We challenged chefs of three different skill levels - amateur John, home cook Gabrielle, and professional chef Danielle Alex - to prepare us their preferred tart recipe.
Once each level of chef had presented their open-faced creation, we asked expert food scientist Rose to explain the choices each made along the way - both good and bad.
Would you dig in to the savory sun-dried tomato tart first or skip straight to one of the desserts?
[machine whirring][knife chopping][upbeat music]- Hi, I'm John, and I'm a level one chef.- Hi, I'm Gabrielle, andI'm a level two chef.- Hi, I'm Danielle Alex, andI've been a professional cheffor 15 years and creatorof Diversity Kitchen.- So today I'm gonna be makinga very simple fruit tart andit's filled with great berries.- So this tart recipe is a tributeto being from Philly area.There's such a thing called tomato pie.- So an interesting fact about my tart,this tart uses orange blossom water,which is very differentfrom your typical tart,but has great flavor.[sharp tone]- I'm gonna make my tart crust.- I know what you're thinking.You're a level two Gab,don't you have to makeeverything from scratch?And the answer is no.- I don't like to over complicate things.- Sometimes I just don'twanna be in my kitchen,making dough all day long and that's okay.- It's super easy.You don't have to put it in plastic wrap.You don't have to refrigerateit for hours and roll it out.I don't wanna spend hours in the kitchen.- So we're actually going to be usinga pre-frozen puff pastry,and we're gonna jazz it up sothat it is level two worthy.- So I'm gonna start offfirst by making my dough.Now that requires makingthe barrage first.The barrage is the large pat of butterthat I'm gonna put inside of my dough.So I'm gonna take my butter,I'm gonna throw it into my mixer.Add some flour.I always start on low speed.- I want to just work out all of the kinksthat are in this puff pastry.- It's nice and smooth.I'm gonna create a squarewith the butter and chill it.- This looks pretty good to me.I am going to poke someholes in it with a forkjust to kind of alleviate some of the,I actually don't know whyI poke it with a fork.- Now that our barrage is inthe refrigerator chilling,we're gonna make our dough,or also known as the détrempe.- So first up, we're gonnaput our dry ingredientsright in this bowl.Flour.- Flour here.So I've got my flour in our mixer.Now I'm gonna adda little bit of sugar- Sugarand just a pinch of salt.- Salt.- And now for our wet ingredients.- A cup of cold water,- Oh, then stick in aquarter of melted butteralong with a pinch of almond extract.- And now I'm gonna add alittle bit of lemon juice.The lemon juice or acid inhere adds to the flakinessand tenderness of the dough.- And then with a fork,I'm just gonna work it together.- I'm gonna mix it up firstand then I'm gonna add more butter.Yeah, you're right, more butter.- So that looks pretty good to me.I'm gonna go ahead nowand transfer my pre-frozen puff pastry.Darf?
[laughs]- [Man] What is his name?- It's Lord Daario Naharisbut I call him Darf.
