Sunday, May 28, 2006
Treacle Tart
This morning I found some bread that was going stale in the back of the fridge. Theoretically you're not supposed to keep bread in the fridge,
but this rule only goes for real bread. The stuff we have cannot really be called bread. They are part-baked rolls from Tesco. Now before you leave this blog in disgust because true foodies should not really get anywhere near such things, let me explain. Lofty and I are generally quite fussy about our bread. Germany to us was paradise in that respect. You have an ample supply of good quality bread at reasonable prices and, what's more, you have true choice. From white breads like baguette and ciabatta to dark, almost black, pumpernickel you can find it all there: Whole grain breads of all sorts, smooth sour dough breads, seedy, nutty and flavoured loaves, rolls, pretzels, cheese covered breadsticks, we love it all and we very much miss it.There is no German style bakery anywhere near our place. We do have a good kosher bakery in Dublin, but it's so far away from where I work, I never make it before closing. Some good bread can be had at the various markets as well as at Liston's, but I can only get there on the weekend. I was also told that Superquinn have some good bread, but the closest one is so far from here, they don't even deliver to our address. So, on a day to day basis we have a choice between the soft flabby stuff that is often called bread by the supermarkets in the English speaking world, the dried-out bricks sold in the cheap nasty bakeries in our area or part-baked breads and rolls. Faced with these options, we generally take the latter.
And this week I had two small soggy rolls left and no clue what to do with them. My search for ideas led to the usual bruschetta and crostini first, but then I came across something that seemed much more interesting: Treacle tart. The recipe was incredibly simple, it sounded quite tasty and I had all the ingredients I needed to make it. And I had never made it, which I see as a definite plus. I love to play with new recipes. And while I much respect the author, I must say that this one needed a lot of playing with. In the end, the tart still came out a little less tasty than I had expected. I tweaked the recipe again a bit and am now confident that this is the way to a quick, tasty tart. But if you have any more input or ideas, feel free to comment!
For the pastry:
180g flour
90g butter, chilled and diced (plus a little extra for the tin)
a few spoonfuls of water
For the filling:
200g fresh white bread
550g golden syrup (more to taste)
a pinch of ground ginger
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
juice of ½ lemon (more to taste)
Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the water drop by drop, adding just enough to bring the pastry together. Knead quickly to a smooth dough. Do not stick about too long, you do not want the butter to warm up too much. Roll into a ball, cover with clingfilm or a damp cloth and leave to rest in the fridge for about 10 minutes.
To make the filling, blitz the bread in a food processor until you have fine crumbs. Combine with the other filling ingredients in a large bowl. The mixture should be a thick, sticky sweet goo. Adjust the texture and sweetness by adding more lemon juice and golden syrup if needed.
Butter a tart tin. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface. Lay over the tin and firmly press in the edges. Trim the edges and prick the bottom with a fork. Leave to rest in the fridge again for about 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line the pastry base with baking paper and fill with baking weights or dried peas. Blind bake the pastry until golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and reduce the heat to 180 degrees Celsius. Remove the weights/peas and the paper and pour the filling mixture into the pastry shell. Return to the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. Serve hot or cold with thick cream or ice cream.
Christine at 9:01 pm
