Portuguese Custard Tarts (Pastéis de Nata)

look what I've made it's a pastry that matches my necklace of course if you've ever been to Portugal you probably recognize this tiny custard Tarts as bus tastes Donata a few years ago on a trip to Lisbon my son fell madly in love with these starts so texture wise I see where he was coming from I mean you have a crispy flaky crust which contrasts so beautifully with the creamy custard but the flavor was nothing to write home about they were just sweet and if you ask me too sweet since my kiddo loved them so much I learned to make them at first I was sticking to the traditional version but I thought oh come on I can't make a feeling that's much more tasty I replaced the simple syrup in the Custard with maple syrup not only is it more complex it's also easier because you don't need to make it I added a splash of pomegranate molasses for acidity and I stuck a few pieces of juicy plum in the center the result was simply spectacular You've Got The Touch of New England from the maple a touch of the Middle East from Pomegranate and a touch of France from the plums why do plums taste like friends I don't know but to me they do this is as Helen flavored as a dish gets [Music] I have good news and bad news about the pastry don't even think about using some other dough store-bought puff pastry or homemade pie dough Chef John has tried I have tried it doesn't work like all laminated those it's an origami project with butter he does require precision and patience but this one is more forgiving than most laminated dose I used three sources for my dough David Lee's recipe from Leeds culinaria cupcake Jammers video and Chef John's video I have learned something from all of them but I have many extra tips to give you and to give myself people sometimes ask me as a joke if I ever cook from my own videos I do this is a dish that I make once a year and although I have kept a very careful notes on my technique I run into the same air bubble issues every time on my first fold but the second fold I know exactly what I should have done to fix it but that's hard to explain in words so I'm making this video for me as well as you foreign the first tip I have for you is to use European style butter not the standard American butter none of the recipes called for it but I did try it with both batteries and here is the deal there was no difference in taste but the European butter is way easier to work with it spreads easier during lamination and doesn't crack when you push the cold pieces of dough into the turtles plugra is the most common brand of European style butter in the US it's not important it's made in the U.S it simply has more water beaten out of it during production bring two sticks of butter to room temperature it should be completely soft but not at all melted here is the texture you're looking for God forbid don't microwave it I get it out of the fridge the night before so that I don't forget yes it's completely safe to leave butter at room temperature for one day divide your butter into three portions two portions of 70 grams and one portion of 86 grams foreign Ty grams of unbleached all-purpose flour into a bowl of a stand mixer add 2.1 grams of salt that's three quarters of a teaspoon of diamond crystal kosher salt or a heaping quarter teaspoon of table salt mix the dry ingredients by hand for about 20 seconds then add 180 grams of cold water and mix by hand with the dough hook for a few seconds just to get things started since the amount of dough is quite small and most Dent mixers will just be spinning before the dough starts to Clump up now we can attach the hook and let the mixer do its job on medium low speed until all the flour is absorbed scrape down the sides and continue on medium low until all the crumbs are absorbed and the dough is homogeneous but not smooth yet check the consistency it should feel just barely sticky when you touch it with your hands but should be clearing the mixer bowl with no problems if it's sticking to the mixer add about a tablespoon of flour and mix until it gets absorbed once the consistency is Right Turn up the speed to medium for 30 seconds we don't want to over knead otherwise the dough will shrink back when we roll it out basically we need some gluten development but not too much turn the dough out onto unflowered work surface and give it a few kneading folds it should feel somewhere between the pasta dough and the bread dough if you've never made either pasta or bread but you've decided to tackle pasties de nada you are a brave person no I'm just kidding it's going to be fine I promise see how it is sticking to me just a bit that's the texture we want flower your work surface and Pat your dough flat with floured hands now we need to turn it into a square I don't know if you've noticed but those don't like to be square the easiest way to do that for me is to roll it out slightly stretch out the edges and fold them over to make them straight instead of curvy you can use your pastry scraper to help you straighten them out there we go try rolling it and stretching it with your hands until you get a six by six inch square don't rush and try to get the shape right if things are a little crooked now they'll get 10 times as crooked once we start laminating so it's good to be as precise as possible with each step cover your dough with plastic wrap or a bowl and let it rest for 15 minutes this will help the gluten relax so that the dough doesn't shrink as much when we roll it out foreign our big ruler or a measuring tape and start laminating move the dough to one side and sprinkle the work surface generously and the top of the dough generously every few rolls rotate the dough this accomplishes two things it results in a more even shape and thickness and you get heads up about sticking periodically check the dough sites our goal is donating by 18 inch square if you feel even a hint of sticking fold the dough in half and add more flour unfold and repeat on the other side we are at 18 inches not perfectly straight but we'll fix that with a little trimming before we add the butter we need to make sure we aren't sticking looks good if you have any loose flour on top brush stuff put one of the 70 gram portions of butter into a bowl and mix it well to help it get to a spreadable consistency