Saturday, February 19, 2011

Roasted Pineapple Frangipane Tart

Can we say total deliciousness? There are so many great things to tell you about last week's Jams and Jellies class. Yes, it was Valentine's Day, and for me, it was pure baking love. Frangipane, I love it.

We began class by creating a basic tart dough, using the creaming method. We creamed sugar and butter until smooth, then slowly added room temperature eggs, and then incorporated pastry flour. The tart dough was refrigerated, which helps the gluten relax.

Next, we prepared pineapples for roasting by cleaning the pineapples and covering them in a mix of brown sugar, ground pepper, salt, and vanilla bean. We then poured dark rum over them and placed them in the oven, basting them every 15 minutes and roasting for a total of an hour.



We then made pineapple jam and apricot jam, using similar methods to previous weeks through the use of liquid pectin.



And lastly, we made frangipane, which is one of my absolute most favorite things. Frangipane is a filling made from almond paste, butter, sugar, yolks, vanilla, ap flour, and almond flour. It has a creamy texture that is sweet and absolutely wonderful in flavor. I have loved it ever since we made Pithiviers last semester in my Laminated Doughs class.

We sliced the roasted pineapple and began assembly of our tarts. We first rolled out the tart dough and placed it in the necessary pans, docked the dough with a fork and placed it in the refrigerator to again relax the gluten. Anytime you roll out pie or tart dough, it is important to refrigerate it to give the gluten a chance to relax - this helps the dough keep its shape during baking, rather than shrinking. When it was properly chilled, we piped a layer of frangipane, placed the sliced pineapples in some sort of artistic display, garnished with sliced almonds, and set them off to the oven to bake. When ready, we glazed them using the apricot jam, which was thinned down slightly with water. Here's the final result:



Did I mention it was pure deliciousness/heaven in a bite? Love.

No comments:

Post a Comment