Pear Tart 1.24.14

This tart is made with Bartlett pears, which cooked perfectly in 45-50 minutes in my 375 oven.  They are topped with slivered almonds.  I didn’t overhydrate the crust, and it came out well.  It tasted a little bland (maybe not enough salt?) but it had good texture, crisp and flaky.
Adapted from Country Pear Tart in Better Homes and Gardens Baking

Crust:
7 5/8 oz AP flour
½ t salt
½ c butter
9 T ice water
Mix the dough and rest in retarder for at least 30 minutes.  Roll out dough into 13 in-circle.

Filling:
1 ½ lb pears sliced and peeled
¼ t ground ginger (or 1 T finely chopped crystallized ginger)
¼ t ground cinnamon
1 T lemon juice
2 7/8 oz sugar (1/3 c)
1 T sliced almonds
Milk (for wash)
Granulated sugar

Macerated the sliced pears in sugar for 30 minutes.  Then mix sugar and spices together.  Toss with the pears and mound them into the center of your rolled dough.  Fold the edge of the dough over the pears, pleating the dough to make a circle.  Wash the dough with an egg wash, then top with almonds.  Sprinkle sugar over the crust and place dots of butter on top of the exposed pears.
Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes. Check that crust is browned well and pears are tender.

This tart came out amazing.  Unfortunately, I was unable to reproduce my results.