Tarts, Egg - ecnivo/Recipes GitHub Wiki

Recipe from https://www.chainbaker.com/pasteis-de-nata/ with mods by me and Phoenix

Ingredients

For the pastry –

  • 140g (4.9oz) plain flour
  • 90g (3.15oz) water
  • 1g (0.035oz) salt
  • 90g (3.2oz) soft spreadable butter

For the filling –

  • 20g (0.7oz) plain flour
  • 30g (1oz) milk
  • 120g (4.2oz) milk (this is not a typo)
  • 5g (0.17oz) vanilla extract
  • 80g (2.8oz) water
  • 120g (4.2oz) sugar
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 3 egg yolks

Method

  1. Make the pastry. Combine the flour, salt, and water. Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes. This resting stage replaces the kneading process.
  2. Heavily dust the table and the dough with flour. Roll the dough out to a large square.
  3. Brush 2/3 of the dough with the softened butter. Fold the 1/3 of plain dough over and then cover it with the remaining 1/3 of buttered pastry. We have the first three layers of our pastry.
  4. Roll the pastry out again as much as you can. It will resist at this point and if you are struggling, then you can leave it to rest for a few minutes before continuing.
  5. Brush 2/3 of the pastry with the softened butter. Fold the 1/3 of plain pastry over and then cover it with the remaining 1/3 of buttered pastry. We now have 9 layers.
  6. Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  7. Roll it out to a large square. This time brush the whole surface with butter. Trim the very top and bottom of the pastry and then roll it up into a tight log. Pinch the seam together at the end. Many more layers have been created.
  8. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate until it has set. It took around 1 hour for me. You can leave it in the fridge for a few days even.
  1. Make the custard mix. In a small bowl whisk the 20g plain flour with the 30g milk to a smooth paste. Leave on the side.
  2. Combine the 120g milk with the vanilla paste in a pan and bring up to a boil.
  3. Pour the hot milk over the flour/milk paste and whisk until smooth.
  4. Combine the water, sugar, and cinnamon stick in a pan and bring up to a boil. Remove the cinnamon stick and pour the syrup into the bowl with the milk/flour mix. Whisk until combined.
  5. Leave the mix to cool down to below 60C (140F). Whisk in the egg yolks. Cover the custard mix and leave it on the side. You can refrigerate it for a few days just like the pastry.
  6. Once you are ready to bake pre-heat the oven to 250C (482F) fan off. Make sure it is well pre-heated for at least 30 minutes. If you have a baking stone or steel, then I would suggest using it. A thick base will ensure that the bottom bakes properly.
  7. Brush the muffin tin with butter. Trim the edges of the pastry log and cut the pastry into 12 equal pieces.
  8. Place the pieces in the muffin tray. Gently press the pastry down and out sideways using your thumbs. You want the bottom to be as thin as possible and the sides to be nice and even. The pastry should cover the whole surface of the muffin mould.
  9. Pour the custard mix into the pastry cases and bake for 10 – 12 minutes until the surface of the custard has slightly burned and the sides of the pastry look golden brown. Phoenix and I have determined that bumping bake time to 16-24 minutes, depending on darkness desired, may be necessary. Note from 20 May 2024: 16-20 minutes at 485F with premade tart shells that've been defrosted worked fantastic, without the tops getting browned at all.
  10. Remove from the muffin tin, leave to cool down; Enjoy with a dusting of icing sugar and cinnamon alongside a black coffee.

Phoenix Notes

  • Don't over fill, it'll spill
  • don't butter the tin it'll be too soft
  • Place pizza stone AND the rack on the 2nd lowest (NOT lowest) spot AND set it to the side of the rack so heat can rise. Set oven to 500F NOT broil (wont get hot enough) -> preheat until oven thermometer passes 500F
  • may need to bake for 20-25mins to get colour (depending on oven temperature), and can finish off with BROIL to get the top really crispy
  • monitor temp with oven thermometer
  • push sides in and up to spread; bring dough out and warm up for 5-10 mins. Can mould the tins ahead of baking like 30mins, and reshape again if they fall back
  • make bottoms as thin as possible!!!!!!
  • Make the custard the day of baking, and DONT chill the custard
  • Make dough the night before, chill overnight, then cut/mould the day of baking

Gallery

PXL_20240405_004818373 MP~2 PXL_20240520_214008361

Notes: I tried WOL's (https://thewoksoflife.com/hong-kong-egg-tarts/#recipe), they came out very very under, the shells weren't flaky, the custard was underdone. Rare WOL "L". I bumped baking time to nearly 45 mins and it was fine. The above recipe is much better.