Spoiler alert: If you haven't watched pastry week, stop reading now!
The Baking Show mythos makes pastry seem scary and intimidating. It might be near Halloween, but pastry shouldn’t scare you. Making pastry actually calms me down. Alongside bread, it’s the discipline I enjoy the most. I have memorized recipes and ratios for flaky pastry and shortcrust. Once you have a solid pastry recipe down, you can make a stunning galette, pie, tart, or hand pie out of any fruit, vegetable, meat, or other filling you can think of. I am known to save all of my pastry scraps, often to assemble them into a savory dinner pastry made with random food in my refrigerator.
Watching this episode just made me hungry…and want to make pastry.
Hot Takes
Pastry is a baking fundamental and it should definitely come before chocolate week. Most folks learn to make pastry well before they learn to temper chocolate.
Savory pies are the best. America, we need more savory pies (beyond chicken pot pie)!
Favorite Bakes
Picnic pies: I would eat all of these! They sounded so tasty. The signature challenge made me want to hop in my kitchen and make a pie. I have two of those little football-shaped mini pie molds (like Nicky used) that I bought while in the UK. I’m dreaming of leek, mushroom, and honeynut squash number.
Potato Pithivier, yes please! Carb-on-carb plus onions and cheese = heaven in crust.
Josh's showstopper had flavors that fascinated me. Pineapple and apricot!?!
For Heaven's Sake
Rowan, you entertain me to no end, but how in the world did you ever think that those pies would come out of their tins? Shortcrust is not known to be sturdy, especially when it’s not blind baked and has a raw, wet filling inside
Speaking of taking pies out of their tins, now y'all know why Americans leave our pies in the pans.
"Rough puff" pastry: There are many ways to make a quick version of puff pastry. My go-to flaky pastry does the trick and it does not involve grating frozen butter. Grating frozen butter is annoying and dangerous. Exhibit A: Dan grating his knuckles. Been there, Dan.
It takes a long time to fully bake a pie and then let it cool enough for fillings to set. It's a hard thing to do within those time constraints.
I’ll miss Rowan's hilarious one liners. I'll miss everything about Nicky in the tent. She's a fantastic baker with the best attitude and penchant for hilarity. Plus, I am a sucker for Scottish accents. What characters! Now we must protect Saku at all costs.
Onward to the recipe!
I knew exactly what I wanted to make this week. I was craving a bit of custard with tons of freshly grated nutmeg. The marriage of creamy vanilla custard with fragrant nutmeg really comforts me.
Classic Custard Tart
Adapted from various sources.
I'm not British, but I love custard like they do. And when I think of classic British pastry, I think of a custard tart. Crisp buttery pastry filled with a creamy set custard flavored with aromatic vanilla and nutmeg, this tart tastes like a blanket feels: warm, cozy, and perfect for a rainy fall day.
This simple recipe gets you started on pastry. No machinery necessary: just use your hands. Yes, you have to blind bake it—no soggy bottoms here. And yes, only freshly grated nutmeg will do.
Makes one 9-inch round tart.
For the shortcrust pastry
180 g (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
20 g almond flour*
40 g powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
113g (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cubed
1 large egg, separated
1-2 teaspoons water
*If you have a nut allergy, simply swap out the almond flour for 20 g (about 1 Tablespoon) all-purpose flour.
For the custard filling
227 g (1 cup) heavy cream
227 g (1 cup) whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla paste
8 large egg yolks
100g (1/2 cup) sugar
Pinch of salt
About 1/2 of a whole nutmeg (a generous 1/2 teaspoon), for grating on top
To a mixing bowl, add the flour, almond flour, powdered sugar, and salt then whisk to combine. Add the cubed butter and rub it in with your fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs. Separate the egg. Whisk together the egg yolk and 1 teaspoon of water, then add that to the pastry. Stir the pastry with a fork, then get in with your hands and gently knead the pastry until it comes together when you squeeze it gently. If it doesn't hold together add another 1-2 teaspoons of water and knead briefly until it holds together. Put the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, and pat it into a 1/4-inch-thick disk. Wrap it up and chill in the refrigerator until firm, about 2 hours (or up to 2 days).
Heat the oven to 350F with a rack on the middle of the oven. When your pastry is chilled, flour your counter, the dough, and your rolling pin. Roll out the dough to a 12-inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer the pastry to a loose-bottomed (he he) 9-inch tart pan. I like to do this by folding the edges of dough up towards the middle, then sliding the "loose-bottom part" of the tart pan under the dough. Then I lift the bottom back into the tart pan, and unfold the dough. Press the dough into the pan, patching up any cracks with scraps of dough. Trim off the excess pastry from the edges. (Gather the pastry scraps, wrap them up, and keep them in the refrigerator to patch any holes in the pastry case later. Never toss pastry scraps.) Chill the tart shell in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. (This rest helps prevent shrinkage and firms up the pastry.)
Take the pastry from the refrigerator. (If it's not fully firm, freeze the pastry for 10 minutes.) Line the pastry with aluminum foil (with enough overhang to use as handles to remove later), then fill the foil with dried beans. Blind bake the tart case at 350F for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and beans, then bake another 8-12minutes, until the the pastry is evenly light brown and matte. (You want the pastry to be fully cooked and a bit browned, because the custard cooks at a low temperature.) While the pastry is baking, beat the leftover egg white with a pinch of salt. After the pastry is fully baked, remove it from the oven. If there are any cracks or gaps, take tiny bits of leftover pastry and patch it up. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg white and bake the tart for another 1-2 minutes, until shiny and dry to the touch. This egg white acts as a barrier between the pastry and the custard filling. Once the tart case is baked, set it on a baking sheet for the next step.
As the pastry is baking, make the custard. Add the cream, milk, and vanilla extract to a small saucepan and turn to medium heat. In a 4-cup heat-proof measuring cup (or a heat-proof bowl with a spout), add the egg yolks. Whisk the egg yolks while slowly adding the sugar, then whisk for another 20-30 seconds. Add the salt and whisk to combine. When the milk is steaming at a bare simmer (you will see little bubbles around the edge of the pan), turn off the heat. Slowly pour the hot dairy into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Your custard is ready.
The best way to fill the tart is by pouring the custard into the tart while it's on the oven rack. Otherwise it's really easy for the filling to slosh out on its way to the oven. Pull the oven rack partway out of the oven and set the tart on the rack. Slowly pour the custard into the blind-baked crust. Fill it up as high as you can. You may not need every last drop of the custard. (If you have a kitchen torch, you can ignite it and very briefly run it over the top of the custard to pop any bubbles. But that’s a bit extra.) Grate a generous 1/2 teaspoon (or more, if you love nutmeg like I do) of nutmeg directly onto the top of the tart. Very carefully push the oven rack back in, trying not to slosh the filling.
Reduce the oven temperature to 275F, and bake for 30-40 minutes. The center of the tart should wobble, not wave. It should jiggle like jelly, not flow a water bed. Take the tart out of the oven and let cool completely. Carefully remove the tart from the pan and serve. This is best the same day, but also delicious on the second day. If not eating right away, chill in the refrigerator. (I actually like to eat it straight from the refrigerator...)
Happy Baking,
Martin