Plum Creme Patissiere Brioche Tart

Paul Lynch
Cakes

From addmorebutter.com.

Ingredients

Brioche recipe (makes brioche for two tarts)

  • 260g strong white bread flour
  • pinch salt
  • 25g caster sugar
  • 7g instant yeast
  • 70ml warm milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 125g unsalted butter, room temperature
  • zest of one orange

Creme Patissiere (for one tart)

  • 40g caster sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 20g cornflour
  • 250ml milk
  • 1 vanilla pod
  • 1 small cinnamon stick
  • 20g unsalted butter

To finish (for one tart)

  • 6-8 ripe plums (approx 550g), cored and cut into 4 slices
  • handful of roasted flaked almonds
  • 100g apricot jam, to glaze

Directions

To make the Brioche dough and Creme Patissiere the night before:

Place the flour, salt and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Combine the three ingredients and then add in the yeast. Add in the milk and eggs. Mix these on medium speed for 5-8 minutes until the dough is glossy and elastic. With the mixer still on medium speed, add in the orange zest and softened butter in small chunks until it is all incorporated. Continue to mix the dough for another 5 minutes until it is smooth and soft.

Tip the dough into a greased bowl, cover with cling film and chill in the fridge overnight.

To make the creme patissiere: Place the milk and cinnamon stick into a saucepan and onto medium heat. Split the vanilla pod in half lengthways and scrape the seeds into the milk with the empty pod. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg yolks and cornflour.

Once the milk has just come to the boil, remove the vanilla pod and cinnamon stick. Pour half of it over the egg yolks and whisk in immediately. Add this mix into the rest of the hot milk and place back onto the heat. Whisking continuously, the mix will begin to thicken and bubble. Once the mix starts to bubble, whisk for another 30 seconds and take the creme off the heat.

Whisk in the butter until it has melted. Spoon the creme into a bowl and cover with cling film (make sure the cling film is actually touching the surface of the creme to stop a skin forming.) Leave to chill in the fridge until needed.

To assemble the tart the next day:

Line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Take your brioche dough out of the fridge and tip it onto a lightly floured kitchen counter. Punch down the dough a few times to knock out the air. Split the dough into two equal pieces (see notes.) Use one piece for your tart and see notes to use the second.

Shape the dough into a ball and roll out into a 23cm circle. Move to the baking tray. Spoon on your creme patissiere from the fridge (you may not need all of it) and spread it in a thin layer on top of the brioche, making sure to leave a border around the edge.

Cover with a clean plastic bag, making sure it doesn’t touch the creme and prove for 2 hours.

Pre-heat your oven to 200C.

Once the brioche is proved, remove the plastic bag. Arrange your plum slices on top of the brioche tart in a circle. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

To Finish the tart:

Warm the apricot jam with a little water in a saucepan until hot and liquid. Using a pastry brush, coat the top of the tart so that it’s shiny and glazed. Sprinkle on your roasted almonds and serve warm.

Notes

This brioche recipe makes 2 tarts. The reason for this is that it’s impossible to make a smaller amount of dough in a stand mixer as the dough hook wouldn’t reach. The recipe I am giving makes enough brioche dough for 2 tarts but the rest of the recipe is for one tart as I think its unlikely you guys are going to make 2. However, if you wish to make two, double the creme patissiere recipe and plums.

I would recommend making the full amount of dough, making two tarts or making one tart and using the remaining dough to make a brioche loaf or individual rolls. You can attempt to make half the brioche recipe by hand, however its very messy and can take a long time to work the dough.