Tarte aux quetsches: plums standing in rows

Tarte aux quetsches is an Alsace plum tart. The recipe of the Alsace winegrowers (Vins d’Alsace) uses a risen Alsace dough, arranges the halved quetsches in circles and finishes the tart with a cream and egg custard and cinnamon. We leave out the custard, stand the plums upright and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the warm tart; a thin layer of breadcrumbs on the base is meant to catch the juice. That is our own home variation.

1 tart of 28 cm, 8 slices · Preparation: 35 min · Cooking: 40 min · Resting: 110 min

Times are guidelines; preheat during preparation where possible. Allow extra time to cool food before storing it.

Equipment

Tart tin or springform tin (28 cm diameter), mixing bowl, rolling pin and wire rack.

Ingredients

• 200 g plain wheat flour
• 3 g fast-action dried yeast
• 25 g caster sugar for the dough
• 2 g salt
• 60 ml lukewarm whole milk
• 1 medium egg
• 50 g soft unsalted butter, plus 5 g for greasing
• 800 g quetsches or other firm blue plums, weighed with stones
• 20 g dried breadcrumbs
• 20 g caster sugar to sprinkle before baking
• 30 g caster sugar to sprinkle after baking
• 2 g ground cinnamon

Method

1. Mix the flour, yeast, 25 g sugar and salt. Add the milk, egg and 50 g butter and knead for 8 minutes into a soft, slightly sticky dough. Cover and leave to rise for about 1 hour until visibly larger.
2. Wash and dry the plums. Cut them open lengthways, remove the stones and make a further cut in the top of each half without cutting all the way through.
3. Grease the tin. Roll out the dough to a round of about 32 cm and line the base and a 2 cm side. Scatter the breadcrumbs over the base.
4. Stand the plums upright in circles, close together, cut side up. Sprinkle with 20 g sugar and leave to prove for 20 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200 °C, conventional heat.
5. Bake for 35–40 minutes on a shelf below the centre, until the edge is golden, the base cooked and the juice bubbling between the plums.
6. Mix 30 g sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle it over the warm tart straight after baking. Leave to cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting.

Storage

Best eaten the same day. Refrigerate leftovers covered at 4 °C within 2 hours and eat within 2 days.

Allergens

Wheat/gluten, milk and egg; the breadcrumb label gives any other allergen information.

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