“Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare, and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit.” -Anton Chekhov, Russian writer and father of the modern short story

Nearly every time you hear someone speak about puff pastry, they say something to the effect of “Just buy the store-bought kind…..it does the job just fine, and believe me, once you’ve made it yourself, you won’t want to do it again.”  I always sort of believed these culinary pundits, but I must say I was intrigued when I discovered we’d be doing it from scratch at school.  Not only was it not at all difficult, but it was actually an enormous pleasure.  Things that take time, effort, and patience – things that are crafts, I’ve come to realize, are usually just that…..pleasures.  Truly, there is nothing particularly complicated about the act of making puff pastry (or “pâte feuilletée” in French; literally translated as “laminated paste”) except for the time involved in making it, most of which is latent refrigerator time anyway.  Additionally, there is a wonderful texture to handmade puff pastry.  I couldn’t keep my hands off of it because the texture was so smooth and silky…..like the best Play-Doh experience of your life.  I don’t know why anyone would want to exchange that for a “lesser-than” experience, but then again, I’m a food nerd.  And fine, if you want to know the truth, the Pepperidge Farm stuff actually provides very good results if you aren’t interested in creating the puff pastry on your own.  Most people aren’t, so this recipe travels the road with the least degree of difficulty.  (If you guys really, really want to know, let me know in the comments and I’ll post the full puff pastry recipe.)

So what is it about puff pastry that causes its characteristic height and flakiness?  Basically, it’s the composition.  The way puff pastry is constructed and made results in a thin layer of dough stacked with a thin layer of butter on top of a thin layer of dough on top of a thin layer of butter and so on and so forth.  While baking in the oven, the layers of butter melt and leave an air pocket between the pastry layers where steaming occurs.  The hot air expands and “puffs up” the pastry layers, while the butter provides the golden-brown color.  (You can actually watch this happen in the oven, which is kind of cool if you’re, um, a total geek like I am about stuff like this.  Yay science!)  And the extra super totally awesome bonus factor of making it yourself?  You can do it in large quantities, take what you need when you need it, and freeze the rest for later use.

The ingredients for this dessert are simple and wonderful.  There are three main components:  the puff pastry (either homemade or store-bought), the pastry cream, and the fresh fruit garnish, which can be basically anything that is in season and makes sense together.  I used what was available to us for use in class, and it was wonderful, but please feel free to try this with whatever fruit you like.  I imagine , for example, a tropical blend of toasted coconut, mango, banana, and pineapple.  Play!  Experiment!  Create!  Enjoy!  That’s what this stuff is all about.

Ingredients:

Puff Pastry:

1/2 package of store-bought puff pastry, defrosted and pliable but still cold

1 whole egg, beaten (for egg wash)

Pastry Cream:

2 cups milk (Full fat yippee!  Low-fat ok!  Non-fat booo!)

1/2 length of a vanilla bean, split the long way and scraped of seeds (NOTE:  If you don’t have the real deal vanilla beans, you can substitute with 1 tsp. real vanilla extract – no imitation chemicals please!  Yeah, fine, so vanilla beans are expensive, but that’s because they come from orchids and are awesome.  They are also SO worth it in terms of flavor, and you get those lovely little specks of vanilla bean throughout your pastry cream, which makes you a winner!)

4 egg yolks

5 tbsp. sugar

1 1/2 tbsp. flour

1 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch

Fruit Topping:

Whatever you like, whatever’s fresh, whatever’s in season, and whatever works nicely together in terms of taste, texture, and color.  Get crazy!

2-3 tbsp. apricot jam

Water

Instructions:

1.  First let’s make the pastry cream, since that can go in the refrigerator and wait for the other components to be ready.  Bring the milk, vanilla specks scraped from the beans, and the beans themselves to a boil in a saucepan.

2.  While that stuff heats up, add egg yolks and sugar together in a large work bowl, and whisk until the mixture becomes a pale yellow color (about 20-30 seconds of vigorous whisking).  Add flour and cornstarch and continue whisking until mixture is incorporated, smooth, and contains no lumps.

3.  Add a small amount of the hot milk/vanilla mixture to the egg yolk mixture and whisk to temper.  Add a bit more, temper, and then add the rest.  Again whisk until mixture is smooth and there are no lumps.  Place the mixture in a clean saucepan and bring to a boil on the stove.  As soon as pastry cream boils, cook for 3 minutes more.

4.  Transfer mixture to a work bowl and cover with plastic wrap so that the plastic wrap touches the entire surface of the pastry cream.  Place in the refrigerator to cool down while you prepare the other ingredients.

5.  Preheat oven to 400º.

6. Sprinkle a clean work surface with a generous amount of flour and roll out the puff pastry dough until it’s an even 1/8″ thick or so.  (Be sure to flour the rolling pin and the top of the puff pastry sheet as well.)  Brush off excess flour.  With a sharp knife, cut a rectangle approximately 12″ long and 6″ wide, reserving the excess.  Cut 2 more strips that are approximately 12″ long and 1/2″ wide for the edges.  Brush the long sides of the large rectangle with egg wash and lay the edge strips directly on top.  Trim any excess or uneven-ness to that you have a perfect rectangle.

7.  Brush the entire surface lightly with egg wash and place the whole thing on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper or Silpat .  Place an additional piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil over the top of the pastry and place in the preheated oven.  Immediately reduce the oven temperature to 350º and back for 15-20 minutes, or until some nice height is achieved.  (NOTE:  Resist the temptation to open the oven door – use the oven light to monitor the baking, or if you don’t have one, simply leave it alone for at least 12-15 minutes to rise.  This is because the sudden blast of cold air from opening the oven door can arrest the pastry’s ability to puff properly.)

8.  When a good height has been reached and the pastry is a nice golden-brown, reduce the oven temperature again to 325º and bake 10 minutes more to dry out.

9.  Remove the pastry from the oven and allow to cool on a rack for several minutes.  While the pastry cools, slice the fruit for the topping into even, thin slices.  Set aside.

10.  Prepare apricot glaze by heating 2-3 tbsp. of apricot jam with 5 tbsp. of water at a time until a nice, smooth, syrup-y consistency is achieved.

11.  Spread a generous, even layer of pastry cream over the puff pastry base.  Top the pastry cream with neat, even rows of the sliced fruit and brush the entire top of the tart with apricot glaze, taking care not to disturb the decoration.  Cut into 1 1/2″ wide-ish strips and serve.

Yield: Taste the rainbow in a much more delicious way than a bag of Skittles, 8-10 times.  You can share if you want.  :)