Apple Tart

My favorite fruit, Apple! Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Fuji, McIntosh, Gala, Jonagold, Red Delicious... there are so many varieties and each has its own taste and texture... I love every apple.

Although any fresh apple is good to enjoy as it is, if you bake apple, you can even get the sweetness that is hidden inside the fruit. Thanksgiving is in a few days... why don't you bake an apple tart for a refreshing finish after the dinner. :)


Apple Tart

(Yield: one 6" or 8" tart / Cooking time: 2 hours*)
* 2 hours do not include 2-3 hours resting time for tart dough.


Ingredients:

Tart crust (Pâte sucrée)
+ 200g all-purpose flour
+ 100g very cold cubed butter
+ 30g sugar*
+ pinch of salt
+ 1 egg
+ ice water (if needed)

* If you do not add sugar to the dough, it is called "pâte brisée". Although I think pâte sucrée which has slight sweeter flavor than pâte brisée is better for this recipe because of the tartness from Granny Smith apple, you can always use pâte brisée instead of pâte sucrée for less sweet dessert. Pâte brisée means "broken dough", and pâte sucrée means "sweet dough".


Apple compote
+ 6-7 apples for a 6" tart (4-5 apples for compote, and 1 for tart top)*
+ 1-2 tsp water
+ (optional) 2 tsp sugar
+ (optional) 1 tsp cinnamon powder

* I prefer Granny Smith, but you can use pretty much any apple. If you bake 8-9" tart, you may need 6-8 apples for compote and three apples for the top.



Procedures:

Tart crust (Pâte sucrée)

1. Sift flour + salt + sugar, and cut icy butter into 0.5" cube. Not to make a flour mess in your kitchen, I recommend making the dough over a large parchment paper.


! TIP ! If you have food processor, you can just add the sifted flour mix and cubed butters to the food processor and give them a quick whirl. Then, add an egg and pulse the button a few times to make the dough. The following steps are the traditional way to form the dough with your hands getting dirty!

2-1. The keys to make a good tart crust are (1) not to overwork the dough* and (2) work fast and over cold surface not to melt the butter**. So, when you mix the butter into the flour, please do not use your hands at first, but mix it roughly with your pastry scraper.
2-2. When the butter is roughly incorporated with the flour, use your fingers to smash the butter pieces into small pieces quickly.
2-3. When the butter pieces are about the size of lentil, make a well.
2-4. Pour one beaten egg in the center of the well.



* The more you work the dough, more gluten is formed, and the gluten will result in hard chewy texture while tart shell should be flaky and crusty.

** The reason for using cold butter and being careful not to melt the butter: If you mix cold butter with flour, the butter doesn't melt into the flour - instead it forms very small butter pieces coated with flour. Those small pieces of butter melt away in baking and leave layers, which gives the flakiness to your tart shell. However, if you use warm butter, those "layers" are not going to form properly resulting in hard tart shell.


3. Combine the egg and flour+butter. First, start with your finger, incorporate the flour + butter mixture into the egg, then work the dough until it is homogeneous. Again! Be careful not to over work the dough. Add a few drops of ice water if the dough is too dry.

4. After mixing the dough, wrap it with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours ("resting"). If you don't use the dough right away, you can freeze the dough up to a few weeks. When you use the frozen dough, please take out the dough from the freezer and let it seat in room temperature for 15-20 minutes. If the dough is still too hard to work with, heat or push down the dough hard with a baking roller to make it softer.



Apple compote

1. Peel 4-5 apples, cut into chunks and pour into a wide pan. Add 1-2 tsp of water and cover the pan with parchment paper lid (so called "cartouche"). Cook over very low heat. Sprinkle 1tsp of cinnamon powder if you want. Check the compote frequently to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan and burns.


2. Cook about 15 minutes and taste if the apple compote needs more sweetness. Add 1 or 2 tsp of sugar if needed. If the compote has too much liquid, uncover the parchment paper so that the water can evaporate and the compote can be thick enough. Cool down to room temperature.


Assemble the tart and bake it!

1. Butter a tart pan and dust flour. Tap the tart pan to remove any excess flour. The inside of a pan should be thinly coated with butter and flour.


2. Place the coated tart pan in a freezer for 15 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 420°F. While tart pan is chilling in a freezer, take out the tart dough from fridge, and roll into a round shape, 1/8" (~3mm) thick. If you roll over a plastic wrap, it is much easier to flip the dough to tart pan.


4. Flip the rolled dough over a chilled tart pan.


5. Trim the edges, and poke the center with fork. These holes will let through evaporating water and prevent the dough from rising too much. Place the tart pan in a freezer and rest for 30 minutes.


6. Fill the chilled tart pan with cooled apple compote.


7. Peel an apple and core out the center. Cut through the apple in half and slice into 2mm thin.


8. Cover the top of the tart with apple slices.


9. Bake in preheated (420°F) oven for 10 minutes. Then, lower the heat to 350°F and bake another 35-40 minutes until the tart dough and apple slices are golden brown. I baked a small 6" tart. If your tart is 8-9", you may need to bake another 10-15 minutes.


10. Cool the tart to room temperature. Brush the tart with apricot glaze for finishing. Serve at room temperature or a little bit warm, with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.


Enjoy~