Pastry from scratch is very time consuming, especially laminated dough that requires refrigeration between rolling. The British influenced egg tarts in Hong Kong are less sweet and made with a short crust, crumbly pastry like the English shortbread. Portuguese egg tarts tend to be sweeter than the Hong Kong version, the egg custard is caramelized (browned on the top, probably due to the higher sugar content) and made with a flaky pastry. Despite the close proximity of Hong Kong, previously colonized by the British and Macau, a previous Portuguese colony, the egg tarts today are influenced by this history. I even bought 2 dozen egg tarts at the airport and brought them home in my hand luggage!įrom my personal egg tart research, I realized that there were two distinct egg tarts. My family was so annoyed with me as we'd cross streets several times to visit the various bakeries. On a vacation to Hong Kong one year, my goal was to sample as many bakeries that sold egg tarts to determine which one had the best. These easy Chinese egg tarts are one recipe that making it from scratch is just not worth it! I love Hong Kong egg tarts or dan tart. Shells can be frozen.My happy place, if it's not in nature is in the kitchen, anyone's kitchen! I could spend hours baking or cooking when I'm in the mood and I love making things from scratch if the end product is worth the time and effort. Cut with round cookie cutter slightly larger than the diameter of the tart shell tin. Roll out and divide into 4 parts and fold again. Place water layer dough on top of the oil layer dough. Dust working surface with plenty of cake flour.Form into a square, wrap and chill until firm. Mix together the ingredients of the water layer dough.Mix together the ingredients of the oil layer dough.Since it does take a fair amount of time to make, you can stockpile these and take out five or six shells for every custard recipe you make. I didn't mention this in the video, but these shells are freezeable as well. The result is that although you get a puff pastry-like dough, each layer is tender and crispy at the same time. Even more often, you're asked to substitute the shell for a ready-made puff pastry dough, which is a little closer to the actual crust in texture, but is far more crunchy and dry.Ī proper Chinese egg tart shell technique includes layering a "water dough layer" with an "oil dough layer" and folding, which is similar to puff pastry, but each layer has a certain proportion of fat, flour and moisture added to it. Most of the egg tart shell recipes you get are an iteration of a shortbread dough, which is yummy and quick to make, but tastes nothing like the actual tart shell. It is in the shell that you know whether someone is a true egg tart fanatic. But as laborious as it is, it is actually the crust that is the "make it" or "break it" part of an egg tart recipe because anyone can make the custard portion. Chinese egg tart shells are similar to puff pastry and making a good and proper crust can be quite laborious. This is because it's one of the harder recipes to make. No one ever shows you how to make the shells of Chinese egg tarts.
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