PIE-A-DAY # 9
Today’s recipe is another tart (sigh….), a gluten-free fruit and nut tart from Aran Goyoaga, who blogs at the stunningly beautiful Cannelle Et Vanille and whose first cookbook, Small Plates and Sweet Treats, will be released this October.
Read below for Goyoaga’s Nectarine and Pistachio Tart, and for her gluten-free and dough-docking strategies. Click here to enter YOUR delicious pie (or pies) in the 4th Annual Good Food Pie Contest on Saturday, September 8th at LACMA.
There are lots of different recipes out there for gluten-free pie dough. How do you choose your ingredients?
Before selecting the ingredients for the dough, I think about what the filling will be so I can have complimenting flavors and textures. Quinoa flour in savory tart doughs, millet is great for both savory and sweet, nut meals add a lot of texture and make the dough a bit crumblier when baked, and so on. I have a basic dough recipe that I modify for each recipe.
Are there any other fruit and nut combinations you like?
I think anything really goes when it comes to fruit and nuts. Apples with hazelnuts, strawberries and pistachios, pears, chocolate and pecans…
In your instructions for this tart’s crust, you describe docking the dough with a fork before you put it in the oven. Could you describe that more?
Once the mold has been filled with the dough and has had time to rest, it goes in the oven to prebake without the filling. This is because the filling cooks quicker than the tart dough will take to bake. I gently pierce the bottom of the tart dough with a fork so that when it bakes, air escapes, prevents bubbles in the dough and also keep helps keep its shape. We cover it with a piece of parchment and fill the mold with dry beans or pie weights. This ensures there are no air pockets and the base stays put. Then we remove the beans and parchment, add the filling and finish baking.
Aran Goyoaga’s Nectarine and Pistachio Tart
Pastry crust
(makes enough dough for one 6-inch tart and six 2.5-inch tartlets)
2/3 cups (90 g) superfine brown rice flour
1/2 cup (60 g) millet flour
1/4 cup (25 g) almond flour
1 tablespoon natural cane sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
8 tablespoons (110 g) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
6 to 7 tablespoons ice water
Combine the first five ingredients in the food processor and pulse to aerate. Add the diced butter and pulse ten times until the butter is the size of peas. Add the ice water and pulse until it comes together. It will not form a ball. Transfer the dough to your work surface and knead a couple of times. Wrap it in plastic wrap, flatten it, and form it into a disk. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Dust your preferably cold work surface with superfine brown rice flour. Roll the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Fill a 6-inch tart mold with the dough. Cut off excess and refrigerate for 20 minutes. The excess dough will be good to make mini tartlets.
Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Lightly dock the bottom of the tart dough with a fork. Cover it with parchment paper and fill it with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove beans and bake for another 5 minutes.
In this time, prepare the filling.
Nectarine and Pistachio Filling
3 tablespoons pistachio meal
3 to 4 medium nectarines, pitted and sliced
2 eggs
2 tablespoons acacia honey or other good-quality honey you prefer
2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
Zest 1 lemon
Sprinkle the bottom of the prebaked tart with half of the pistachio meal.
Arrange the sliced nectarines on top.
Whisk together the eggs, honey, butter, and lemon zest in a bowl. Pour this mixture over the nectarines. Top with the remaining pistachio meal.
Bake the tart for 25 to 30 minutes until it is golden brown. Let it cool for 15 minutes before cutting.
To make the mini tartlets, simply using the pastry dough above. Fill with a pastry cream and top with fruit and pistachios.