TWD: Raspberry-Fig Crostata - with Plums (rewind-week)

When the Raspberry-Fig Crostata was originally scheduled I opted for the Johnny Cake Cobbler. It was one of the weeks back in the end of August 2013 when we had the choice between two recipes. And as raspberries are in season by June/July in Austria and figs never are, I went with the other option.

I am not a huge raspberry fan, but many people are so I gave it a try. Instead of figs I used plums which are in season right now in Vienna.

The tart dough is an interesting version with almonds and sesame. I like this crust very much and will use it for other tarts, too. But be aware that it is not that easy to handle. I had to press it in the mold but that was fine. When I made the top-lattice I found out it is a bit easier to handle when you flatten it and freeze it. The strips still got slightly too thick, but it was my first lattice, so I am fine with it.

The filling turned out good tasting, if you like raspberries. Although I used much more plums than raspberries (I took what I had at hand) the raspberries are very dominant and it was almost not possible to spot the plum-taste. I doubt that it would have been different with figs.

The tart looks beautiful and I can imagine it with a whole lot of other fruits. The beauty dissappears when you cut it, at least my tart did not look very pretty cut in pieces, maybe because the filling got too warm at the tart was out of the refrigerator for too long.

To find out how it turned out for the other, much more gifted bakers in the group, have a look at the leave-your-link-page for August 20th 2013. And to find out about the recipe, buy the book by Dorie Greenspan and flip to p. 374!

TWD: Sweet Berry (and Plum) Fougasse

I really love fougasse - although up to now I only knew the original version, mostly with olives. The original is a very common bread in France, baked in a stone baking oven, coming originally from southern France. I ate about 3 tons when I lived in Paris for some months. Ok, slight exaggeration. Slight.

I made only quarter a recipe and as I hace now idea what pattern the recipe speaks about I should shape, I just made rounds and cut triangles. For half the dough I used raspberries and for the other half I used plums as the berry season is already almost over in Austria and plums are everywhere.

I made a bit more of the Streusel just because I like it but the amount in the recipe would be just as well.

In the end, you need some preparation as the dough has tweo (short) rising periods but needs at least 24 hours of chilling. But besides that, the Sweet Berry Fougasse is easy and made fast.

I can also imagine other fruits very well, as maybe a strawberry/rhubarb combo, because I know a very similar recipe (sometimes completed with a bit of vanilla pudding between the dough and the fruit), called Datschi.

For the recipe, buy Dorie Greenspans book and have a look at p. 194.





PS.: This week, we had the choice between this recipe and Blueberry Muffins. As I made the Blueberry Orange Muffins from our first TWD-book "Baking: From my home to yours" just a few weeks ago, and the recipe was more than great, I opted for the Fougasse because seriously, no Blueberry Muffin can be better then these: 

TWD: White Chocolate Brownie

I like raisins. I like bananas. I love coconut. I am not afraid of making icecream or other desserts where non-cooked eggs are involved. So I am not very picky. And all the things that might lead to some eyebrow-raising here or there in the Tuesdays-with-Dorie-familiy are fine with me.
 But: I just found out this weekend, that I am also picky. I discovered my new pickiness when I made the wonderful White Chocolate Brownies, chosen by Marthe of Culinary Delights. You can find the recipe on her page (she is one of the few Europeans participating in Tuesdays with Dorie - and she is Dutch - and I am the biggest fan of dutch soccer in an ambit of about 1000 miles. So I particularily like her blog :o]) or in Dorie's book.
I am picky about raspberries. When they are warm. And in a cake.
I really was disgusted by the smell of the raspberries. Funnily, I don't mind the same smell when the warm raspberrries are poured in a sauce over vanilla icecream.

Therefeore, that is, hm..., not very picky, because, hey, how often does this combination come along, but... let's call it "special".

The problem was easily resolved as I just waited a bit longer to let the brownies completely cool down, and with them the raspberries, and like that everything was fine again.

"Fine" is maybe not the right word in this context. Wonderful. Sublime. Great. Yum. To-do-again-and-again-and-again. That's more appropriate :o]

I tried some of the brownie batter just as foreseen by the recipe, and for the rest I was in the mood of playing around. So I made some minis and used apricots, what worked pretty well, omitted the merengue, what was not problem (I topped the apricots with a bit of the batter to ensure they don't burn, because they did not drown down like the raspberries), and decorated them white chocolate ganache/glazé and a raspberry.

Side-notes: The white chocolate flavour was not all too dominant. And I almost liked the apricot version even more.