République Bakery Brioche Fruit Tarts
We are honored and delighted to bring you the recipe for these decadent fruit tarts, generously shared with us by Margarita Manzke, co-owner of the Los Angeles-based restaurant République. The brioche, mixed with our Sequoia flour, is divinely delicious and light, the pastry cream is delicate and subtle – topped with ripe summer fruit, it's a complete celebration of the season. Absolutely perfect!
Margarita Manzke, from "Baking at République: Masterful Techniques and Recipes," 2019, with permission from Lorena Jones Books
Prep Time
2hr 45min
Bake Time
20 min
Total Time
18 hr 30 min
Yield
15 tarts
Ingredients:
For the brioche dough:
2 cups (440g) high-fat European-style butter
5 cups + 3 rounded tablespoons (725g) Sequoia hour
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
9 eggs
¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon (75g) whole milk
2 teaspoons (10g) fine sea salt
2 teaspoons (5g) instant yeast
For the pastry cream:
2 cups (480g) whole milk
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon (115g) granulated sugar
1 vanilla pod, split lengthwise and seeds removed
3 tablespoons (30g) cornstarch
6 egg yolks
¼ cup (55g) cold unsalted butter
For the egg wash:
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon (5g) whole milk
Pinch of fine sea salt
For the final tarts:
1 lb 13 oz (840g) Brioche Dough
1 cup (240g) Pastry Cream
4 peaches, pitted and sliced
8 plums, pitted and sliced
6 oz (170g) raspberries or blackberries or a mix of both (optional)
3 tablespoons (40g) turbinado sugar
Baker's Notes:
* To confirm that the dough is properly mixed, perform the "windowpane" test: Take a small amount of dough, grasp it between your thumbs and forefingers, and carefully stretch it until it Is thin and nearly transparent. It shouldn’t break. If it does, return it to the mixer and mix for another 2 minutes and test again.
** Pastry cream is a stovetop custard made with milk, egg yolks, sugar, butter, and cornstarch or flour. It adds this other creamy dimension to desserts. This version isn’t eggy and or sweet. There’s just the right amount of sugar in it. Because it isn’t so sweet, you can add whatever other components you want to a dessert or pastry and know that it won’t be sweet on top of sweet. The pastry cream balances it out. It makes everything taste good.
Stovetop custards are easier than baked custards because there’s less chance of overcooking or undercooking them. You can actually see it on the stove while you’re cooking it; in the oven, you can’t see what’s going on underneath the top.
When adding the cornstarch to the egg yolks, make sure it's dissolved and there's no cornstarch unmixed. Using a hand blender is fast, but whisking is fine, too. If you still see any clumps, strain it. It should be as smooth as possible.
Make sure to temper the eggs with just a little bit of the hot milk mixture so that they don’t curdle.
Once the pastry cream has thickened on the stove, let it boil for 1 minute to cook the cornstarch or flour so you don’t get that raw flour taste or chalky texture in your mouth. But you also have to be careful not to scorch the bottom of the pastry cream once it has thickened.
Finally, mix the pastry cream with butter. The pastry cream cools down as the butter is incorporated. That’s really important because if you don’t cool it properly, it becomes grainy. If it's still warm after mixing in the butter, pour it into a flat wide container or dish so it cools faster. It should be barely warm to the touch when you put it in the refrigerator. And always cover the surface of the pastry cream with plastic wrap so that it doesn’t form a skin, which would make it clumpy when cool.
*** These tarts can be made with other fruit, but peaches and brioche are a great combination. The not-too-sweet brioche really highlights the fruit. With every bite, you get a yummy combination of brioche, pastry cream, and fresh peaches. The peaches look especially beautiful because they hold their shape well. When baked, the peaches come out even more beautiful than the raw fruit, and the flavor becomes more concentrated. Berries are delicious but can collapse, shrivel, or release too much water. The shaped brioche dough looks really flat, like a pizza, when you put it in the oven. You might think it looks too flat, but as it bakes, the edges rise up and form a rice rim of rich, buttery bread. It is tempting to overfill these tarts with pastry cream— because pastry cream is so delicious – but it's important not to, so that the filling doesn't spill over the sides during baking.
Instructions:
To make the brioche dough:
- Take the butter out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before you plan to use it so that it's pliable but still cool. Cut the butter into ½-inch cubes and set aside.
- Measure the flour and sugar separately and place In the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
- in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the eggs and milk and mix on the lowest speed just to blend.
- Add the flour, salt, and yeast. Mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes to Incorporate the Ingredients. Stop and scrape down the bowl.
- Increase the speed to high and mix for another 2 minutes.
- With the mixer still on high, rain in the granulated sugar slowly and evenly.
- Let the sugar become incorporated before adding more—this should take at least 5 minutes and up to 7 minutes. The dough will start to come off the hook at this point and get a little softer as the sugar is incorporated.
- Turn off the mixer. Add the butter all at once. Mix for 10 minutes on high speed to fully incorporate the butter. Stop and scrape down the bowl once or twice during the process.
- The dough will form a mass around the dough hook and pull away from the sides of the bowl with a slight thwacking sound. The dough is done when it is glossy and smooth and moist but not sticky (see Baker's Notes).
- Coat a large bowl or container with cooking spray. Place the dough in the bowl and roll it around to coat with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place (between 75° and 85°F) for 30 minutes.
