“Standing in the middle of nowhere, wondering how to begin . . . . ” Do you know the Kinks song, “Do it Again“? I wonder if Ray Davies wrote that song about making a crust with a removable bottom tart pan? I bet he maybe made the same mistake I did, and pulled it out of the oven by that removable bottom, and sent it crashing on the floor in a million pieces. He was probably very upset about it, and wrote a song about it. I mean, to me, “lost between tomorrow and yesterday” so clearly describes the feeling of loss of all that time making the crust, and knowing that you will not be able to bake the new one until tomorrow, because you have to allow for six hours refrigeration time.
I realized all this after my big “break,” as I stood there in the middle of my kitchen and pressed play on the Kinks, wondering how I was going to pick up all the pieces of this crumbled, cookie crust. Normally, I would skip straight to this song, but at that moment, Ray spoke to me. He actually sang to me, and I realized the only thing left to do is go back where we started, and “do it again, do it again.”
In honor of the upcoming July 4th holiday, I went with the old red, white, and blue theme, but you could employ any fresh berries for this tart. I used the Sweet Cookie Tart Crust from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Pie and Pastry Bible, which is an amazing cookbook with detailed instructions that exemplify expertise that I could only dream to have. The crust and custard for this tart may be made in advance, leaving you plenty of time to scope out a good fireworks viewing spot, read a copy of the Declaration of Independence, or maybe just to give you enough time to risk a break, and to do it again.
Recipe for Berry Tart
For the Crust, (adapted from The Pie and Pastry Bible, by Rose Levy Beranbaum):
1 1/2 scant cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
1 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons heavy cream
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. With a pastry blender, combine the cold butter with the flour mixture until it reaches the consistency of a course meal.
In a small bowl, stir the egg yolk and cream together. Again with the pastry blender, combine the egg mixture with the flour and butter mixture, until the dough is blended enough to form a ball. (If the dough is too dry to form a ball, you can drizzle a small amount (use 1/4 teaspoon increments) of cream over the mixture to moisten it.)
Flatten the ball to a disc shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. If you refrigerate the dough longer than 30 minutes, it may crack when you roll it out, so you will need to allow it to soften a bit before rolling, or patch it together after rolling.
Grease and flour the bottom of a 9 1/2 by 1-inch tart pan with a removable bottom.
Between two pieces of plastic wrap, roll the dough into a circle large enough to fit your tart pan (for a 9 1/2 by 1-inch pan, the dough needs to be about 11 1/2 inches in diameter). Transfer the dough to the tart pan. For me, the easiest method is to remove the top layer of plastic wrap, place a rolling pin in the center of the dough circle, fold the dough over the rolling pin, remove the bottom layer of plastic wrap, and then move the rolling pin over the tart pan and gently lower the dough into the pan.
Here, I like to press the dough on the sides of the tart pan so that it rises about 1/8-inch above the top of the pan.
This way, when you bake the crust, it will shrink to about even with the top of the pan.
Refrigerate the dough in the tart pan for 6 hours, or overnight. If you refrigerate the crust for this long, you do not need to bake with pie weights.
When you are ready to bake the crust, place a rack in the lower third of the oven, and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork to prevent the dough from puffing. Bake the crust on the lower rack at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Lower the oven to 375 degrees, and bake the crust for 12-15 minutes until it is lightly golden. Prick the crust as necessary to prevent puffing.
Remove the crust from the oven and cool.
For the Pastry Cream, (adapted from Joy of Cooking (1997 edition), by Rombauer, Becker, and Becker):
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 large egg yolks
1 1/3 cups milk
2 inch portion of vanilla bean (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
In a medium bowl, beat the sugar, flour, cornstarch, and egg yolks until they are thick and pale yellow (about 2 minutes). In a medium saucepan, combine the milk and vanilla bean (or extract), and heat over medium heat until it reaches a simmer. Remove the vanilla bean, scraping out any flesh that has not combined with the milk.
Stir about 1/2 of a cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture. Then pour the egg mixture back into the pan with the milk mixture and cook over medium heat, whisking and scraping to prevent burning, until the mixture forms a thick custard and begins to bubble. After the mixture starts to bubble, whisk for 30 seconds more, then remove from the heat and pour (optionally through a strainer) into a clean bowl.
Allow to cool slightly, then cover the custard with a piece of plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for up to 2 days.
To Assemble the Tart:
12 large strawberries, rinsed, dried, and sliced
1/3 cup blueberries, rinsed and dried
Spread the pastry cream in an even layer in the bottom of the tart pan. Starting from the outside, arrange the strawberries in a circular pattern on top of the custard. Arrange the blueberries on top of the strawberries.
Unmold the tart after it has been assembled. Gently lift up on the bottom of the tart pan and pull down on the sides to remove the side part of the pan. To remove the bottom, gently slip a sharp knife between the pan bottom and the tart bottom. With a thin spatula, gently lift up the tart and remove the pan bottom.
