The Core Facts

Overall verdict: Really good – it was delicious and I enjoyed making it
Timings: 30 mins prep + 30 mins baking
Sugar: 165g in total
Butter: 115g + 100g cream
Type of apple: Braeburn

The Long Peel

I loved making this apple tart recipe from Raymond Blanc, which really surprised me. I’m not one for meticulous detail when I’m baking and Raymond is incredibly precise about certain steps in the process.

The Pastry

I got my first sign that Raymond is a stickler for detail when he instructed that 20-30g of the pastry be put aside. It took me a while to realise that this small chunk of pastry had a specific job: to be used to push the pastry base into the tin properly.

He also requests that the pastry is rolled out between two pieces of cling film. This prevents too much flour being added when you’re trying to keep the pastry dry enough to move from worktop to tin. You simply pull the top layer of cling film off the rolled pastry and lay that side onto the tin. You then pull the other layer of cling film off and push the pastry into the tin. A good idea that seemed to work, as the pastry was perfectly balanced.

The Apples

This was the first bake where I had to arrange the apples neatly rather than just throwing them into the tart. Once I started placing, I had to hastily cut some of my slices into halves – Raymond’s instruction to cut each apple into 10 segments had left me with much thicker wedges than I think he had intended. Maybe my apples were bigger. I was also using a bigger dish.

Raymond is precise about the type of apple you should use. He recommends Captain Kidd from the Cox Orange Pippin family, or the Egremont Russet, Lord Lambourne, Jubilee, D’arcy Spice or Devonshire Quarrenden. None of these were available in my supermarket but luckily Raymond had thought of that and advises that Braeburn or any Cox variety are “trusty options”.

This was also my first French apple tart, which meant a new approach to coating the apple. The tart goes into the oven painted in a mixture of lemon juice + sugar + egg. After 20 minutes of baking, the tart is then filled with a custard mixture of cream + egg + sugar before the final 10 minutes of baking is completed. I had to use double cream instead of whipping cream (as Raymond specifies), which may have affected the final result.

The Bake

Raymond asks for a “dusting” of icing sugar before the tart goes in the oven to give it a caramelised look and taste. I left this very late, so it was more of a “throw” of icing sugar. You can see below that half of the tart didn’t really get any.

It also could have done with another couple of minutes in the oven but it’s a tough call to make. When I made the Daniel Galmiche apple tart, I over-baked it and had to remake it as it looked so awful.

The Dish

I was using the completely wrong type of dish for this recipe. Raymond asks for an 18cm “tart ring” and I was using a 23cm pie dish. This meant I had a huge cliff of pastry looming over the apple rather than a neat surround. It still tasted lovely but it didn’t look great.

The Hot Slice

Raymond specifically asks for the tart to be rested for 30 minutes before cutting (probably good advice for any tart/pie). It held together really well.

The Rested Result

My enormous ‘cliff’ of pastry looks awful but the tart itself was good: an even base, neat and tight compacted apple, and then the custard on top:

If We Repeeled

• Do a better job of dusting with icing sugar, both before it goes in the oven and after
• Use a smaller tart ring as specified by Raymond
• Maybe use slightly less lemon juice
• Use whipping cream instead of double cream
• Bake for a few minutes longer

Scores

Simplicity of bake: Reasonably simple – neatly arranging the apple took me a bit of time!
Pastry texture: The upper edges were quite well fired but they weren’t hard – I think they’re meant to be like that. The base was soft, though not soggy.
Pastry taste: Good – not overly sweet
Apple texture: Soft – definitely softer than I expected
Apple taste: Good, although the lemon and the egg custard both overpowered the apple taste a bit
Apple to pastry ratio: It worked well
Overall score: 8