This recipe is an impressive, no fuss tart to celebrate rhubarb and strawberries being in season at the same time! The fruit is mixed with fennel seed, lemon zest and elderflower and encased in a buttery, flakey pastry with a digestive biccie barrier to prevent a soggy bottom.
My mom has always been casually outstanding at making tarts and quiches. A recipeless maestro. I think because of this standard I have always overthought my tarts or steered clear of them altogether, never truly satisfied or impressed. This recipe, however, is so fool proof and rustic that it's very hard to go wrong. You don't need to worry about blind baking, lattice making or custard setting.
Makes 8 portions
To note:
I haven't included elderflower in the recipe but if you happen to come across some in the next few weeks, a handful of fresh flowers is a nice addition to the fruit mixture before baking and for garnish when the tart has cooled. If elderflower is not in season you could also substitute 40g of sugar with 2 tbsp of cordial.
The yoghurt can be replaced with iced water →
Fruit used in this tart can vary but it is important to note the sweetness and juiciness of the fruit. For example if only strawberries are used in this tart I would use max 100g of sugar since strawberries are already quite sweet. If I were to use a fruit with a lower water content like plums I wouldn't add any cornflour →
The digestive biscuits are an important addition as they soak up excess liquid and prevent the tart from having a soggy bottom. These can be replaced by any other biscuit that suits the flavour profile of the tart such as oat or amaretti. A sprinkling of ground nuts also works well as a barrier or semolina. If you want to take it even further a layer of frangipane is always a welcome addition to any fruit galette →
If you don't have a stand mixer you can rub the butter into the flour by hand
I served this alongside some whipped cream. It would also be great with some greek yoghurt, creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream while the tart is still warm.
Demerara sugar is not absolutely necessary. The intention is to use a larger, coarser sugar crystal for decoration. If you don't have something similar, fine sugar will do.
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Ingredients
Pastry
200g all purpose flour 2 tsps sugar 1/2 tsp salt 115g unsalted butter 100g full fat yoghurt
Start by getting the dough ingredients cold. Cut the butter up into one inch cubes and sit them in the freezer. Weigh up the yoghurt and leave it in the fridge. Add the dry ingredients into the bowl of your stand mixer, mix them together and sit it in the fridge. Let everything chill for about 30 minutes.
Put the bowl of flour into the stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Add the cubes of butter and mix on a low to medium speed until the butter has broken down to pea size pieces. It's okay if some pieces of butter are bigger than others (refer to pictures). Continuing at the same speed, add the cold yoghurt. After a few seconds, when the yoghurt is roughly incorporated, turn off the stand mixer and use your hands to bring the dough together and make a rough disc shape. If the dough is too dry and it won't come together add another little bit of yoghurt until it holds its shape. Don't worry if it doesn't look perfectly smooth and uniform. If the dough is overworked it will become a tough and dense pastry as opposed to flaky and light. Let the dough rest, wrapped in cling film, in the fridge for 2 hours.
While the dough is resting trim and wash the rhubarb and chop into small pieces. Wash and hull the strawberries and cut into quarters or halves if they are very small. Weigh the sugar, cornflour, lemon zest and fennel seeds into a separate bowl. Only mix this with the fruit right before adding to the tart as the fruit will exude lots of liquid if let to sit with the sugar.
After two hours set the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Line a tray with parchment paper. Flour your work surface and take the dough out of the fridge. Roll the dough out to roughly a 34cm circle using dustings of flour above and below the dough as you roll to stop the butter sticking to the work surface. At this point transfer the dough to the tray. I find it easiest to move the dough by rolling half of it around the rolling pin and carefully dragging it onto the baking tray. My tray wasn't wide enough so the dough was draping over the sides and that's okay as it will eventually be folded inward over the fruit. Sprinkle the crushed digestives evenly into the centre of the tart, leaving about a 4cm gap around the edge. Mix the fruit with the sugar, cornflour, fennel and lemon zest and pile evenly on top of the crushed biscuits.
Moving in a clockwise direction, begin to fold the dough over the fruit. Brush any exposed pastry with the melted butter and liberally sprinkle over demerara sugar. Place in the oven for around 50 minutes, until golden brown and bubbling. Check the tart after 30 minutes. If it's browned enough already you may need to drop the temperature to 160c for the last 20 minutes.
Allow the tart to cool and set before slicing. Feel free to sprinkle some elderflowers on top if you have them and serve with a fat dollop of whipped cream ❤️
