A few months ago, gripped by baking fever, I purchased Mary Berry's Baking Bible. I quickly decided to embark upon a mission to bake everything in the book, and turn myself from an occasional baker into a bit of an expert. My Grandad Ern was a Master Baker by trade; the man responsible for introducing Danish Pastries to England in fact, and I wish it had occurred to me to spend more time learning from him, rather than simply enjoying the fruits of his effortless labours. This project is almost a way of making amends for that; I'd like to follow in his footsteps (if not in my career, at least as a hobby) and continue the proud heritage of baking in my family.
I credit my friend Rachel with the idea to write a blog about my baking exploits, hoping that there will be more successes than failures as I attempt all 213 of the Queen of Baking's recipes.
So as not to bore the husband with a monotonous diet of sponges, followed by weeks of biscuits, I've decided to tackle the recipes by selecting the first bake from each chapter, followed by the second recipe and so on. I'm not going to pick and choose; I'm determined to face my baking demons and learn how to do everything baking-related, even if the consequences are disastrous!
Everything will be photographed, with comment about how I found baking it, and a husband rating (to be taken with a pinch of salt as he has a very selective cake-tooth).


Thursday 24 May 2012

16. Tarte Tatin

Not the most photogenic of bakes, and, as it turns out, not the most successful either, this was my first attempt at this French classic. I've dabbled with pastry from time to time, and was actually really surprised to find that the foundation of this was a shortcrust one. I'd always thought Tarte Tatin was made with puff pastry, and anticipated lots of fiddly rolling and buttering. The pastry, it being short and all, was easy to make; an egg yolk added to make it richer and popped into the fridge for an hour or so until I was ready to make it for Sunday dinner dessert. Lots of apples were needed - about 950g (a standard supermarket-sized bag of 6), and it turned out to be a bit of a problem that the variety I used were really juicy. When it came to draining the juice off the tart once it had baked, the mixture was all juice and no caramel.

It was all very straightforward really, but one thing I've never had experience of, is making caramel. It seemed to take ages to thicken, and being the impatient so-and-so that I am, I cranked the heat up and was then lucky to save it before it got too dark and burnt. I think it was rather more 'over' than 'on' by the time I poured it over the apples, and there were some chewy, toffee-like bits to get our teeth around, which weren't very nice. Another issue I had was with the flipping of the tart onto a plate; I can never do this, be it with a cake or anything else. I'm naturally cack-handed; it doesn't help trying to do plate gymnastics wearing a bloomin' great oven glove either.

Baker's verdict: a bit of a fiddle; the processes were quite awkward in some ways, although the preparation of the ingredients was fairly simple. Tasted pretty good, but I'm not falling over myself to make it again in a hurry. More of a box-ticking exercise really!
Husband rating: 7/10 - didn't like the 'toffee' on top; loved the apples; pastry was nice but not really what was expected of a tarte tatin.
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