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Tarte tropézienne

Tarte tropézienne

Prep 20 mins (plus chilling, proving)

Cook 25 mins

Serves 8-10

Difficulty 3.5

“I make tropézienne occasionally at Hotel Centennial as a little reminder for guests of their holidays in the south of France,” says chef Ben Greeno. “The menu is heavily influenced by Provence and the Côte d’Azur.” This modern classic, created in the 1950s, consists of light, buttery brioche filled with crème pâtissière and whipped cream, plus a scattering of rock sugar for crunch.

200 ml thickened cream, whisked to soft peaks

2 tsp orange blossom water

1 egg, whisked

Pearl sugar, to decorate (see note)

Grand Marnier

Pure icing sugar


CRÈME PÂTISSIÈRE

500ml (2 cups) milk

1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

4 egg yolks

100g caster sugar

45g cornflour

25g butter, diced


BRIOCHE

100ml lukewarm milk

22g fresh yeast, or 11g dried yeast

600g plain flour

75g caster sugar

15g fine salt

250g eggs, at room temperature

175g butter, diced, at room temperature

1. For crème pâtissière, make a slurry in a bowl with cornflour and 50ml milk. Whisk eggs and sugar in a separate bowl until combined, add flour mixture and stir to combine. Meanwhile, bring remaining milk and vanilla to a simmer in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour warm milk onto egg mixture and mix well. Return mixture to pan and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until thick (about 3 minutes), then pour mixture into a clean bowl and whisk to remove any lumps. Whisk in butter in pieces until combined. Cover directly and cool completely, then refrigerate until chilled (2 hours).


2. For brioche, stir milk and yeast and set aside to activate (5 minutes). Mix flour, sugar, salt in an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, then stir through yeast mixture until a dough forms. While mixing, add eggs one by one, then when incorporated add the butter pieces gradually, incorporating well before adding more, then mix until a smooth dough. Set aside covered to prove until doubled in size (1 hour), then then knock back dough.


3. Roll out dough 2cm thickness and put on a tray into fridge leave for 1 hour.


4. Preheat oven to 180C. Glaze the brioche with eggwash then sprinkle well with rock sugar put back into fridge for 15 minutes. Cut out using a ring mould or an upturned bowl to a neat 22cm round, then bring to room temperature for 15 minutes. Bake until golden and cooked through (30 minutes; if brioche darkens on top while cooking, cover with foil to prevent burning). Cool on a rack.


5. To serve, fold whipped cream into crème pâtissière with the orange blossom water. Halve brioche and brush with Grand Marnier. Spread the cream mixture onto the bottom half and sandwich with remaining half. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

W I N E  M A T C H 

Beaumes de Venise.

Recipe by Ben Greeno and image by Eatable.

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