Weekend Baking: Lime Tart
I made a lime tart this weekend and I did something wrong when I made the crust. It's actually the second crust I made for this thing and it still didn't turn out right. The recipe came from Donna Hay's Flavours and you make a sweet shortcrust pastry and blind bake it (first with pie weights) before you put the filling in so the wet filling doesn't turn the crust to mush. My crust did not come out flaky which is what a shortcrust pastry should be, it was dense and chewy. I found a wikipedia entry that says:"In both sweetcrust and shortcrust pastry, care must be taken to ensure that fat and flour are blended thoroughly before liquid is added - this ensures that the flour granules are adequately coated with fat and are less likely to develop gluten. Overworking the dough is also a hazard. Overworking elongates the gluten strands, creating a product that is chewy, as opposed to 'short', or light and crumbly."
Perhaps this was my problem. I think that need to get a food processor. Ever since my old one broke years ago I have been making do without one, but I think the time has come to acquire another appliance. I have also seen a lot of recipes that use both shortening and butter where I only used butter. I am starting to think that it may be a good idea to research this sort of thing before I start baking...
Aside from the crust, the tart was really really good and I would make it again. The filling part was super easy aside from squeezing the nine million limes. Oh! Another lesson learned - when a recipe calls for eggs, it may be a good idea not to use JUMBO eggs. I had about a cup of extra filling that didn't make it into the tart.
5 Comments:
Oh, loving your blog.
When I've baked crust with just butter, the results sound much like yours. Half shortening half butter has worked best for me. But, sadly, still only 50% of the crusts I make turn out. Not a bad batting average, but baking isn't baseball. :D
Hi E! We are a lime-lovin family here. Can you email me the recipe for the filling? I have a yummy pie crust I could swap ya.
I have always had better luck with shortening instead of butter. As for the dough - cutting in the fat (butter or shortening) works really well with an old-school potato masher. I get a perfect granular texture before I add the water and it doesn't take much manual labor. Good luck as pie season is upon us!
Hi Erica! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Donna Hay (and key limes too)! But her recipes only work for me about 4 times out of 10. But i still love her and still try them out alot. Her photographs are amazing and so simple.
And wikipedia almost has it right. Instead of coating your flour with fat like they say, you are creating tiny beads of fat coated in flour. The flour is moistened just enough to bind the beads together. You should keep your fat very cold so that you do create these tiny beads rather than smearing the fat and flour together, which makes a paste that bakes to a tough texture.
Try freezeing your flour mixture before you add your cold butter, for about 15 minutes. Then make sure you add ice water. The colder your mix is, the less chewey and tough it gets.
You can also grate your cold butter on a standard sized cheese grater before adding it to the flour. It helps get the butter nice and small without your wrist feeling aweful.
Just a few tips! I LOVE your site and come back to drool over the cute picturs of your projects often!
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