These peach-topped tarts come from the new “Baking at Republique” cookbook (Ten Speed Press, $30) by Republique Bakery pastry chef and co-owner Margarita Manzke.
“These tarts,” she says in the book, “can be made with other fruit, but peaches and brioche are my favorite combination. The not-too-sweet brioche really highlights the fruit. With every bite, you get a yummy combination of brioche, pastry cream and fresh peaches. The peaches look especially beautiful because they hold their shape well. When baked, the peaches come out even more beautiful than the raw fruit, and the flavor becomes more concentrated.”
Don’t fret about the shaped brioche dough looking too flat on your baking sheet. “As it bakes, the edges rise up and form a nice rim of rich, buttery bread,” Manzke says. “I tend to want to overfill these tarts with pastry cream — because I love pastry cream — but it’s important not to, so that the filling doesn’t spill over the sides during baking.
Brioche Dough
Makes 4 pounds, enough for 2 loaves
Ingredients:
2 cups high-fat European-style butter
5¾ cups plus rounded 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulation sugar
9 eggs
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon whole milk
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
2 teaspoons instant yeast
Directions:
Take the butter out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before you plan to use it. Cut the butter into ½-inch cubes and set aside. Measure the flour and sugar separately and place in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
Using a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the eggs and milk and mix on the lowest speed just to blend. Add the flour, salt and yeast. Mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes to incorporate the ingredients. Stop and scrape down the bowl. Increase the speed to high and mix for another 2 minutes.
With the mixer still on high, rain in the granulated sugar slowly and evenly. Let the sugar become incorporated before adding more — this should take at least 5 minutes and up to 7 minutes. The dough will start to come off the hook at this point and get a little softer as the sugar is incorporated.
Turn off the mixer. Add the butter all at once. Mix for 10 minutes on high speed to fully incorporate the butter. Stop and scrape down the bowl once or twice during the process. The dough will form a mass around the dough hook and pull away from the sides of the bowl with a slight thwacking sound. The dough is done when it is glossy and smooth and moist but not sticky.
To confirm that the dough is properly mixed, perform the “windowpane” test: Take a small amount of dough, grasp it between your thumbs and forefingers, and carefully stretch it until is thin and nearly transparent. It shouldn’t break. If it does, return it to the mixer and mix for another 2 minutes and test again.
Coat a large bowl with cooking spray. Place the dough in the bowl and roll it around to coat with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place (between 75 and 85 degrees) for 30 minutes.
Lightly dust your work surface with flour. Place the dough on it and gently fold the dough into thirds, as if you were folding a letter. Turn it 90 degrees and fold it the same way again. Return dough to bowl, cover and let rise another 30 minutes, until doubled in size.
Transfer the dough to a large bowl coated with cooking spray. Add the dough, rolling to coat, cover with a clean kitchen towel and refrigerate for 12 hours. After chilling, your brioche dough will be ready to use.
Brioche Fruit Tarts
Makes 15 tarts
Ingredients:
1 pound 13 ounces brioche dough
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp whole milk
Pinch of fine sea salt
1 cup pastry cream (see recipe)
4 peaches, pitted and sliced
8 plums, pitted and sliced
6 ounces raspberries or blackberries or a mix of both (optional)
3 tablespoons turbinado sugar
Directions:
Form the dough into 15 2-ounce balls for the tarts. (At this point, you can freeze the balls, along with any remaining dough, reserved for another use; thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then proceed with the recipe.)
Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place the balls of dough on the prepared baking sheet and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Put the baking sheet in a warm place to proof until doubled in size, 1½ to 2 hours.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Make an egg wash: Combine the egg, egg yolk, milk and salt in a small bowl and whisk. Brush each dough ball with the egg wash.
Using your fingers, flatten the whole surface until it looks like a pizza, leaving a bit of a raised border.
Put 1 tablespoon of the pastry cream in the center of each brioche and spread it out, leaving a rim of dough at the edges. Divide the peach and plum slices among the tarts. Add a few berries to the tarts, if desired. Sprinkle the turbinado sugar over the fruit and sides of the brioche tarts.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until the brioche is golden brown. These are best eaten the day they are baked.
Reprinted with permission from Baking at Republique by Margarita Manzke, © 2019. Published by Lorena Jones Books, a division of Penguin Random House, Inc.