A Five Ingredient Tart with Pedigree

I'd like to talk about a tart. Actually, I like to talk about many tarts, cakes, and doughs, which is the reason behind this space, but in this instance, let's focus on an apple galette.

I've made this apple tart countless times. At first I was intimidated by the Jacques Pepin, Alice Waters and Deb Perelman pedigree that the recipe has attached. I followed all steps to the letter (except Deb's glaze - ain't no one got time for that) - I arranged the apple slices in careful circles. I melted and brushed butter on the edges with a pastry brush. I even measured the sugar for the apple filling!

As one becomes familiar with recipes over time, things became much more relaxed. This is 5 ingredient dessert and once you make it once or twice with a recipe guiding you through, you should be able to give it a firm place in your repertoire. The apples will not be evenly cooked if you do not arrange them in circles, but I like the textural contrast of slightly caramelized top apples to the saucy situation underneath. What makes me come back to this over and over again is the comforting baked apple smell that comes from the oven, and that simple, vaguely sweet and intensely flaky pastry.

Essentially the dough is a pâte brisée sucrée. If my French serves me right, this is translated as 'broken sugared dough' and I think it's nice of the French to offer sugar after a beating. The beauty of not incorporating the butter fully into the flour becomes visible when you roll out the dough and the intact pieces of butter are stretched throughout the disk. Those little buggers melt in the oven, leaving behind pockets of air which make the dough so flaky that it verges on a puff pastry. 

I am not sure that I need to sell the finished product much. It is a warm, comforting tart, perfect for after dinner, as it can bake while you eat. It's also not a dessert that lingers. It rarely survives until the next morning as it's so light that a group of 3 or 4 will finish it easily and then wish there was more.

As a bonus, here is a video of the always charming Jacques Pepin making a version of the dough to use for simple fruit tarts and a the more complex Tarte Tatin.

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I will grudgingly admit that using a food processor for the dough does produce more consistent results, simply because you aren't working the dough as much and aren't overheating it. The butter stays in tiny pieces and you end up with flakier pastry. So while I continue working on my fork butter-mashing technique, please feel free to use a food processor.

Apple Tart
adapted from smittenkitchen, who adapted it from Alice Waters, who adapted it from Jacques Pepin, who is from France and therefore in touch with generations upon generations of French pastry chef spirits...

Dough:
1 cup (125 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) sugar
1/8 (otherwise known as a pinch) teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick or 85 grams) unsalted butter, just softened, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
3 1/2 tablespoons (50 ml) chilled water (or however much is needed to hold the dough together

Filling:
2 pounds (910 grams) apples (Golden Delicious or another tart, firm variety), peeled, cored, and sliced
Juice of half a lemon
5 tablespoons (65 grams) sugar (more or less based on sweetness or tartness of apples)

Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl; add 2 tablespoons of the butter. Blend in a mixer until dough resembles coarse cornmeal. Add remaining butter; mix until biggest pieces look like large peas. Alternatively, add the butter pieces to the bowl with the flour mixture and mash the butter into the flour with a dough until the same texture is achieved.

Dribble in water, stir, then dribble in more, until dough just holds together. Empty out dough onto a clean surface or a bowl and gently push the dough together into a ball. Flatten into a 4-inch-thick disk; refrigerate.

While dough is resting, slice the apples and place into a bowl with the lemon juice. Add the sugar to the apples and gently stir the apples to distribute the sugar evenly.

After at least 30 minutes, remove the dough from the fridge; let soften so it’s malleable but still cold. Smooth cracks at edges. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a 14-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Dust excess flour from both sides.

Place dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet if you wish to go free-form, or galette-style with it. Heat oven to 400°F.

Carefully place the apples into the middle of the dough disk, pushing them around to create as even a layer as possible while leaving a 2 inch edge of dough around the fruit. Gently fold the edges over the apples so that they are contained.

Brush melted butter over apples and onto dough edge or place small pieces of firm butter around tart.

Sprinkle some sugar over dough edge and apples.

Bake in center of oven until apples are soft, with browned edges, and crust has caramelized to a dark golden brown (about 45 minutes), making sure to rotate tart every 15 minutes.

Remove tart from oven, and slide off parchment onto cooling rack. Let cool at least 15 minutes.