Recipe: Perennial strawberry tart
A bonus recipe, featuring Kernza
This is the third recipe that follows my post on reimagining pie for the climate era. Pretty sure I’m legally obligated to send you a tart recipe—the French answer to a pie—since I’m in Paris this week!
I’m hooked on an idea that popped into my head recently: perennial tarts. They’d use soil-restoring perennial flours and be hyper-seasonal, the tart shell a pastry platter for the flavors I want to come back to year after year.
And one of those flavors is here. The strawberry clock has struck 12. Throw open the door of any pastry shop in Paris (the fastest way to tell them you’re American) and you’ll be greeted with a tarte aux fraises: a strawberry tart made of a crisp tart crust, pastry cream, and a heap of berries.
In this recipe the crust is a Kernza take on Brittany shortbread, the easiest French tart crust to make because you don’t have to roll out the dough. It’s also my favorite because of its rich, nutty-toasty flavor—a flavor Kernza comes by naturally. Using a perennial flour is just helping Brittany shortbread live its best life.
You can get Kernza flour for this recipe from Perennial Pantry.
Part of what’s fun about baking with Kernza is that since it’s early in commercial development, any desserts we make with it are pretty experimental. That’s why I’m going to offer two approaches for the tart crust.
The first option is no-fuss: Use the Kernza flour as is.
The second option adds a step for my fellow dessert demons who are here to #innovate: Grab a sieve and sift the Kernza flour before you use it.
Sifting out the biggest pieces of bran essentially creates a DIY pastry flour—one that’s finer and gives the shortbread a crunchy-crustier texture I prefer (though both versions are delicious). Leftover bran flakes can be saved for kneading into a sourdough loaf or mixing into overnight oats.
And since we’re talking variations, here’s a final one: If making pastry cream is simply not your vibe on a hot summer day, swap it for sweetened whipped cream. I made that variation earlier this week before I hopped on a redeye, and as they say in Par-ee, it too was un rêve.
Recipe: Perennial Strawberry Tart with Kernza
Special equipment
7 or 8-inch tart pan or bottomless tart ring
Ingredients
Brittany shortbread
50g (⅓ cup + 2 tablespoons) (preferably sifted) Kernza flour
20g (¼ cup) almond flour
2.5g (½ teaspoon) baking powder
1g (¼ teaspoon) salt
35g (2.5 tablespoons) butter, at room temperature
30g (2 tablespoons) sugar
18g egg yolks (1 yolk)
10g (1 ½ teaspoons) almond butter
Lemon-vanilla pastry cream
150g (scant ⅔ cup) whole milk
18g egg yolks (1 yolk)
30g (2 tablespoons) sugar
8g (1 tablespoon) cornstarch
½ teaspoon vanilla
Zest of half a lemon
Fruit and glaze
226g (one 8-oz package) strawberries, sliced thinly
Optional: 50g (~3 tablespoons) apricot jam or jelly for glazing
Method
Prepare the pastry cream. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and sugar. Add the cornstarch and whisk again to combine. Heat the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat, just until you see steam rising from the surface. Then temper the milk into the egg mixture and back again: Remove the saucepan from heat and gently pour half the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Then pour the mixture back into the saucepan; return the saucepan to medium heat; and cook, whisking constantly, until it thickens to the consistency of pudding (a few minutes). Once thickened, remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla and lemon zest. Transfer the pastry cream to a small bowl, press plastic wrap directly against the cream to prevent it forming a skin, and refrigerate until ready to use.
Prepare the shortbread crust. Preheat the oven to 335F. Spray the inside of the tart pan or tart ring with cooking spray, and place it on a sheet pan (lined with parchment paper if using a bottomless tart ring). In a medium bowl, combine the room-temperature butter and sugar, mixing with a spatula until it’s smooth. Add the egg yolk and almond butter and mix until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk together the (preferably sifted) Kernza flour, almond flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix with a spatula just until the dough comes together. Press it evenly into the bottom of the tart pan with your fingers. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the top is evenly golden-brown. If using an 8-inch tart pan, start checking for doneness a few minutes early. Allow to cool completely.
Wait to assemble the tart until you’re nearly ready to serve to prevent a soggy crust. Give the pastry cream a good whisk to smooth it out, and spread it evenly onto the crust with an offset spatula or spoon, leaving a half-inch border.
Add the fruit and optional glaze. Slice the strawberries. Heat the jam or jelly in the microwave for a few seconds to warm it and thin it to a brushable consistency. Arrange the berries as you wish on the tart, then use a pastry brush to gently brush a layer of jam glaze over the berries, making them shine like jewels.
More about perennials
Nerd out on the state of Kernza and learn what’s being made with it (cereal! beer!)
Read about the benefits of perennial crops (Civil Eats)
Listen to a song about perennials by Emergence Collective that works better than prescription anxiety medication
And stay tuned for a guide to baking with Kernza (and more recipes) later this summer
This is a bonus post in an otherwise weekly newsletter. I blame caffeine. Expect more bonus posts when I create a paid subscription option this summer.
"unhinged thyme" might be the most poetic ingredient name there is 👀🥲