Strawberry Sablé Breton Tart Recipe
An elegant Strawberry Sablé Breton Tart with rich, crumbly shortbread tart base, lightened pastry cream and sweetly macerated strawberries.
Servings: 12 slices
Calories: 275kcal
Equipment
- 20cm (8-inch) springform pan
Ingredients
Sablé Breton Pastry
- 130 g salted butter preferable European-style butter. Room temperature
- 65 g granulated sugar
- 2 large egg yolks room temperature
- 220 g plain flour (all-purpose)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon flaked sea salt or 'fleur de sel'
Crème Légère
- 220 ml whole milk
- 2 large egg yolks room temperature
- 45 g granulated sugar
- 12 g cornflour (corn starch)
- 1 vanilla bean pod, cut in half with the seeds scraped out, seeds divided
- 15 g unsalted butter, chopped room temperature
- 120 ml double cream (heavy cream) cold
Macerated Strawberries
- 300 g fresh strawberries, washed, hulled & halved.
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1 tablespoon pistachios, chopped (optional)
Instructions
Make Sable Tart Base
- Cream butter and sugar together. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until pale and creamy.Incorporate egg yolks. Add in the egg yolks and mix for 1 minute until well combined.
- Add flour, baking powder and salt to form a dough. Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixing bowl and add in the salt. Mix on low speed until just incorporated and the dough starts to clump. Bring the dough together by gently squeezing it together.Refrigerate dough. Form dough into a rough ball, then shape into a disc and wrap well in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Roll out disc. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). On lightly floured parchment paper, roll the dough out to a little larger than 20cm (8-inches) in diameter. Transfer parchment paper with the dough, onto a baking tray.Place a 20cm (8-inches) springform pan ring, and press down onto the dough, stamping out one large round. Use a knife if necessary to cut the dough on the inside of the pan ring. Remove any dough scraps. Leave the pan ring on the baking tray surrounding the dough.
- Bake. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the dough turns golden brown; the sides are set, but the centre is still soft. Remove from the oven and cool for 20 minutes on the tray.Release the spring form ring and lift off the tart base. Carefully transfer the pastry on the parchment paper onto a wire rack to cool completely. The base is fragile when warm and can crumble easily. Remove from the parchment paper only when fully cooled.
Make Crème Légère
- Heat the milk. Combine milk, vanilla bean pod and half of the vanilla caviar into a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until it begins to simmer and bubbles appear around the edge of the saucepan. Set pan aside for ten minutes then remove the vanilla bean pod. Whisk eggs and sugar. Whilst the milk is infusing, place the yolks and sugar in a medium-sized mixing bowl and whisk until thickened and pale. Add in cornflour and whisk until combined.
- Temper the eggs. While whisking the yolks, pour in the milk mixture in thin stream. And whisk until thoroughly combined. TIP: place the bowl on a tea towel to stop it from sliding around. Pour the mixture straight back into the saucepan and return to the stovetop.Heat the custard. Heat the custard on low, whilst continuously whisking, until it thickens. Once the custard starts to bubble, heat for a further minute and remove from the stovetop.
- Add in butter and cool pastry cream. Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a medium-sized bowl. This will remove any egg lumps. Add the butter to the custard and whisk until melted and combined. Cool the pastry cream. Place plastic wrap directly onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until cold.
- Whip the cream and fold through pastry cream. In a medium-sized bowl, add in the cream and whip until firm peaks form. Careful not to over-whip.Remove the pastry cream from the fridge and give it a whisk to loosen up. Add in a ¼ of the whipped cream to the pastry cream and whisk until combined and the pastry cream is of a looser consistency. Then add the remaining whipped cream and fold through with a rubber spatula.Once no cream is visible, spoon Crème Légère into a piping bag fitted with your favourite piping tip, and refrigerate until needed.
Macerate the strawberries
- Cut the strawberries. Slice the strawberries into half, quaters or slices.Sprinkle the sugar over the strawberries, add in the remaining vanilla caviar and 1 teaspoon of water and toss until the strawberries are coated. Set aside for 15-30 minutes, until the strawberries are juicy.
To Assemble
- Pipe cream then decorate with strawberries. Place the tart base onto a serving plate, then pipe the lightened pastry cream over the tart base. Start with a ring of large piped cream mounds on the outside edge. Pipe smaller mounds on the inside as this is where the strawberries will be placed.Top with macerated strawberries reserving strawberry juice. Either fan them around in a neat rosette or pile them over the centre. Sprinkle over chopped pistachios. Slice and serve immediately. With each slice, drizzle a little of the strawberry juice over the top.
Notes
Step-by-Step Photos: My blog post includes helpful step-by-step photos to help guide you through making this recipe.
Notes on salted butter: Substitute for European-style un-salted butter and add ½ teaspoon of flaked sea salt or fleur de sel into the dough.
To store: The tart is best eaten within a few hours as the base will start to soften. Any leftovers should be wrapped well with plastic wrap and refrigerated for no more than two days.
To freeze: I do not recommend freezing this tart. It's best eaten fresh.
TIP 1 For the Sablé dough: Don't omit the extra salt. Bake until golden and set around the edges.
TIP 2: For the Crème Légère. Cook custard over low heat, whisking all the time to prevent it from catching. Cover cream with plastic wrap to prevent skin from forming.
Nutrition
Calories: 275kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 102mg | Sodium: 210mg | Potassium: 144mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 546IU | Vitamin C: 25mg | Calcium: 71mg | Iron: 1mg