooking down the juices. I’m IN!

In my fall 2018 post on a couple of apple/pear/berry tarts, I followed Tartine’s method of cooking the apples in butter and sugar first then draining off the liquid and cooking that down. They were deelish! The Genius Desserts/Rose LB approach is a bit different - macerating but not cooking the fruit, then reducing down the drained off liquid to a lovely caramel.

Here goes! This go-around I used a combo of Granny Smith and Jonagolds. Years ago I used to think peeling and coring apples was such a chore, but it’s amazing how one can get into a rhythm and actually make a bit of sport out of it, racing against the clock to see how fast you might finish. It’s so satisfying!

Once the 2.5 pounds of apples for a 9-inch tart are peeled and cored, slice them up into ~1/4 inch slices and toss them in a large bowl with 50 g light brown sugar (or dark if you prefer), 50 g granulated sugar, a tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, some freshly grated nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Cover and allow to sit a room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to three hours to juice ‘em up.

In the meantime take your favorite pâte brisée, roll it out about 1/8” thick and line your chosen tart pan or pie plate. I chose an open 220 mm tart ring this time, and since I planned a lattice top I made sure I had a 2-crust quantity of dough on hand. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and hold in the fridge until ready to fill.

I rolled out the dough for my lattice as well, cut my strips and held them in the fridge until ready for final assembly. I thought I’d be creative and cut curvy pieces, but, when it came time to create my lattice, the strips didn’t really feel like staying very curvy until I coaxed them into submission. I made the best of it and it worked out just fine and dandy.

Ready to finish the filling! Transfer the apple mixture to a colander set over a bowl and let drain to release anywhere from 1/2 - 1 cup liquid. Sounding good already.

Pour the juice into a small saucepan along with 2 tablespoons unsalted butter and bring to a boil. Cook until caramelized and reduced to about 1/3 cup. Then I added a tablespoon or so of boiled cider to intensify the apple flavor.

Transfer the drained apples back into the large bowl and mix them with 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of cornstarch.

Place a baking stone or empty sheet pan on the bottom rack of your oven and heat to to 425ºF.

In the meantime blend the reduced apple caramel liquid into the apples and transfer it all into the lined tart ring. Create the lattice, trim, tuck and crimp or flute the edges. Brush with milk and sprinkle with raw sugar. Hold in the freezer while the oven heats.

Bake approximately 50-55 minutes. If your crust edges are browning too quickly, place an aluminum foil ring over them. Watch for bubbling juices and tender fruit when poked with a small, sharp knife. My pie-tart baked about an hour before I was happy with the bubbles and texture. Looking pretty tasty!

One problem with this baby is that a small section of the crust bottom and edge seemed to collect a lot of juice and didn’t bake through. It was also an interesting challenge to get it out of the tart ring. I ended up cutting a cardboard round slightly smaller in diameter, slid it under the pie/tart and lifted it up and out of the ring. Whew. Maybe a solid pie plate or lovely fluted ceramic pie dish next time, eh?

No matter - it was delicious, the boiled cider adding just the right tang and deep apple flavor. A classic, particularly topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Always remember - there’s more than one way to skin a cat!

Now can’t you just imagine the hint of spring just around the corner? It won’t be long folks. Happy baking!

Rye buns

These buns are a true delight! Based on a recipe from “Brontë at Home: baking from the Scandi Kitchen” by Brontë Aurell, they come together like a dream, are great for any type of sandwich, have a lightness about them yet are sturdy enough to hold up to the juiciest grilled burger (which Steve’s tend to be!).

We’ve discovered that they’re great with most any sandwich you can dream up - one of our favorites is thinly sliced dried beef from our local Kingma’s market (no not the stuff you buy in packages in the cold meat section) with crisp lettuce and a schmear of mayo - yum! And a bit of cheddar never hurt either!!

Here’s an interesting bit of trivia: in Aurell’s book she mentions these buns are especially good for Biff Lindström. Now what in the world is that I ask? Biff is the Swedish word for beef and, as it turns out, there’s a Swedish specialty named after one Henrik Lindström, a prominent industrialist back in the 1800s. It’s a fried burger made with ground beef, egg, onion, pickled beetroot and a bit of its juice, capers, seasonings (salt and pepper) and optional chopped chives. Hmmm . . . . not being a beet fan, I’m not sure I’ll go for that one, but you might like it - you never know!

