Tarts, Tarts and More Tarts…….
The first month at school was admittedly quite difficult for me. Baking at home is one thing and baking in a professional environment is a completely different ball game altogether. The tools that you use, the quantity in which you make things was a little intimidating at first for me. 🙂 Nevertheless, I was quite excited and it has been a fun, hectic and hard first month for me.
We started off with tarts and it continued for a good two weeks. We were taught the traditional techniques that French use to make the different doughs, line tart rings etc. And I think it would be appropriate to skip the recipes and share with you interesting facts or techniques that I learn at school!
We started with the basic PATE A FONCER (shortcrust dough).We made only the TARTE AUX POMMES(apple pie) with this dough.
The French use the “SABLAGE” technique (taken from the verb Sabler which can be interpreted as Sand-like).
The flour and the fat (butter, chopped) must be rubbed together lightly until the texture is sand-like. If you over work the dough, the butter melts and you get crumbles. This means the dough shrinks while rolling and after being baked.
The next dough is the PATE SUCRÉE(sweet dough) and we made quite a lot of French classics with this one. The major difference between both the above doughs is the content of sugar. As the sweet dough has more sugar it is more sweet and less elastic than the shortcrust dough. Hence, it is difficult to roll out compared to the shortcrust dough as well.
2 techniques to knead the dough. One, is sablage as explained earlier. The second method is CREMAGE where the butter, sugar and eggs are creamed first and the flour is added thereafter.
Once the dough comes together, the dough needs to be smoothed by the technique called FRASAGE. Form your dough into a log and using a scraper, start to scrape the dough from one in small quantity until all of the dough is smooth. Must be done a maximum of 2 times only.
One the dough is done, it MUST be left in the refrigerator to rest as the gluten gets relaxed and it is easier to roll out the dough.
Technique to Line the TART :
1. roll out the dough and place over the ring.
2. Create a base by pushing the dough in with your thumb.
3. Push in some dough by your thumb at the top to create an edge
4. Crop off the extra dough.
5. Pinch the edges to decorate.
Apart from the usual apple, lemon, chocolate tarts we also made some different ones like the Tarte Dacquoise, Victoria Tart. The Tart Dacquoise has a baked dacquoise( it is a mixture of meringue and almond flour) base, topped with vanilla cream and topped with tropical fruits. Whereas the Victoria tart has a sweet dough tart base blind baked, filled with sauteed pineapple cubes, topped with pineapple cream frozen disc, decorated with praline cream.
These were my least preferred tarts :
The tarts that I loved the most :
Tarte Amandine : Sweet dough tart baked with almond cream, topped with almond flakes.
Tarte Citron : Sweet dough tart with lemon curd and confit lemon slices.
Tarte Bourdaloue : Sweet dough tart baked with almond cream and sliced pears.
Tarte Au Figues : Sweet dough baked with almond cream and sliced figs.
Next Post : Puff Pastry 🙂
Although late, I am still taking these tarts over at Angie’s Fiesta Friday! 🙂
PS: Apologies for the disastrous photos!
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Beautiful picture! Thanks for sharing 🙂
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Aww. thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂
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Thanks a lot for the tip, I’ve appreciated the pictures for lining a tart ring!
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Thank you Linda! 🙂
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Thank you so much Margherita!
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Yummy my friend :).very appetizing 🙂
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Thank you so much!
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Everything looks so yummy !! I think your photos look great! You’ve made so many tarts 😱. Something I could never do! Your so amazing ! My favorites were the Tarte Au Pommes, and Tarte Citron.
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Thank you Ummey! I know, we had an overdoes of tarts and I don’t even like tarts! hehe
My fav is the tarte citron as well.. the French eat way too many apples and use way too much alcohol in their desserts!! phew…
But it’s so much fun.. 🙂
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nice! congrats on ferrandi, if the curriculum is anything like le cordon bleu, you’ll be sablage-ing and frasage-ing quite a bit 🙂
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Thank you so much! It is pretty much intensive and we do focus a lot on the fundamentals.. 🙂
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Amazing job, Radhika 🙂 You’re so lucky to learn these culinary technique, don’t forget to visit Paris and continue to have fun 😉
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Thank you so much Linda. It is quite a lot of hard work!
Oh yes, I have such a limited period of time here..must make the most of it 😀
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This looks amazing! Would love to try the Tarte Au Figues someday as the almond cream sounds delicious!!
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It is delicious! The french use way too many almonds 😉
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The tarts are beautiful works of art 🙂
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Aww… Thanks so much 🙂
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Gorgeous works of art ,( oops ) tart 🙂
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Hehe! Thanks for your lovely words! 🙂
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What fun that must be to be able to use proper kitchen equipment, and make so many different pies all in a go without having to eat all of them. I would choose the fig one first, the citron second, although they all look luscious. Your photos look very good, especially the apple one. Thanks for sharing all your techniques with us.
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I was a bit scared initially but it is fun indeed! I don’t even make a face when I have to do the dishes! Lol
I loved the citron one as well 🙂 thanks for stopping by and your precious feedback. Have a nice week ahead! 🙂
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This looks super cool. You’re having fun, so happy for ya ❤ ❤
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Thank you Charu!! 😀
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Thank you for sharing these nuggets of information. 🙂
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It is my pleasure 😃. Thanks for taking the time to go through my post dear 🙂
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Wow!! It must be so much fun learning all of these. How was the ‘Tarte Au Chocolate’ though? 🙂
Tarte Citron looks A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.
Hope you have a great learning time at Ferrandi 🙂
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It is a lot of fun indeed Bhakti. I love every moment of it..well almost 😉 the chocolate tart was below par, disappointing 😞. On the other hand the lemon tart was mind blowing. I loved it! Thanks for your wishes 🙂
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hehe
🙂
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Have fun Radhika 🙂 nice to know so many techniques!!! Yeah home baking is different from these huge level baking in pastry 🙂 Enjoy your time 🙂
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Thanks Malar!! It is very different indeed! 🙂
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Ohhh you really made me hungry!!! I hope one day I can try your tarts 😀
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Hehe….. Yes. Why not, it’s a small world after all 😊
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Hahaha true!!! Maybe I will visit Paris while you are there 😃
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That would be super fun! 🙂
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Yes it would! I would love to meet you in person 😀
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I feel the same way 🙂
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🙂
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