TWD: French Apple Tart

Having flipped through the pages of Baking with Julia for years, this is one of those recipes that I longed to make but just never got to it until now. I bought a bag of granny smiths and had four others in my refrigerator as these are a go-to-snack for Nathan before his indoor soccer games.




I like making this flaky pastry crust by hand.  It is really easy in the food processor but sometimes it's just fun to get messy.




I made the filling using the six apples as suggested.  I happen to have a deeper tart pan so I ended up having to make a second batch of the filling. Good thing that I bought that whole bad of granny smiths.  The ones I had were not that big so in the end I was not too surprised I needed to use more.  Apple slices were also getting eaten by Sarah and her friend!




I used rice (no dried beans in the house) to blind bake the crust.




I was running low on apples.  I hoped that the two I had left would do the trick and miraculously it did.  I was not able to make that nice center piece but I think it still came out nice.




I had to bake my tart for about 45 minutes because of the extra amount of filling.  




I love when I get to use this plate.  My mom bought it ages ago on the Cape in Brewster, MA at a shop called Snydenstriker (http://www.sydenstricker.com/) that makes pressed glass dishes and platters.  This one has this beautiful yet simple peacock feather pattern.  When we were teenagers, it drove my brother and I crazy to have to stop every year at this place.  She would spend what felt like hours there.  I appreciate it now.




We served the tart only slightly warm with a dollop of whipped cream.  It was wonderfully tart.  Sarah loved the crust as she does with all pie. Nathan had eaten too much dinner as usual so loved it but could not finish.  Jason is not a sweet tooth so for him so this was perfect.  I would make this again and serve with homemade vanilla bean ice cream.  I love the mashed apple layer.  I like apple pie when the apples are really soft.  This tart is beautiful and hits the right balance of sweet and tart.



Looking forward to celebrating next month which will be the one-year mark participating in this baking group!

Cheers,
Broad Brook Baker

TWD: Pizza with Onion Confit

Take two.  For anyone who did not read our post from last time, we made the wrong recipe. I'm glad that we went ahead to make this pizza. The sponge and dough had a great yeasty smell.  Sarah tried the sponge and asked me if there was lemon juice in it.  It had a wonderful almost sourdough taste; it also smelled like when we make homemade beer. God, I love making bread.







Jason is usually the pizza maker in the family.  It was a great switch for me and the kids to be in charge.



Sarah made her pizza with pepperoni and mushroom; her secret is putting most the cheese under the toppings and then only a little on top.  Nathan's recipe has double cheese with extra seasoning.

Instead of the onion confit (which did not appeal this weekend probably because I made it last weekend for the Onion Tart) I used thinly sliced onion.  I added chopped herb de Provence olives, goat cheese, and mozzarella cheese.



I loved the texture of the crust.  It was chewy and delicate.  NY style crust it was not but there is a huge role for this kind of pizza crust in my life.

Cheers,
Broad Brook Bakers

TWD: Oh my, the wrong recipe - not Pizza with Onion Confit

Well not the most optimal Tuesdays with Dorie start for me in 2013.  I made the wrong recipe - totally my own careless fault.  I remembered the onion part, clearly not the pizza versus tart part when I read the January recipes. I feel at this point the best I can do is post what I made and then go and bake the Pizza this weekend. It's really kind of amusing, I finished the tart at about 10:30 pm this evening.  After watching the premiere of Justified, I proceed to start my posting.  I pull up TWD and instantly notice that our host's recipe looks starkly different then mine.  Then I notice the Pizza with Onion Confit title.  Wait a minute, that sounds vaguely familiar.  I made the Alsatian Onion Tart. Oh my.







Until this weekend......
Cheers,
Broad Brook Baker