Michael Roux's Apple Tart

This apple dessert is adapted from Micahel Roux's book Pastry: Savoury and Sweet. Roux is a world renown french pastry chef and trained many talented chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, Pierre Koffman, and Marco Pierre White. This apple desert does not include sugar in the filling and only needs a pinch of sugar to make the crust. This dessert is not labor intensive and is a great alternative if you want to make a simple apple dessert. I made the dough a couple days before deciding to make this treat. 

Modification: I used honey instead of sugar to make the glaze for the tart, and used whole wheat flour instead of white flour. Instead of making a large 9.5 inch sized tart which this recipe will teach you how to make, I made a smaller and deeper tart since I do not own a tart pan. My tart was about 6" in diameter and 1.5 inch deep. I suppose mine is more like a pie.

Texture: The crust is thin, light, tender, delicate but with good structure to hold the soft cooked apples.

Taste: The rich flavor from butter makes the nutty whole wheat flavor light. The crust is lightly salty and enhances the natural sweet flavor of the apples, especially since sugar is not used in the compote. The apple filling is mildy sweet with a hint of tartness. With the sweet honey glaze, it contrasts the tartness of the apples.

Pate Brisee

A light and crumbly crust is made from this dough. 

This recipe makes 1lb (450grams) 

Ingredients for Pate Brisee
1 cup (250g) Whole Wheat Pastry Flour*
⅔ cup (150g) Unsalted Butter, cut into small pieces and is slightly soften
1 teaspoon (6g) Salt*
Pinch- Sugar
1 Egg
1 tablespoon (15ml) cold milk*

*Salt- reduce by half for less salty crust
*Milk- I used 2 tablespoons (30ml) instead since I worked with Whole Wheat Flour, and it typically needs more moisture for it to become a good structure builder in baking.
*Flour-I made one with Whole Wheat flour, and that worked out well too.

Method to make Pate Brisse
1. Place flour onto a clean counter (marble is best) and make a mountain with it. Then make a well in the center of the mountain of flour to hold butter, salt, sugar, and egg. With your fingertips, mix and cream the ingredients together. (Tip: mix flour with salt before making the mountain of flour)

2. Slowly draw flour into the well with the creamed ingredients until a grainy texture is achieved. Add milk and incorporate it into the mixture with your fingertips until the dough holds together. With your palm, push the dough away four to five times until the dough is smooth.

3. Roll the dough into a ball and wrap it with saran wrap.  Chill the ball of dough in the fridge for at least an hour or until ready to use. It can be stored in the fridge for up to one week or three months in the freezer.

Apple Tart

Ingredients for Apple Tart
6 (850g) large dessert Apples*
1 Vanilla bean, split lengthwise
4 ½ tbsp (60g) butter
¼ cup (50ml) water
½ cup Honey (instead of sugar for the glaze)
*Apples: Best to use an assortment of apples: Red Delicious, Honey-crisp, Braeburn, Fuji, etc
* Free free to use 1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract if that is what you have on hand

Method to Apple Tart
1.  Roll dough into a 1/8" (3mm) thick circle to line a 9.5 inch diameter and 3mm deep tart pan. Pinch up the edges with your index finger and thumbat 1/2 inch intervalsto make a fluted edge. Chill this for at least 40 minutes. I made deeper and smaller apple tart/pie since I do not have a tart pan and everything went well.

2. Preheat Oven to 400F. Peel, core, and halve apples. Place apples cut side to slice them into 2mm thick slices. Put one third of the apples into a pan to make the compote. Choose the smaller slices to make the compote. Keep the remaining apple slices together so it won't discolor.

3. In the pan with the apples, add water, vanilla bean, and butter. Cook over medium heat until apples are tender. Take it off the heat, discard vanilla bean. Work the apples with a whisk to achieve a compote consistency. Set aside to cool.

4. Prick base of prepared pie crust lighlty with a fork. This will prevent it from bulging up when baking. Pour in the apple compote into the pie shell and spread it gently. Arrange a border of overlapping apple slices around the tart. Then arrange another circle inside, but with slices facing the other way. Fill the center with a little rosette of small slices. Trim slices to fit as necessary. I didn't make the rossette or decorated as how Roux did.

5. Bake for 35 minutes until crust and apples are a light golden color. Cool for at least 20 minutes before removing the pie from the tart pan.

6. Make the glaze with hone by mixing 1 tablespoon of water with honey. Heat it in the microwave for 10 seconds to blend the two together more easily.

7. Brush top of pie with glaze and place the tart on a wire rack until just cooled. It is now ready to be cut and served.