"The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England."
I have to say I was not a fan of this months challenge, too bad I have already missed my 2 for the year do to my relocation to Mexico and that all of my cooking stuff had to be left in Michigan.
here is the recipe for BAKEWELL TART.
Bakewell Tart…er…pudding
Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin
One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds
Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200C/400F.
Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.
The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.
When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.
Sweet shortcrust pastry
Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film
225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water
Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.
Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and
slightly sticky dough.
Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes
Frangipane
Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula
125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour
Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to
curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.
I am really hoping that July's challenge is a little more exciting
9 comments:
Hey Shayne, I saw your FB post, too, when you were making it. I think given all the challenges, you are one Daring Baker indeed. I thought about joining DB, but it scares the bejeezus out of me. My hat's off to all of you!
The recipes for DBers are not too bad but if your more of a cook you can try the daring cooks. I am finding that the more rules added to the group the less I enjoy it but with a group this big I guess you have to have rules.
Glad you gave it a try. A couple of points:
- It's not being "snooty" to forewarn people that a recipe was developed with weights as opposed to volumes. Besides, many countries use weight metrics instead of volumes in recipes.
- WRT rules--It's well known that the DBs began by having the bakers follow the same recipe, to the letter. It's not much of a dare or challenge otherwise.
j
Currant jam sounds wonderful in these. I found mine a little too sweet as well but John thought they were spot on.
I have been doing the DBer for a few years. weights and volume has almost always been included in the recipe not just measure. I know the old rules but the new paragraph that much be posted onto the blog is a little much; however, I am sure that it is a way to track if everyone did it so that you don't miss the more then 2 a year.
I sure you are taking it personally because you picked this month but not everyone is going to like every recipe and this one was the one I did not care for. There are no rules as of yet saying that we have to agree with the recipe or the method presented.
Hi Shayne,
Sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy the challenge very much. In terms of the weights/measurements, we've been trying to do this for quite some time to be inclusive in terms of all the different countries that people come from. Some people use metric and some people use imperial. Also, I'm surprised to read your comment about the blogchecking lines as we have been using those for many many months now.
Nevertheless, I think your tart turned out well. Hope the weather is treating you well in Mexico!
Almost forgot, Shayne! You should take down the old Daring Bakers graphic and put up our new badge/logo. You can choose whichever one you like here:
http://thedaringkitchen.com/badges
Good to hear that you like it somewhat and your pixs are fab. Also the Dbers have used the blog checking line for some months so your 1st comment sounds odd maybe you have been away for some time. If you didn't have a scale you should of asked in the forums for somebody to put it in cups/spoons for you and that would of been done for you. Hope you enjoy the next challenge more. Cheers from Audax in Australia.
Cirri, IM me sometime about the relocation, I may be able to answer some questions for you.
Audax - I have missed some Daring Baker stuff because we moved to a new country during the whole launch of the new site.
I did not notice the blog line before until I was adding this post I was a little shocked but I am over it. I understand why, I just like the how casual the group was way back when.
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