I kinda left you hangin’ after my therapy session with Mr. Bread. What happened post-session was that I got my tart on, at a pastry and tart class held by the wonderful folkes at Brasserie Bread. I tried my hand at making a few sweet treats for Mr Bread himself, as a token of my-moody-somewhat-on-off-love-for-him. Pays to be patient in relationships with gooks.
I was slightly worried. Two types of pastry, fragipane tarts, friands (by hand!) and a savoury quiche – all in three hours? This was a mission that seemed impossible. But with Matt leading the ship, I felt at ease. Plus, he started the class with freshly baked, warm and oh-so-fluffy crossaints. An instant destress.
Butter makes the world better doesn’t it?!
Post crossaint(s) the mixing and makin’ began. In true artisan-style; “make with hand, head and heart”- all electric utensils were put away and the only utensil we could use were our arms. Totally tough act. Never fear, life’s all about challenges and all that box lifting helped me conquer those dense n’ delicious friands by hand and my frangipane tarts didn’t look to shabby either. My savoury tart got inhaled in about 3 minutes and I gained a new quiche recipe that I’d never would have thought worked. Between you and me, it’s about the sour cream not regular cream.
I did discover my piping skills needed work and resembled more doggy-doo than elegant swirl (one fail I can cop on the chin). All baking techniques aside, the reward at the end of the class are sweet jewels made by your very-own-hands. That you can then take into work and say, “I baked these myself “, with the response “they look store-bought” – something you don’t get very often.
Total tart and pastry success. I’ll definitely be back for the bread class.
Now, this is one way to calm nerves (I may steal this neat trick)
Task one, sweet pastry. Actually really simple.
And not to worry you don’t need to share your sweet treats with anyone
Now this was the hardest part but of course, you work in teams so it makes it so much easier
The final stages of the friand mixture
And if your arms get tired, Matt is on hard to help out and whip it into shape
Piping and filling the friands trays was really simple and yes, the raw batter tasted real good
Rolling out the sweet pastry for our tarts both sweet and savoury
Me trying to be a pastry professional
Nail marks aside, semi-ok
It is a little fiddly but time isn’t an issue so you can redo and roll till your hearts content
We use a commercial grade cling film that can be used in blind baking (I need some of this!)
Matt shows us how it’s done for the frangipane tarts
Now onto the savoury tarts which is so easy peasy, I’m adopting this recipe into my weekly eats
Dinner is served
As soon as dinner is finished and all gobbled up our goodies are baked
Hello frangipane, looks pretty darn tasty
One final glaze and…
Professional tarts to impress all Mr Breads!
THE DEETS YOU WANNA KNOW
Get your Pastry and Tart on!
3 hour class
See all their classes here
Sidenote: as this tart class doubles as a bicep workout, that helps burn off the calories consumed post crossaint. As an added bonus you may even carbo-load-up and take a few loaves of top-notch Brasserie Bread home – ding, ding!
www.brasseriebread.com.au
THE GOOK attended the Pastry & Tart Class as a guest of Brasserie Bread.
