How to make a fruit tart from scratch
Learn how to make a fruit tart from scratch (video tutorial for members only)
Creating your first tart
This fruit tart is a pleasingly delicious and stylish dessert. Making a fruit tart involves numerous steps;
- Making the tart dough using 'Fraisage' method.
- Shaping the dough.
- Transferring dough into tart pan.
- Prebaking the tart (if needed).
- Making the filling of your choice.
- Washing and cutting the fruits.
- Garnishing the tart with the fruits.
- Preparing the apricot glaze.
- Storing the end product
Making your first tart dough
The tart dough used in this video lesson is essentially pate sucree. This dough is mainly used as the bottom for the tart. When kneading this dough, you must pay attention not to develop the gluten. We will further explain to you how to accomplish this. The method that we used to properly knead the tart dough is called Fraisage.
Shaping the tart dough
The dough should be fairly cold when thinned out using a rolling pin. Frequent dusting is required. The medium used for dusting is icing sugar, not flour.
Flipping the tart dough onto a tart pan
There is this one tool that can make your life easier when making pate sucree dough as shown on the picture above. It's only used to help you transfer the dough over the tart pan.
Pre-baking the tart dough or not
Depending what type of filling you are using, you may or may not need to pre-bake the tart dough. If you are using pastry cream you will need to pre-bake the tart dough. You must also allow the tart to cool down completely before piping in the pastry cream.
Making the tart filling
Traditionally the filling on a fruit tart consists of pastry cream. You may use pastry cream, or a thinned out version of pastry cream or anything else you may think of or wish to try. We have also tried using a filling with cream cheese / coconut flavor which came out extremely good too. We have used another cream prior to adding the pastry cream, just to bring the fruit tart up a notch, as shown in the video training lesson.
Garnishing the fruit tart
When garnishing a fruit tart, your imagination is your limit. The object is to make a tart that is primarily pleasing to the eye. You also want the tart to look as full as possible. Do not just add one thin layer of fruits on the top.
Glazing the fruits with apricot glaze
The glaze primarily used on a fruit tart is apricot glaze. We will show you how to thin it out to the right consistency.
Notice the picture above without glaze and the picture below with glaze.
Besides the glossy look, the glaze serves as a preservative for the fruits. One caution, the consistency of the glaze and the temperature must be right, so that only a thin film of glaze will cover the fruits. Do not glaze over already glazed fruits and do not leave any fruits unglazed. You must work quickly.
Key points when making fruits tartes
- A good pate sucree recipe is required.
- Minimize gluten development when making the tart dough.
- Fraisage technique is used for kneading dough
- Proper hygiene must be strictly followed especially when making pastry cream.
- Proper consistency and temperature of the glaze.
- Proper baking of the tart
- Costing a fruit tart
- Assembly costs
- Storing the end product
In this lesson you will be introduced to the following terminologies;
- pate sucree
- Fraisage
- baking blind
- pastry cream
- cream cheese coconut filling
- Apricot glaze
Please follow this link if you wish to learn how to make a fruit tart from scratch
Pastry training course outline