that two-thirds of this dough on your left with butter and spread it evenly this takes time since you have to be gentle not to wrap the dough this isn't a piece of toast the best tool for this is an offset spatula a spoon would work in a pinch but would make it slower and more difficult to achieve a perfectly thin and perfectly smooth layer which is absolutely essential to success when you spread your dots of butter leave a one inch border around all the edges now we take the unbuttered third of the dough and fold it over this did not go very well but there are so many good lessons we can take away from my screw-up see where I am patting it around the edges and you know what this does it traps the air bubbles if you do get one you can poke it gently with the tip of a knife but there is a way to avoid them all together by the second letter turn I'll remember that and we'll show you a good way to do it the good news is that this though somehow works out even when it looks like you are screwing everything up okay I folded the other side over and pushed out whatever air bubbles I could let's trim the uneven edges and we're ready to repeat the whole process all over again note where the closed fold of the dough is this will be the side facing you during the next row reflower the work surface and start rolling the difficult thing here is that we are still aiming for eating by eating square but our dough is already 18 inches wide so we are only rolling it in One Direction and we are not rotating the dough this time but we are still checking to make sure we aren't sticking and adding flour whenever needed unfortunately it is impossible to make the dough grow in One Direction only so as you see it grew a bit wider as well another problem I have is that my butter started bursting slightly through the fold if that happens to you don't panic just add some extra flour in that area and keep going also try to roll more towards the open side than towards the fold I felt a little sticking so I added more flour under the dough and with a bit more rolling I finally got to 18 inches but then this happened oh okay don't panic here's the plan we'll scrape without pre-flower and check for any trouble areas everything else looks good now we need to spread the second 70 gram batch of butter over two thirds of the dough I will strategically position it right here this way my messy ripped dough will end up inside don't forget the one inch border on all sides Let's Fold it over and to prevent the air bubbles will start sealing it at the fold slowly working our way towards the edges to push out the air instead of trapping it inside if your dough is a bit crooked you can always stretch it a little let's brush off extra flour the messy spot is right here but my next fold will contain it and I won't tell if you won't tell same deal keep the dough slightly open and start sealing from the fold pushing the air bubbles out brush of extra flour and scrape up the work surface since we had all sorts of reps and oozing butter we need to clean all that mess up reflower your work surface and we're ready for the final roll position your dough with the closed side facing you and now we'll be rolling it to be 18 by 21 inches no more rotation of the dough we're already at 18 inches this way so we're only rolling in this direction to get those whopping 21 inches check for sticking very frequently and add more flour under the dough once you get there brush of excess flour and spread the last portion of butter all over the dough leaving a one inch border on all sides except for the one facing you on that side you want the butter to go all the way to the edge take your time and make sure the butter layer is perfectly thin and even then start rolling the dough very tightly away from you just like rolling a sleeping bag use your fingertips and keep your log as even as possible trapping no air inside the outside of your dough will look very flowery if it doesn't you're playing with fire and asking for sticking and wrapped dough but once you are at this final stage you also don't want to keep all this flour so periodically brush it off with a pastry brush using your hand as a guard against the flower flying back inside your roll trim everything that's preventing your log from being a beautiful work of art this stuff this stuff and this stuff cut your log in half wrap itch half tightly in plastic and refrigerate overnight before shaping I usually put one of the logs in the fridge and the other one in the freezer bag and freeze it for future use good news my friends the hard part is over when you are ready to bake preheat the oven to 500 Fahrenheit with the oven rack set to the bottom third if your baking pasta is Donata for the first time you'll probably be using a muffin pan it will taste fine it's just harder to shape since you can't rotate each Cup in your hands the easiest way to shape this dough is to use these little tart pans I'll give you a link in the description below I haven't tried fluted tarte pens but I can't imagine that being a good idea given that this dough is not rolled it's pressed with fingers that's the traditional way to do it I tried rolling it with a rolling pin but it didn't come out nearly as good let's butter the tart pans with a little bit of butter to help the Tarts release nicely a few people on Amazon complained that these pans leave gray streaks on towels and food that's because you need to break them in bake something in them one or two times and they'll stop staining of course given how much work this dough is there is no way I'd waste it on seasoning instead I rubbed my tart pants with the thinnest almost imperceptible coating of canola oil and bake them at 450 Fahrenheit for an hour or until the oil turned rock hard just like seasoning baking sheets or cast iron pans see all these brown spots on them that's seasoning and don't you dare scrub that off when washing them you only need to season them once and they'll serve you well for the rest of your life our next step is to figure out how much dough we need if I was using a muffin tin I would try a one inch piece of dough but since I'm using this tiny tart pants I'll try about two thirds of an inch only cut one piece so that you can make any necessary adjustments for the rest of your lock dunk both sides and