Tarte Fine aux Pommes
Thin puff pastry topped with a single layer of apple slices and baked until the edges caramelise.
- Cook
- 35 min
- Total
- 35 min
- Yield
- Serves 6
- Going in
- Easy
- Steps
- 7
A flat tart of very thin puff pastry shingled with apple slices and baked hot. There is no caramel to cook and nothing to turn out. All the browning happens in the oven, from butter and sugar sitting directly on the fruit.
Best eaten within a few hours of baking, while the base is still crisp.
Method 7 steps
-
Roll and dock the pastry
Roll the pastry out on parchment into a large circle or rectangle about 2 mm thick. Slide the parchment onto a baking sheet. Prick the pastry all over with a fork, leaving a 1 cm border unpricked, then chill for 20 minutes.
Docking keeps the base flat and crisp instead of puffed. Roll it thinner than feels right.
-
Heat the oven
Heat the oven to 200C / 400F, with a rack in the lower third.
The low rack position crisps the base, doing the job a skillet would do in a stovetop recipe.
-
Slice the apples
Slice the apples as thinly as you can, 2 to 3 mm.
Clean edges brown best. Slice just before assembly so the apples do not brown or weep.
-
Shingle the apples
Lay the slices over the chilled pastry in tight overlapping rows or spirals, leaving the 1 cm border bare. Keep the apples to a single layer.
Stacked apples trap steam and stop the edges browning.
-
Butter and sugar
Brush the apples and the bare border with the melted butter, then sprinkle evenly with the sugar and salt.
-
Bake
Bake for about 35 minutes, until the apple tips are browned at the edges and the pastry border is dark gold. Rotate the sheet halfway through.
Lift a corner with a spatula to check the underside is crisp rather than pale.
-
Glaze and rest
Stir the apricot jam with the water and brush it over the hot tart. Let it cool for about 10 minutes before cutting.
Serve warm with creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream.
Cooling lets the base set so the slices hold together when cut.
