Tarte Tropezienne Part 2 Of 2 – Recipe

Recipe by: Author Unknown

To make the dough: (makes one tarte about 12 – 14″ in diameter):

* Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk and let it proof for a few
minutes. * Knead the butter to soften it. * Put the flour into a mixing
bowl and add in the salt, sugar and the
lightly beaten eggs. * Mix together and then add in the yeast and milk
mixture. Then incorporate
the butter. Knead for at least 5 minutes. * Put the dough in a large
mixing bowl, cover it and let it rise for about
2 hours. * Then punch down and mold the dough into a large tarte
pan. Cover and let
it rise one hour. * Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush the top of the
dough with the egg
yolk that has been mixed with 2 drops of water. Sprinkle the top with the
crystallized sugar and bake for 30 – 35 minutes at 350 degrees F.

To make the pastry cream:

* Put the milk and the vanilla bean, which has been cut lengthwise, into an
enamel (or non-reactive metal) pan. * Bring to a slight boil and remove
from the heat to let the vanilla bean
infuse the milk. * During this infusion time, separate the eggs, keeping
the yolks. Put the
whites in a separate bowl and save for another use. In a mixer, beat the
egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy (5 min.). Add the sifted
flour, beating lightly until all the flour is incorporated. * Remove the
vanilla bean from the milk. Scrape out the seeds and put back
into the milk (to give a stronger vanilla flavor). * Add milk to the
egg/flour mixture gradually. * Cook this mixture at high heat, stirring
continuously to prevent sticking
and burning on the bottom until the mixture becomes very thick and
difficult to stir. This should take about 2 minutes. * After the pastry
cream is cooked, put it into a clean bowl. Before the
cream has cooled all the way down, add butter which has been kneaded to
soften. Beat the mixture energetically by hand or with a mixer. *
Refrigerate until ready to use.

Final assembly:

* Cut the brioche tarte in half horizontally. * Spread the pastry cream on
the bottom layer. * Arrange halved strawberries or raspberries on the cream
layer and replace
the final top layer of the brioche. * Refrigerate until served.

Note:

* Baker’s crystallized sugar: This is a special kind of “puffed” sugar used
is French pastries. It looks like “rice crispies” and has about the same
light texture and crunch. It’s very difficult to find this type of sugar,
but worth the effort to make your Tarte Trop?zienne look authentic. The
only luck I’ve had in San Francisco is buying some from a local French
bakery.

(one tarte serves 8)