Tarte Tatin
Korena from the beautiful site Korena In The Kitchen has challenged the Daring Bakers to make a Tarte Tatin. I was so excited to make this classic French dessert. Like the chocolate chip cookie, Tarte Tatin was born from a mistake. As the story goes, Stephanie Tatin, who ran the Hotel Tatin with her sister Caroline, was making a traditional apple pie for her guests. She realized that she caramelized the apples and sugar too long in a large saute pan, so she quickly blanketed it with pastry and put the whole thing (pan and all) into the oven. Once it was fully baked she flipped the pan upside down onto a plate and discovered that she created a beautiful, caramelized, open-faced apple tart. Her guests loved it, and she became the most popular girl in all the land. The moral of the story is this: don’t be afraid to make mistakes. The worst that can happen is that you learn a valuable lesson, and the best that can happen is your mistake becomes a much loved creation.
This tart is made of everything that is wonderful in this world–cinnamon-spiced apples cooked in salty caramel, which is encased in a buttery puff pastry. It is delicate and lovely. If I could, I’d bake this every weekend and serve it with some delicious cinnamon ice cream.
Now, you can use ready made puff pastry for this, but if you’d like to try your hand at home made puff pastry (do it!) I can show you how.
Here’s how I made the puff. First, I mixed flour, cold water, vinegar, a little softened butter, and salt together by hand until it started to form a ball. I kneaded for about a minute or two then I rolled the dough into a rough rectangle. Afterwards I chilled it in the refrigerator (wrapped in plastic) for 2 hours.
Next I worked on the butter block. I softened butter by leaving it out for an hour. Between two pieces of parchment, I rolled, stomped and flattened it into a 4-inch by 7-inch rectangle. Then it was chilled in the refrigerator until ready to use (no more than 30 minutes).
The most important thing to remember when making puff pastry is that the dough and the butter block should be of the same consistency. They both should be soft enough to roll out, but not too warm that the butter oozes. Roll out the dough to a 5-inch by 12-inch rectangle, then place your butter block at the top of the rectangular dough.
I folded the top half of the rectangle (butter block and all) half way down, and folded the bottom half of the rectangle half way up–just like a letter. I wrapped it in plastic and chilled in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Once chilled, the folding and turning begins. I placed the folded dough on a lightly floured surface with the opening to the right (like a book). I rolled out to a 5-inch by 12-inch rectangle then folded it like a letter, wrapped it up, and refrigerated for about 20 minutes. I then repeated this folding, rolling, turning and chilling process 3 more times.
Now let’s get on with the filling. Peel, core, and halve 7 to 8 good baking apples (I used Braeburn). Place on top of a sugar/cinnamon mixture in a large fry pan or cast iron skillet. Really crowd them in, because they will shrink once they bake. Cook over medium heat until the sugar becomes a rich caramel color (about 30 minutes).
Roll out the puff pastry into a circle that is large enough to cover the pan. I used a large pie plate to guide me. Prick the pastry and gently place it over the pan. Tuck in the edges with a spoon. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
Once it is baked, let it rest for a minute then flip it over onto a large plate. Voila!
- 1 3/4 cups plus 1 TBS (200 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 5 1/2 tsp. (25 g) Unsalted Butter, very soft
- 1/2 cup minus a TBS Cold Water
- 1/2 tsp. Distilled Vinegar
- 3/4 tsp. (5 g) Salt
- 1 1/4 cups (175 g) Unsalted Butter, softened
- Or use 1 lb. (502 g) Ready-made Puff Pastry
- 6 to 8 Braeburn or other good Baking Apples
- 7 TBS (102 g) Salted Butter
- 1 cup (198 g) Superfine Sugar (pulse regular sugar in food processor)
- pinch of Ground Cinnamon
- In a large bowl, measure out the flour and create a well. Combine the water, vinegar. Add the salt and stir well to dissolve.
- Pour the vinegar mixture and the very soft 5 and 1/2 teaspoons of butter into the well in the center of the flour.
- Using your fingertips, gradually work the flour into the liquid, using a plastic scraper to assist if necessary.
- Form the dough into a rough ball, then flatten it, forming a rectangle. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours.
- Thirty minutes prior to laminating the dough, pound the 1 and 1/4 cups of butter until it is pliable. Your goal is to make the butter and the dough the same consistency, not necessarily the same temperature. The butter should be malleable so it can be extended between the layers of dough and so it can be folded.
- Between two pieces of parchment, roll out the butter into a 4-inch by 7-inch rectangle. It may help to draw out a rectangle on the parchment as a guideline. Smooth the rectangular butter with a rolling pin and refrigerate until needed.
- When ready, remove the dough from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured work surface. Using the rolling pin, shape the dough into a 5-inch by 12-inch rectangle.
- Take the butter block and place it on top of the dough, covering the top two thirds of the dough. If the butter is very hard, let it soften before going any further, about 5 minutes.
- Fold the uncovered dough over half of the butter. Using a dry brush, remove the excess flour from the dough. Fold the remaining third of the dough (covered with butter) over the previous fold, as if folding a business letter. Use a dry brush to remove the excess flour. Manipulate the dough if necessary to ensure that the butter is completely encased. It might help to press the dough along the edges to seal in the butter block.
- Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for a minimum of 15 minutes and no more than 30.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place it on a lightly floured work surface with the short end nearest you. Roll out the rectangle to a 5-inch by 12-inch rectangle. Fold the dough like a letter, brush off excess flour with a dry brush, wrap in plastic, and chill for 15 to 30 minutes. Repeat the folding process three more times. Once you are finished laminating the dough, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until further use. You did good.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Dust your work surface with flour and roll out the pastry until it is large enough to fit loosely over a 9-inch ovenproof frying pan. Prick the pastry well all over and lay it on a large plate and cover with plastic. Chill in the refrigerator to rest while you prepare the apples and sugar.
- Peel the apples, then cut in half from top to bottom and remove the cores.
- Melt the butter in the frying pan over medium heat. Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over it and cook gently for about 1 minute. Quickly arrange the apples, cut side up, in the pan and keep over medium heat, shaking the pan from time to time to ensure that the apples don't stick to the bottom. Pack the apples together tightly so that the tart holds its shape when you turn it over.
- Continue cooking gently and shaking the pan until the sugar turns to a rich caramel, about 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and rest it for 5 minutes.
- Remove the pastry from the refrigerator and lay it loosely over the top of the apples. It needs to be tucked in around the edge of the pan until it almost touches the caramel. The best way to do this without your fingers touching the caramel, which burns very badly, is to use the back of a spoon to nudge the pastry into place.
- Bake for about 30 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown--almost dark golden brown. Don't forget that when you flip the tart over after it is baked, the pastry is going to be the base holding the apples and caramel together, so it needs to be really well colored and crispy, otherwise it will become soggy with the juices from the apples.
- Remove the pan from the oven and leave to cool for about 1 minute. This lets the caramel set a little.
- Place a large plate over the pan and, holding both plate and pan firmly, turn them over together so that the tart is apple side up on the plate. You can serve the tart at room temperature, or warm.
- Pastry brush
- Food processor
- Ruler
- Rolling pin
- 9-inch skillet
- Dough scraper
- Large dessert plate