[laughs]- And I'm gonna just simply add my butter.You'll always wanna use soft butter.You use cold butter, you'regonna have chunks in there.I'm gonna turn this on for about,I'd say four minutes or so.You're gonna see that it's going to forma nice solid dough mass,or you're gonna see thatit's gonna form a nice ball.[machine whirring]- So right now I'm going to elevate thisotherwise very simple puff pastryinto something that's alittle bit more grandeur,that's a little bit moreof like a party stopper, if you will.[Darf meows]- Now for the last step, I amgonna put my hands in there.I just wanna make sureeverything's fully incorporatedand I'll show you.- It's one solid ball.Now I have to let this restand chill in the refrigerator.So this and our barrage, or butter,are the same temperature whenwe go to put it together.- We are going to be usingthe remaining puff pastryto create a braid that willthen border the outside edgeof the puff pastry.- So we've got our chilled dough here.and you have to makesure you're working ona nicely floured surface.- So we're gonna do thesame thing that we didwith the other piece of puff pastry,where we're gonna rollit out a little bit.- Kind of do this rectangle shape.- So I'm going to cut threestrips about a half inchin diameter, and then I'mgoing to braid them together.It looks pretty good.- Now that I have my butter in the middle,I'm gonna take one endand I'm gonna fold it overand then I'm gonna take theother end and fold it over.This butter is like nicelytucked in bed, right?We don't want any of thisbutter squeezing out.- So I have my four braids now.Time to put these onto my hard base.- We are going to roll this out flat.If this butter is gettingtoo soft, if it's,if the dough is becominglike super malleable,definitely put it in therefrigerator for a minuteso that it can kind of firm up.Brush off any excess flour.You know, you just wanna make surethat it's wrapped nice and tightso it doesn't create any kind of crust,that also messes with theflakiness of the dough.And then there it is,our first turn of our puff pastry dough.And we're gonna placethis in the refrigeratorto chill for at least two hoursuntil it's nice and firm.- All right, braid numberone, going on my first border.I'm pressing and pressing the edges.Anything that's kind of excessive,I'm folding over I'm tucking.- So now this is my lastturn and I'm going to prep itfor our pastry shell.Since I'm not using all ofthis, I'm gonna cut my piece,roll it out to the desirethickness for my tart shell.- So as you can see, Ihave a tart pan here.So I'm gonna take my hunkof dough and I do wanna goright up to the edges of the tart pan.- And a nice technique that I like to useis I take my rolling pin.I wanna move quickly becauseI don't want our layersto get ruined and allthis to kind of just slumpas it cooks.- I'm gonna go ahead and usea fork just to prick all over.And the reason why we do pricks,is just that it allows theheat to flow through it nicely.It's gonna get evenly distributed.- Take my rolling pin, take this offand put it into the freezeras quickly as possibleto chill it back down.- Now let's put this inthe oven and bake it off.- Now we have the basefor our puff pastry.- So there you have it, andinto the freezer it goes,while we prepare our filling.- So the first thing to dois we're gonna beat our whipped cream.And I just have somebeautiful heavy cream here.And if you've ever madewhipped cream before,it's super simple.- Since this is our pistachio tart.I'm gonna place my pistachios, my sugar,and I'm gonna placea very interestingingredient, bread, right?And I like to use pain de mie,which is pretty much a basic white bread.I make sure I remove all the crust.- And it's gonna take a few minutes,but you just work it around.All right, and therewe have whipped cream.- So now it's time to makemy pesto sauce base layerfor this heirloom tomato tart.I want a pretty good amount of the oilthat the tomatoes are preserved inas well as like a decent amountof the tomatoes themselves.You know, I saw somewherethat someone saidthat sun dried tomatoesweren't cool anymore.We're gonna use them,even if they are out of style.- Here we have our pistachiosugar and flour in here,and it's nice, you know, it'skind of like a course sand,and I'm gonna add my butterand then I'm gonna addmy orange blossom water.So I'm gonna measureout about a tablespoon.Of course, if you love the flavor,feel free to add a little more.- So for my tart filling,I'm doing a mix of two soft cheeses.It's perfect for dessert.So I really like to use a blendof cream cheese and marscarpone cheese.- Little honey, garlic,two cloves, peel 'em,throw 'em in.So I have just kind of anice little handful of basilgonna throw that straight in.And then last but not least,I'm just gonna put alittle bit of salt in.- Just gonna do half a brickof packed cream cheese.And now I'm just gonna beat these togetheruntil they're nice and smooth.[machines whirring]- It's quite blended,but everything is more orless kind of chopped finely,and so it's good to go as a spread.