flower shake off the excess and press the dough into the bottom of your pen using your thumbs try to keep the thickness even you need enough dough to make it stick out a quarter inch above the rim of the pan if you feel like you had too much or too little though adjust on the next start until you get it just right the reason that I can shape this dough straight from the fridge is the European style butter if I was using American butter I need to slice the dough and wait about 20 minutes for it to become pliable enough to shape since my first start looks good I can slice the rest of the log and fit it into my pants One log will produce about 10 little Tarts or eight muffins I start by the way look at this perfect spiral of butter wait till we bake this there'll be magnificent place the Tarts on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and put in the fridge for at least 15 minutes or however long it takes you to make the filling my filling recipe is for One log of dough if you want to bake both logs in one day you can double the recipe peel three strips of lemon skin and reserve for the custard today I am adding a plum to my Tarts but that's optional adding fruit only makes them better if the fruit is perfectly ripened juicy fruits that work well in the start should have a lot of acidity to match the sweetness of the custard plums are my favorite but apricot sour cherries and mango could work well too I like to slice them really thinly then overlap three to four slices and roll them into little rosettes but cutting them into little pieces would work well too just keep in mind that the fruit should be just a small accent not the star of The Filling if you add too much it can mess with the texture of custard and turn it to watery I'm using three papers and slices of Plum per tart to make the custard put 24 grams of all-purpose flour into a bowl and add a little pinch of salt in the Pyrex measuring cup combine 100 grams of milk 80 grams of cream the strips of lemon skin and the microwave until the mixture comes to a boil add enough milk mixture to the flour to get the consistency of mashed potatoes whisk vigorously to get rid of lumps starting with this thicker mixture mix getting rid of lumps easier once it's smooth whisking the rest of the milk mixture add 75 grams of maple syrup half a teaspoon of vanilla extract a pinch of cinnamon and if you have it one teaspoon of pomegranate molasses there's no need to whisk it after every single ingredient feel free to dump them all in and then whisk I store my maple syrup in the fridge this makes it last indefinitely without getting moldy since my syrup is cold it brings the overall temperature of my custard down quickly and I am ready to add the yolks as soon as everything is mixed if your maple syrup is not cold you might need to wait for the mixture to cool off to about 120 Fahrenheit before adding the yolks strain the mixture through a fine mashed sieve to remove the zest and any remaining flour lumps stir it around to help all the liquid go through but if you have some sludgy lumpy stuff remaining don't push it through and just discard it pour the custard into the turtles leaving the top half inch of dough unthought the custard puffs up a lot in the oven if you overfill the Tarts it will spill out and ruin your Tarts if you have some custard left over just discard it or save for another use but don't overfill the Tarts if you are using Fruit Place it in the middle of each tart if you're baking in a muffin ton place it on the baking sheet to avoid the possible mess in the oven from oozing butter place the baking sheet in the bottom third of the oven and bake for 12 minutes at this point the custard should puff up and the dough should turn lightly golden turn on the convection fan and bake an additional two to four minutes until the custard gets a few dark spots and the dough turns deeply brown but not burnt if your oven doesn't bake evenly you might want to rotate the baking sheet and if you don't have convection your Tarts might need a bit more time without convection this kind of spotting might not happen but if the dough is nicely Brown just get them out the little tart let's add that as soon as the color looks right but if you're baking in bigger muffin pans you need to make sure the custard reaches 180 Fahrenheit or it won't set properly if you touch up plenty brown but the custard is still too cool turn off the oven and the convection fan return the turrets to the oven and check every couple of minutes by the way it's perfectly normal for the butter to ooze out of the dough during baking none of the recipes have worn about it and the first time it happened to me I was really worried but it's unavoidable due to the spiral nature of the dough where else will this butter go since all ovens are different you might need to adjust the timing and oven positioning to suit your oven the first batch is always tricky like with any baking project move them to the rack to cool for 20 minutes you want them to be warm but not hot as pretty as they look from the top wait till you see the bottom is there anything more beautiful just a warning don't flip them over until they cool for 15 minutes or this will happen oops to do them Justice you really need to serve them warm and freshly baked you could rewarm them but they won't be quite as good if you are making them for company all the heavy lifting can be done hours ahead you could press the dough into tart pans make your custard and prep your fruit keep the dough and custard in the fridge until ready to bake filling the Tarts and baking them takes 15 minutes and almost no effort I'll be honest with you this is not a dish for the faint of heart but I hope that my success in spite of numerous mishaps will inspire you to try most of my baking projects go like this everything seems to go according to plan but the final result is messed up this dish is just the opposite it always feels like I'm messing up every step of the way yet the fine final result is great here are more realistic culinary tutorials for you to check out and if you are ever in the Boston area maybe I'll see you in one of my classes [Music]

Channel: Helen Rennie

Views: 55,140

Keywords:

Id: 9ttJgoF9afo

Length: 24min 0sec (1440 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 29 2022