Apple Tart - pastry problem

kweeveen86

Hi everyone,

I found a lovely apple tart recipe that gives great results...with one big problem.

The top layer of pastry firms up a lot and the mound of apples in the filling shrinks down significantly, so there is always a big gap between filling and pie crust. (See attached photo).

I put in loads of air holes last time I baked it but it had no effect. The pastry is a shortcrust-style one - contains two egg yolks snd some icing sugar, if that's of any significance.

Would appreciate any help/ advice people might be able to give.

Thanks!

kweeveen86

Don't think photo attached properly first time...? Apologies if it did!

Do you precook the apples? Steam from cooking apples is usually the cause of emptyness

splinter65

kweeveen86 wrote: »

Don't think photo attached properly first time...? Apologies if it did!

To me that pastry isn’t “short” enough. There’s not enough fat in it. 8oz flour 4oz butter (or 2 oz butter 2oz Cookeen) 2 beaten eggs 1 1/2oz castor sugar and enough water to bind.

kweeveen86

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Do you precook the apples? Steam from cooking apples is usually the cause of emptyness

Hi LorenzoB. There's no pre-cooking, no. They get soaked in sugar for a while beforehand which rids them of a lot of moisture. Probably not enough of it though!

I'd just be afraid that pre-cooking would ruin their texture and cause them to go completely mushy. ..?

kweeveen86

splinter65 wrote: »

To me that pastry isn’t “short” enough. There’s not enough fat in it. 8oz flour 4oz butter (or 2 oz butter 2oz Cookeen) 2 beaten eggs 1 1/2oz castor sugar and enough water to bind.

Hi. Here's the mix recipe:

225g/8oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting

2 tbsps icing sugar

100g/4oz butter

2 large egg yolks

2 - 3 tbsps cold water to bind

Lady Haywire

I use a similar pastry to my tarts but never have or had any issue like that. My opinion would be the tin you're using is causing it, I've always used a plain enamel style plate for mine. Yours looks rather deep, more pie than tart.
Now i'm not sure how it's causing the issue but i'd try using the same recipe with a baking plate next time.

Before & after

Water John

I was going to say the same, more a pie than a tart. This gives you a depth of fill which will inevitably melt down a bit and the pastry doesn't follow.
But then I'm more adept at eating than cooking them.

kweeveen86

Lady Haywire wrote: »

I use a similar pastry to my tarts but never have or had any issue like that. My opinion would be the tin you're using is causing it, I've always used a plain enamel style plate for mine. Yours looks rather deep, more pie than tart.
Now i'm not sure how it's causing the issue but i'd try using the same recipe with a baking plate next time.

Before & after

You could be right. Thanks.

My current tin is a flat-bottomed standard circular one that you'd cook quiche in. An enamel pie plate is probably exactly what I need.

Lady Haywire

kweeveen86 wrote: »

You could be right. Thanks.

My current tin is a flat-bottomed standard circular one that you'd cook quiche in. An enamel pie plate is probably exactly what I need.

Give it a shot anyway, I find them much easier to use too.
My pastry is by eye so can be 5oz fat to 8oz flour along with the egg yolk so can be very touchy to work with, that's why I reckon it's not the pastry you're making.

kweeveen86

Water John wrote: »

I was going to say the same, more a pie than a tart. This gives you a depth of fill which will inevitably melt down a bit and the pastry doesn't follow.
But then I'm more adept at eating than cooking them.

My problem is that I want the pastry to follow when the filling sinks down. I'm guessing it's already cooked and hardened by the time the apples cook down though...

Faith

Mod note: Moved to main Food forum.

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Made one recently. I cut big chunks of apple and made a mound of chunks in the middle so that when it shrunk it would still be flat.

splinter65

kweeveen86 wrote: »

Hi. Here's the mix recipe:

225g/8oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting

2 tbsps icing sugar

100g/4oz butter

2 large egg yolks

2 - 3 tbsps cold water to bind

Are you overworking the pastry I wonder? Once it’s bound I would wrap it in cling film and chill for a couple of hours. Handle it as little as possible and don’t use too much flour when your rolling it out. Don’t roll it out too thin. Still looks delicious though!

Rechuchote

Kweeven86's photo:



A Khweeveen dhíl, my mother used to make a stupendous apple tart (which I sometimes still make). Two tips from it: she left the chunks of apple quite big, so you had the delicious sourness of the apples lilting against the sugary sweetness of the syrup made by their juice and the added sugar.

She used to put two longish (2" in old money, which would be 5cm) parallel slits in the pastry on top, so the steam came out and the pastry wasn't doughy. She also made the pastry very thin - rolled out to the depth you'd say if you went "really teenshy like this" and pinched your fingers almost together. So the pastry was crisp and short.

She always said you needed cool hands and fast work for good pastry.

However, if you're having problems with the pastry at this stage, why don't you try it with pre-made bought pastry at first, and then crack the pastry problem later?

Edit: Your tart looks delish. Lay a place at the table for me now, please!

Further edit: if you want a photo to show, add it with the usual method, post, then right-click the image (ctrl-click on a Mac) and "save link address", and then go back in to edit the post, click the icon that looks like a letter with a mountain on it, and paste in the link you've copied, and save.

Brian?

kweeveen86 wrote: »

You could be right. Thanks.

My current tin is a flat-bottomed standard circular one that you'd cook quiche in. An enamel pie plate is probably exactly what I need.

I cook apple pies in a deep dish as you describe. The key is to make bigger holes in the pastry to stop it lifting. With a tart made on a plate I’d only use a fork to make the holes, for a deep pie I’d make holes about 5mm in diameter at regular intervals and one about 10mm at the centre.

Rechuchote

My mother used to make her tarts on a shape of tin I've never found recently: it had a flat edge going out about a centimetre, like the brim of a hat, which was perfect for going around it with a fork to get a crispy edging. It was shallower than modern pie dishes too.

huskerdu

It looks like you are putting large chunks of aple with lots of air holes in between in the pie. This causes the apples to collapse more when they cook.

I think its better to chop the apples into much smaller chunks and make sure the apple mixture is well pakced in, to avoid the issue.