- [John] So these two arereally nice and mixed.- Now if you look at it here, you have it,it's nice and smooth.- I'm gonna add therest of my ingredients.So here I have half a cupof confectionary sugar.That's gonna really sweeten this up.- As you can tell this is not a tartfor the calorie counters,but when I tell you it's worthit and it's delicious, it is.- So now for the mostimportant part of this recipe,the heirloom tomatoes, ohmy gosh, they're so pretty.I love them.I love them all, but we're gonna eat them.- I'm gonna do the juice of half a lemon.I know lemon, littleweird, but this is a tart.So this will add a little tartness.I wonder if that's wherethe word tart came from.I don't know, but maybe.- You know, a nice thick slice,so whatever that feels like to you.- And then we're just gonnaadd a little bit of almondextract and I think itcompliments our crust nicely,and then we're just gonna beat itso that there's no lumps at all.[mixer whirring]Everything is combined.- Tomatoes are a fruit.We do know that, we have confirmed that.That is one of thosethings that I rememberwhen you learn as a kid, you're like,a tomato is not a fruit.I still don't know why tomato is a fruitand not a vegetable.- This is looking great.I think this is readyfor our whipped cream.- Our shell is nice and hard.I'm gonna take my fillingand place it right here in the dough.- So I'm gonna take my sundried tomato pesto spread,and I'm gonna quite literallyjust spread it all overthe base of this puff pastry.- Alrighty, so look at that?Isn't that beautiful.We have our filling in our tart dough,and now I'm just gonnaplace it in the freezerfor a few minutes, just to chill it down.- The last step with the fillingis just to fold in our whipped cream.Got my pink spatula,which you know, I love.- So I have my tomatoes.So now I'm gonna go aheadand just kind of startto piece this together andbe a little bit artistic.- It's all incorporated, no lumps.- It looks like a beautifullittle puzzle piece.Yeah, it's time to go into the oven.- It's always best topreheat my oven first.A unique thing I do with thisis I make sure I get a pizza stone.So I'm gonna place thison the lower third rackof my oven.Now that everything's chilled,I place it on a cookie sheetand this cookie sheet will godirectly onto our pizza stone.- So I'm going to popthis tart in the ovenfor about 18 minutes at 400 degrees,and we'll be able to watchthe puff pastry rise.[bright upbeat music]- My tart has been in theoven for about 20, 25 minutes.This is looking great.It's a nice golden color.- All right, here's our beautiful tart.It's been in the oven for45 minutes at 375 degrees.- So I think the word that comes to mindwhen I look at this, is like rustic.And the only way to make that even betterand to enhance it is to go aheadand add my final touchesand my final toppings.- Now for a topping,we're gonna make a whipped creme fraiche.I'm gonna take my cremefraiche and place it in a bowl.And then I'm gonna giveit a nice little whipping.So creme fraiche is kind of like,you could call it like theFrench version of sour cream.You can keep it cold in the refrigeratoror just set it aside,but I'm ready for a slice,so I'm gonna put this asideand grab our tart.- So now I'm gonna take my fillingand spread it all overour beautiful pie crusts.- So first things first,I'm just gonna go right in with my thyme,not chopping anything.It's just fresh thyme.And that's it for thyme,we have plenty of thyme,but we don't, we don't needthat much thyme, thyme jokes.They never get old.- So now for my favorite part, the fruit,I'm a designer by trade, no I'm not.I'm a creative at heart.So I like to get fun with the designand there's a lot or art to baked goods.- I don't want the focus ofthis tart to be the cheese.This isn't a pizza,but I wanted to add alittle bit of the saltinessand some of that sournessthat comes from the Pecorino Romano.So I'm just gonna go aheadand give it a really light dusting.- For the next concentriccircle, blackberries.And I'm just realizing it's alittle red, white, and blue.I did not plan for the Americana.Now next biggest, my raspberries.This is gonna be another ring of red.- Some red chili flakes forjust a little bit of a kick.- And then last but notleast our blueberries,which I got a lot of.There's more to eat.- My olive oil just toreally bring it all home.- Now that I have my berriesfully arranged on my tart,so the next and last step isjust to add a simple glaze.I just use a very simpleapricot preserves.We're just gonna go aheadwith our pastry brush.- And my honey, a really nice local honey,especially in the summer time.- Brush the fruit witha little bit of glaze.And now it really feelslike we're painting.So if this isn't more of an art project,I don't know what it is.- And last, but truly not leastmy basil, so I'm going tointroduce you to my basil gnome.He's really picky,but I like to ask him just for permission.So basil gnome, are we good?We're good.So I'm going to just rip these in halfand sprinkle them over.