brioche plum tart.

I'm having so much fun with my new camera. At the very least, I don't have to worry about the focus. I love that technique where the subject is in focus while the background is blurred. It's so hard to achieve that with a normal digital camera. But, with better pictures now, I'm extremely indecisive. It's so hard to pick just that few! So please bear with me when you see some repeats.

The brioche dough was easy to work with, probably because it's a "poor man's brioche". The smaller quantity of butter made it the easiest brioche I've ever worked with. No extra flour needed. Nope. Nada. And there's no stress because it rose beautifully, unlike some doughs where I had to sweat buckets in panic because there's only 0.1% change in volume from 3 hours ago or something like that.

Usually, you'd pair a fruit with it's respective jam, but I bought plums and used strawberry jam instead because I had no plum jam. It was fine, but I wonder how plum jam would taste like? The recipe said to bake the tart until it's brown and sounded hollow when tapped, but with my past experience with breads, especially sweet breads, it's much better to stop baking it before it turns such a deep brown because that means the inside would be quite dry. That certainly was the case with this tart (the parts of the brioche that weren't in contact with the fruit were dry and cakey) so I would underbake it next time- just till it shows a little hint of brown, so that the inside would be soft and moist.

Although, doing so would sacrifice the crunchy outer crust. If you're not going to eat it after more than 1 hour out of the oven, however, I'd suggest sticking the underbaking.

I paired it with some creme anglaise I made yesterday. Oh yeah.

Brioche Plum Tart

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/3 cup whole milk, just warm to the touch

2 cups all purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

pinch of salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

about 14 ripe plums, preferably italian prune plums

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped walnuts, almonds

3 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup plum jam

To make brioche: Put the yeast and warm milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and stir until the yeast is dissolved.  Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl, and fit the mixer with the dough hook, if you have one.  Working on low speed, mix for a minute or two, just to get the ingredients together.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 7 – 10 minutes, stopping a few times to scrape down the bowl and the hook, until the dough is stretchy and fairly smooth.  The dough will seem fairly thin, more like a batter than a dough, and it may not be perfectly smooth – that is fine.

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place until nearly doubled in size, 30 – 40 minutes.

Deflate the dough by lifting it up around the edges and letting it fall with a slap into the bowl.  Cover the bowl again with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator.  Slap the dough down in the bowl every 30 minutes until it stops rising, about 2 hours.  Then if you’ve got the time, leave the dough in the refrigerator overnight – it will be tastier for the wait.

To Make The Tart: This tart looks prettiest when it’s made in a fluted pan.  You can use either a 9-inch metal tart pan with a removable base or a porcelain baking dish, the kind sometimes called a quiche pan.  Generously butter the pan.

Press the chilled dough into the bottom of the pan and up the sides – don’t worry if it’s not even.  Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

While the dough is in the refrigerator, prepare the filling.  Halve and pit the plums.  If you are using large plums, cut each half into 2 or 3 slices.  Set aside.  Toss the chopped nuts with the sugar and set aside.

Remove the tart pan from the fridge and push and press the dough up the sides of the pan.  Spoon the jam onto the dough and spread it over the bottom.  Arrange the plums cut side down in a concentric circles covering the jam.  Scatter over the nut mixture, and cover the tart lightly with a piece of plastic wrap.  Place the tart on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat and let it rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Uncover the tart and bake for 20 minutes.  Cover it loosely with a foil tent to prevent the crust from getting too dark, and continue baking for another 10 minutes, or until the fruit juices are bubbling and the crust is firm and beautifully browned – it will sound hollow when tapped.  Transfer the tart to a rack to cool at least 45 minutes before serving.


Linked to Sweets for a Saturday.