the bake off bake along, week 6

week 6 of the bake-off brings us to pastry week! we had to pick from a frangipane tart, flaounas (a cypriot cheese pastry), or a gazillion vol-au-vents (puff pastry hors d’ourves).

though i really wanted to give the flaounas a go because they looked delicious, i happened to be the recent recipient of a bag of apples. it’s apple season! so i knew it was apple frangipane tart time.

there is no way i could find almond paste, key ingredient of a frangipane, in czech grocery stores. they do have loads of marzipan, because central europe, but in the end, i actually made by own. first i decided to make almond milk because the number one byproduct of this is looooads of almond meal. (which hmmm, a cold glass of it would go deliciously with this tart!) then i blended the dry meal with an egg, a cup of sugar, a teaspoon of flour, a pinch of salt, and 50g of butter. this is the frangipane cream filling.

although, then i realized i was doing it all backwards– it would’ve made loads of more sense to start the pastry dough first because it could chill in the fridge for longer! this week, unlike the last, i am not spending seven plus hours on a baking project. nope. got stuff to do.

mixing dough while reading a computer recipe in today’s modern age.

the dough came out brilliantly, and managed to chill it only for about 18 minutes before i had to put it into use. my first idea was to roll the dough out (with my makeshift rolling pin) and sort of flop it on the tray. that ended in crumbles. so the next idea was just press the dough onto the tray, which actually worked fine. i’m glad i gave myself a bit of time to configure this, because this time, i was aiming for–and would be successful at– keeping within the two hour time limit.

next, arranging my apple slices as neatly as possible, and into the oven for about 40 minutes. the joy of baking recipe i was following suggested 50 to 60, but with my fan oven, it took much less. the crust edges were already golden brown.

can i just say HOW HAPPY I AM to not have to use honey instead of sugar this time around? i was just feeling really stoked to actually have all the implements to make a fantastic tart.
and oh, it was. buttery, flaky, apple-goodness-mouth-splosion.

and after alex was invited to the taste test…..
oh wow– this is delicious. this is your best bake by far of the bake off. actually it might be one of your best period. it’s so light, fluffy and sweet.
awesome!
yeah, you taste it right in the center of the tongue.
and look, no soggy bottom!!!