- And here's my fruit tart.[dramatic tone]- And this is my heirloom tomato tart.- And here you have it,my pistachio orange blossom tart.[bright music]Now time for the best part, the eating.- Alright, here we go, nice big bite.- Mmm.- Oh my god.Oh my God, it came outexactly as I wanted.The filling, really forme is the best part.I mean, I love my berries, butthe filling is just so light.I think this is a job well done.- And I'm not saying it's like pizza,but I would take this any day over pizza.There's like a sweetnessthat comes from the honey,but it doesn't taste like honey.If you want to be the mostpopular person at a summer party,you should probably make this.- Honestly, this turned out perfect.I'd say making my own doughis definitely worth the work.When you really master that flaky crust,there's nothing like it.And if you love pistachios,this is definitely your tart.- The most distinctive elements of a tartare its shell and filling.Let's take a look at the key differencesbetween each of our chef's tarts.[dramatic music]John made a simple andrelatively quick tart shell.John used butter,which is flavorful and makesa tender crust for his tart.Butter is a water and oil emulsion,which means it's got tiny pocketsof water dispersed in fat.In fact, most butters arebetween 15 and 20% water.Gabrielle used commercialstore bought puff pastryfor her tart shell.There's usually no butterin the frozen puff pastrythat you buy in the grocery store.Instead they use tropicaloils like palm kernel oilor hydrogenated soy, or cotton seed oils.These types of fats have the advantageof being more flexibleand formable than butter.However, they don't have the flavoror browning qualities that butter brings.Danielle made a traditionallaminated puff pastry.Pastry lamination meansthat butter and doughare formed by a process ofrolling, folding, and turning.Her first step was to make a barrage.She mixed a small amount of flourand lots of softened butter together,and then chilled it.When it's very cold,butter can actually fracture and crumble.To prevent this, Danielleadded some flour in this step,which made the butter moreelastic when it's very cold,which is essential when itcomes to baking puff pastry.Next, Danielle made the détrempe,which is combining flour, water,a bit of sugar to assistwith browning, and salt.Danielle also added somelemon juice to her détrempe.The acid allows the smallamount of gluten developedto become more flexible and stretchy.She placed the barrage onto the détrempe,took the two short ends ofthe rectangle that she madeand brought them togetherto meet in the middle.She then rolled it witha tapered rolling pinand then made a tri-fold.This is considered to be one turn.- You have to kind of repeat this processfor about two to three times.And sometimes you do it andyou let it rest for two hoursor longer, and then you lose track.How many times have I done this, right?Take a finger, lightly press right there.And that shows you I've done this once.Or you just wrap it in plastic wrapand you put a note on there,one, two, three, four.- She did three turns total,which makes many layers ofcold dough and cold buttermaking this ultra flaky once it's baked.- John whipped heavy cream,he also whipped mascarponecheese with cream cheese.Mascarpone is a softspreadable unripened cheesemade by thermal acidiccoagulation of dairy cream.Gabrielle made a savory tartthat started with a fillingof blended sun dried tomatoes.Sun drying is a slow methodof dehydrating tomatoes,which allows flavors to concentrateand retains volatile flavor compounds.The result is a shiny, deep red, rich,slightly tangy tomato with12 to 24% moisture reduction.Danielle made a pistachio filling.Pistachios are high in protein and sugarcompared to other nuts, sothey're naturally sweet.They get their beautifulgreen color from chlorophyll.The bread is a neutral fillerthat takes up more volumewhile making the filling less dense.- The bread actually acts as a binder.- Orange blossom water hasa fruity and floral flavor.It's been used in confections and pastriesin Northern Africa, theMiddle East, and Spain,since the sixth century.Notice she only added a tablespoonbecause a little goes a long way.John, pre-baked his simpleand delicious tart crust.When you blind bake,which means you bake acrust that is not filled,it's important to take afork and prick the bottomso that the steam can escape,and you won't end up withan overly blistered crust.Gabrielle waited to bake hertart until it was filled.Danielle made sure that herfilled tart was very coldprior to baking it 375 degrees fahrenheit.When it was baked steamformed from the butter meltingand starches gelatinized.When the butter melted, it left some spacewhere water evaporated andflakes formed from the layering.Next time you're in themood to make a tart.Remember you can go sweet,savory, simple, or sophisticated.We hope you'll use some of the tipsfrom our three great chefs.