Monday, September 5, 2011

Almond Pear Tart


Crust:
1 1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, frozen and cut into small cubes
2 eggs, yolks
5 tablespoons icy cold water
Pinch salt

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it resembles bread crumbs. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll out pastry dough. Place in a prepared 12 inch by 12 inch tart pan or similar, making sure to also cover sides. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

Preheat oven to 325 F.
Filling:
1 1/2 cups almond flour/meal
1 1/4 cups cake flour
2 cups superfine sugar
4 eggs
175 grams butter, softened
Pinch of salt
2 ripe pears (any kind)

Mix butter and sugar with an electric beater to combine (about 30 seconds). Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Fold in almond meal and cake flour. Spread the filling smoothly over the pastry base.

Peel and halve the pears lengthways and remove the cores. Cut pears crosswise into about 1/8 inch slices, then place each half on top of the tart to form pattern of your choice.

Bake for about 50-60 minutes or until the filling has set. Cool in the pan, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. 


2 comments:

robyn webb said...

Hi Mia...I absolutely love your recipes and my favourites file is full of them. Please tell me what cake flour is. Self Raising or Plain Flour. Keep up the good work.

Mia said...

Cake flour is a low protein flour that is made from soft winter wheat. It has a protein content of about 8% and is usually bleached, which gives it a very fine texture and a very light color. Because it has such a fine texture, cake flour should be sifted before incorporating it into a recipe to prevent clumping.

As the name suggests, cake flour is great for making cakes and other baked goods because it gives you a very tender result. This is because it has such a low protein content compared to other flours (all purpose is usually around 10%) and less gluten forms when you mix it into a batter, producing a cake with a fine, soft, even crumb.

If you can't find cake flour all purpose will work too.

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