From the Experimental Pastry Kitchen

My mother raised tried to raise me to have a tidy kitchen. I loved baking from a young age, and she was always there supporting me as my dedicated taste-tester and advice-giver, but pleading from the sidelines that I please, please clean up as I go. Try as she might, I never quite got the hang of it and still prefer to do a deep clean after a full day or afternoon of work. I’ve always found something comforting about letting myself settle into the mess of flour dusted countertops, piles of mixing bowls, and the stray crumbs that somehow always end up in my hair.

In the faster-paced warmer months, I tend to do quick and easy recipes that allow me to spend my days out of the house. But when the temperature shifts downwards and the rhythm of my life slows to settle in for the winter, baking in a warm kitchen is both a soothing comfort and a lesson in patience.

I began my baking season with a shift from the ordinary, taking on the daunting task of creating a savory, gluten free, and vegan spin on the classic pastry tarte tatin.  A tarte tatin is a French dish that is typically made with caramelized apples and a buttery, flaky crust. When I saw a recipe for a savory beetroot tarte tatin, I thought it would be quite fun to attempt. (Perhaps you recall the Co-op’s We <3 Local Beets challenge from 2013? Keep an eye out for this winter’s We <3 Local Parsnips recipe competition!) Pastry dough is notorious for being tricky to make, and relies quite heavily on cold butter and wheat flour to perform. Trying to break as many pastry stereotypes as I could, I added the challenge of making this recipe both gluten-free and vegan. Because, why not?

Well…it was a task that required a few tries.

The first version included white rice flour, tapioca flour, xanthan gum, and coconut oil. (You can find white rice flour and tapioca flour, both new products, in Aisle 1 near our other baking supplies!) Startlingly white, this dough worked pretty well in my hands but had to be rolled out while warm instead of chilled. I found it worked best to pound and roll it in between two pieces of wax paper and then chill it on a baking sheet before using. The end result tasted heavily of the coconut oil, and didn’t match well with the savory beets and onions. I headed back to the drawing board (or rather, the cutting board…)

Attempt number two used a butter alternative, and I saw much better success. White rice flour is quite mild, so the taste of the fat is prominent in the final product. At the recommendation of some folks here, swapping the coconut oil out for Earth Balance butter alternative helped, but I still felt like something was missing. As it turns out, lamenting your cooking woes at the Co-op carrying a half-eaten pie is quite the conversation starter. And cue a wonderful co-worker to chime in with some more great advice. They generously offered some great resources and even shared their own recipe for a flour blend! I put it to the test (thank you, Rex!), added a few dashes of this and a sprinkle of that, and viola, I finally had my tart!

The key with these kinds of recipes is to really get your hands dirty. Dough of any kind is a labor of love, and your hands are the best tool you’ve got. Whether you use butter or substitute, it should always be cold, and “cut” into the dry ingredients. The warmth from your body will gently warm the fats to incorporate all the ingredients together without compromising the outcome of the dough. For both gluten free and regular wheat doughs, make sure not to knead the dough. Instead, crumble the fat into the flours with your fingers, not the palms of your hands.

As for switching gears from sweet to savory, the final result was great! To make a tarte tatin, the caramelized fruit is placed in the bottom of a cake pan and cooked inverted. When ready to serve, the pie is flipped to show off the glazed fruit. In this recipe, the deep purple and orange from a combination of red and Chioggia beets stood out beautifully. Adding garnishes of fresh herbs, a crack of fresh black pepper, and a sprinkle of lemon zest were the final touches it really needed.

While a liberal interpretation of a classic recipe, this autumnal root pastry invokes a similar feeling of appreciation for the rustic presentation. You can check out the full recipe here.

Looking for more fall and winter recipes? Check out our amazing recipe collection!