Sunday 21 April 2013

Egg Tarts and French Almond Tarts

We make the simple crust, not the layer crust.

Ingredients:

Short Crust Pastry
400g flour
100g butter
100g margarine
100g sugar
50g egg (1egg)
pinch of salt

Egg Custard
eggs and water same quantity
5 eggs (50g each)
250g water
120g sugar
milk powder

Method:

Short crust pastry
1. Preheat oven to 180c - 185c.

2. Butter and margarine must be at room temperature because they need to be incorporated into the flour as quickly as possible. If it is too cold, you will have to rub it in for twice as long; the fat will become oily with the warmth of your hands and the pastry will be difficult to roll out.

3. Sift the flour and a pinch of salt, holding the sieve high above the bowl, so that as much air as possible is incorporated.

4.  Cut the butter and margarine into small lumps and add to the flour. Using a knife, cut the butter and margarine into the flour. Go on doing this until it looks fairly evenly blended, then begin to rub the fat into the flour using only your fingertips and being as light and gentle as possible.

5. As you lightly rub the fat into the flour, lift it up high and let it fall back down into the bowl, which again means that air is being incorporated all the time, and air is what makes pastry light. Speed is also what's needed here.  If the fat becomes oily because the rubbing-in takes longer and everything is too warm, what happens is it coats more flour grains than it should. This means the flour is unable to absorb enough water and the pastry will crumble and be difficult to roll out.

6. Add in eggs slowly.

7.  Then, with a knife, start bringing the dough together, cutting and turning to make it start to cling together. Then discard the knife and bring it all together with your fingertips. All the bits of flour and fat should be incorporated and the pastry should leave the bowl completely clean.

Egg custard
1. Light beat eggs and water and sugar and milk powder together.

2. When sugar has dissolved, sift egg through strainer.

3. spoon the egg custard into the tarts.

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