Even though they’re called rye buns and contain dark rye flour, these buns have only the teensiest hint of rye flavor. That’s neither good nor bad, just a simple observation.

For this project I used Bob’s Red Mill, a line of wonderful flours readily available at local markets around here. While I’m a big fan of King Arthur Flour’s range of products and can buy the standards (i.e. all purpose, bread, whole wheat, white whole wheat, self rising and even the sprouted wheat) at the grocery store, their specialty flours have to be ordered from the company which obviously requires some planning ahead. Cue Bob’s - yes!

The range of rye flours available go from white/light rye, medium rye, dark rye and pumpernickel. Here’s a great overview of rye from King Arthur Flour. Since rye flour doesn’t contain as much gluten as its wheat flour counterparts, for a better rise and lighter texture it’s best to combine it with all purpose. Using all rye flour makes for a dense loaf, plus the larger percentage of rye you use in your bread, the slower the rise.

No matter - this recipe works. You can accomplish it in a morning or afternoon and have fresh buns for supper. What’s not to like. Here’s the link to the recipe in PDF form.

I use instant yeast as my go to dried yeast. It doesn’t require jump starting in tepid liquid like active dry does, however, if you’re proceeding with the recipe to complete that day, it’s doesn’t hurt to give the instant yeast a little bath in the warm liquid - gets it going just a tad faster.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix 10 g / ~3 teaspoons instant yeast with 160 ml (2/3 cup) EACH of tepid water and whole milk. Let stand 10-15 minutes to become frothy. Add 50 g (1/4 cup) light brown sugar and mix until dissolved.

Have 200 g (1.5 cups) dark rye flour and 390 g (3 cups) of white bread flour at the ready, as well as 1.5 teaspoons salt, 1 large egg, 84 g (6 tablespoons) softened unsalted butter.

On low speed add the rye flour to the yeast/milk mixture along with the salt, then the egg and butter. Increase speed to medium low and start adding the bread flour. You may not need all of it. Continue to mix for about 5 minutes.

You’re looking for a slightly sticky dough that’s pulling away from the sides of the bowl. FYI - I did end up using all of the bread flour.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place about an hour until doubled.

Before the first rise

After the rise

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured work surface, gently knead to form a log that you will then divide into your chosen sizes.

Note: the recipe yield will vary depending on the size you wish to make. For example, if making 9 buns (as the base recipe suggests), each one comes in at a hefty 122 g (4.25 ounces) which is a bit too generous methinks. For my first batch I chose 85 g (3 ounces) which gave me a yield of 13 buns, but since Mr. Steve prefers his burger buns a little larger, my second go-around yielded 11 buns at ~100g each.

Into the slider thing? Make them even smaller!

Shape each piece into a nice boule, place on a parchment lined sheet pan, cover with a damp towel or a lightly oiled piece of plastic wrap and give them a second rise for about 1/2 hour.

Meanwhile heat your oven to 350ºF. Brush lightly with egg wash and sprinkle sesame seeds (white or black or both) on top (or any seed mixture you like).

Ms. Aurell suggests moisture in the oven during baking. Place the sheet pan of buns onto the middle rack and place a shallow heat proof pan with a cup or so of hot water onto the bottom rack. Bake about 13-15 minutes until golden and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Great buns!!

So far we’ve had grilled burgers on these babies twice and a couple of different sandwiches. Definitely a keeper. Give ‘em a try - you won’t be sorry.

Happy Valentine's weekend!

Take your basic favorite choux paste, pipe it into lovely hearts . . .

topped with central smaller hearts of lime scented crunchy dough . . .

bake ‘em with all the love you can muster . . .

then top with red fruits Swiss meringue buttercream, a dollop of Chantilly and a fresh raspberry. Enjoy!

Wishing all of you a wonderful weekend and lots of fun creating your own special treats for those you love.