- Lightly dust your work surface with flour, remove the dough from the bowl, and set it on the work surface.
- Gently fold the dough into rough thirds, as if you were folding a letter. Turn it 90 degrees and fold it the same way again.
- Return the dough to the bowl, cover, and let it rise for another 30 minutes until doubled in size.
- Transfer the dough to a large bowl coated with cooking spray. Place the dough in the bowl and roll it around to coat with the oil.
- Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside at room temperature.
- Transfer the bowl to the refrigerator to chill for 12 hours. After chilling, your brioche dough will be ready to use for recipes that call for it.
To make the pastry cream:
- Put 1½ cups (360g) of milk and 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (50g) granulated sugar in a saucepan over high heat. Add the vanilla seeds to the pot and drop In the pod. Bring the mixture to a boil ** (see Baker's Notes).
- Put the cornstarch, remaining 1/3 cup (65g) sugar, and the egg yolks in a bowl and whisk until well incorporated. If there are still any clumps, strain through a fine-mesh sieve.
- As soon as the milk comes to a boil, drizzle a little of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. This will temper the egg mixture so that it doesn’t curdle the eggs. Remove and discard the vanilla pod.
- Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and continue to cook, whisking continuously until the mixture returns to a boil and thickens, 2 to 3 minutes. Cook for 1 additional minute so that the starch cooks out.
- Turn off the heat. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and, using a handheld mixer, mix on low speed until cooled, about 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare an ice water bath in a large stainless steel bowl in which you can nest another wider bowl.
- Transfer the pastry cream to a wide bowl and cover with plastic wrap, laying it directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming.
- Let the pastry cream cool to room temperature in the ice water bath. Refrigerate until ready to use, or for up to 3 days.
To make the fruit tarts:
- Form the dough Into 15 balls of 55g each*** (see Baker's Notes). (At this point, you can freeze the balls, along with any remaining dough, reserved for another use; thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then proceed with the recipe.)
- Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place the balls of dough on the prepared baking sheet and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Put the baking sheet in a warm place to proof until doubled in size, 1½ to 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- To make the egg wash: Combine the egg. egg yolk. milk, and salt in a small bowl and whisk. Brush each dough ball with the egg wash.
- Using your fingers, flatten the whole surface until it looks like a pizza, leaving a bit of a raised border.
- Put 1 tablespoon (15g) of the pastry cream in the center of each brioche and spread It out, leaving a rim of dough at the edges.
- Divide the peach and plum slices among the tarts. Add a few berries to the tarts, if desired.
- Sprinkle the turbinado sugar over the fruit and sides of the brioche tarts.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, until the brioche is golden brown. These are best eaten the day they are baked.
Baker's Notes:
* To confirm that the dough is properly mixed, perform the "windowpane" test: Take a small amount of dough, grasp it between your thumbs and forefingers, and carefully stretch it until it Is thin and nearly transparent. It shouldn’t break. If it does, return it to the mixer and mix for another 2 minutes and test again.
** Pastry cream is a stovetop custard made with milk, egg yolks, sugar, butter, and cornstarch or flour. It adds this other creamy dimension to desserts. This version isn’t eggy and or sweet. There’s just the right amount of sugar in it. Because it isn’t so sweet, you can add whatever other components you want to a dessert or pastry and know that it won’t be sweet on top of sweet. The pastry cream balances it out. It makes everything taste good.
Stovetop custards are easier than baked custards because there’s less chance of overcooking or undercooking them. You can actually see it on the stove while you’re cooking it; in the oven, you can’t see what’s going on underneath the top.
When adding the cornstarch to the egg yolks, make sure it's dissolved and there's no cornstarch unmixed. Using a hand blender is fast, but whisking is fine, too. If you still see any clumps, strain it. It should be as smooth as possible.
Make sure to temper the eggs with just a little bit of the hot milk mixture so that they don’t curdle.
Once the pastry cream has thickened on the stove, let it boil for 1 minute to cook the cornstarch or flour so you don’t get that raw flour taste or chalky texture in your mouth. But you also have to be careful not to scorch the bottom of the pastry cream once it has thickened.
Finally, mix the pastry cream with butter. The pastry cream cools down as the butter is incorporated. That’s really important because if you don’t cool it properly, it becomes grainy. If it's still warm after mixing in the butter, pour it into a flat wide container or dish so it cools faster. It should be barely warm to the touch when you put it in the refrigerator. And always cover the surface of the pastry cream with plastic wrap so that it doesn’t form a skin, which would make it clumpy when cool.
*** These tarts can be made with other fruit, but peaches and brioche are a great combination. The not-too-sweet brioche really highlights the fruit. With every bite, you get a yummy combination of brioche, pastry cream, and fresh peaches. The peaches look especially beautiful because they hold their shape well. When baked, the peaches come out even more beautiful than the raw fruit, and the flavor becomes more concentrated. Berries are delicious but can collapse, shrivel, or release too much water. The shaped brioche dough looks really flat, like a pizza, when you put it in the oven. You might think it looks too flat, but as it bakes, the edges rise up and form a rice rim of rich, buttery bread. It is tempting to overfill these tarts with pastry cream— because pastry cream is so delicious – but it's important not to, so that the filling doesn't spill over the sides during baking.