The Allure of the Tart-based Pasty

In all of my dessert making days, no one type of pastry has been more requested than the Tart.  From Lemons to Rhubarb, the tart can be used for just about any type of filling.

The Lemon Tart - Never a dull moment!

Let's dive into the details here...


Typically Tarts are composed of two fundamental layers: the shortcrust, and the filling.  The shortcrust acts as an anchor to the rest of the construction, complementing or bringing out the other details of the filling it resides with.  The filling then takes an already decadent base, and adds a layer of complexity and texture to the dessert.

Designing and experience that amplifies both experiences of the pastry construction is where an "okay" combination can transform into a blissful experience.

Let's break down the elements:

The Pastry Base

Typically known as the shortcrust pastry, there are two forms that I use depending on the filling type. Either a Pate Brisee, or Pate Sucree.

The Brisee variant uses little to no sugar, and is paired with things such as fruits.  In these instances, the sweet or tart nature of fruits should not be overpowered by an incredibly sweet shortcrust pastry.

In the Sucree variant, powdered sugar is added to the mix to create an incredibly sweet shortcrust (which I always like to munch on the leftover cuttings).  This shortcrust goes will with incredibly bitter or tart fillings (such as chocolate or rhubarb).  Occasionally I will use some almond flour to keep the crust crunchier and breakable.

Both variants are quite different in makeup from things such as puff pastry (which has layers of butter), and are also not normally leavened (i.e. no yeast).

Recipes are easily available online, but normally I use Bouchon Bakery's variant, which does go into detail of the specific weights and yields.

Here are the main items that are used in shortcrust pastry:

• Flour - No surprise here; light gluten formation, and a good building block
• Butter - Used for both coating the flour (to reduce gluten formation), and for taste
• Salt - A little is needed chemically, more on that in another article
• Eggs - Used to bring the mixture together as a binder; slight enrichment properties as well
• Sugar - Primarily used in Sucree, but a powdered one mixes better than granulated
• Almond Flour - used to add a different flavor and retain crumbly nature of shortcrust

The Fillings

The filling is the place that most people focus on - you can really get creative in this department if you want to.  However, there are a few requirements that fillings have to follow:

• Must have good contact with shortcrust, otherwise it will disintegrate
• Must have the ability to set or slightly harden, or else it'll run out once cut into
• Be a different texture than the shortcrust pastry itself - otherwise its less of a tart and more of a shortcrust bar
• Not have too much moisture, which can lead to a soggy shortcrust

The Rarity of the Tart

Unusually, the tart has come out of favor for many bakeries today.  Aside from the lemon tart, most bakeries focus on muffins, cakes, and less complex but known items.  My conclusion on why this came to be is twofold: complexity and time.

Pastry crusts are not as easy as cupcakes in my experience.  From the temperature requirements to the  difficulty of handling the dough, it can take up valuable effort within the bakery, costing the bakery a good chunk of resources.   

Time-wise, the proper use of resting and tempering the dough for use takes well over 24 hours.  This can extend the build time of any pastry on a gantt chart to well over a day.  Monetarily, most bakeries will try to reduce the build time of pastries, as fridge space is a premium and overhead is undesired. 

I'll be expanding upon the topic in the next few posts, showcasing some custom tarts as well as some classical ones - adding to my Series on Food Topics!