Strawberry Puff Pastry Tart

BY STÉPHANE GLACIER, M. O. F. PÂTISSIER

PUFF PASTRY - ALMOND CREAM - VANILLA
PASTRY CREAM - STRAWBERRIES

For 2 groups of 16 people

CHEF's TIP: Optional: for an extra touch of freshness, the pastry cream can be flavored with 3% Cointreau ®.

PUFF PASTRY
300 g butter
24 g salt
500 g T65 traditional flour
500 g T45 oatmeal flour
380 g water
500 g dry butter

METHOD:
Soften the butter. Sand the butter, salt and flours using the hook of a beater. Add water and mix (do not knead). Form into a ball and cover with cling film. Refrigerate for at least 5 hours.
Butter the piece of dough, incorporating the dry butter into the center of the first dough. Make 5 single turns, leaving a rest period of at least 2 hours between turns. After the 5th turn, roll out the dough as required. Leave to rest before cutting. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

PASTRY CREAM
1000 g milk
1 vanilla pod
210 g sugar
200 g egg yolks
80 g custard powder
80 g butter

METHOD:
In a saucepan, heat the milk with a little sugar and the vanilla pod, split in half and scraped out.
In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until light, then add the custard powder and mix. Once the milk is boiling, pour half over the egg yolks, sugar and custard powder mixture. Return to the pan and cook. Depending on the quantity, cook for 2 to 3 min after boiling. At the end of cooking, add the butter off the heat. Mix until smooth, then pour the pastry cream onto a clingfilm-coated baking sheet and wrap in clingfilm. Refrigerate until ready to use.

ALMOND CREAM
100 g butter
100 g icing sugar
100 g ground almond (1⁄2 almond flour 1⁄2 raw)
120 g whole eggs
20 g custard powder
10 g rum
90 g liquid cream (for whipped cream 35%)

METHOD:
Soften the butter using a flat whisk. Add the icing sugar, ground
almond, eggs, custard powder, rum and liquid cream.

ASSEMBLY
Strawberries as required
Homemade vanilla sugar as required
Slivered pistachio as required
Fine icing sugar as required

METHOD:
Roll out the puff pastry dough to a thickness of 4 mm. Cut strips 8 cm wide and 60 cm long. Place 1 cm strips around the edges and crimp. Spread 5 mm of almond cream lengthwise. Bake at 180°C for approx. 35 min in a convection oven. Chill. Garnish with 1 cm of pastry cream. Garnish with strawberries. Sprinkle with homemade vanilla sugar. Glaze. Garnish with pistachio slivers. Cut to desired size. Sprinkle fine icing sugar around the edges.