Mrs. Bubblefire - queen of Pastry

Find a selection of household tips and recipes for Egyptian Foods.

Moderators: DJKeefy, 4u Network

User avatar
Countessa
Egyptian Pharaoh
Egyptian Pharaoh
Posts: 5787
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2005 7:42 am
Location: Luxor
Has thanked: 19 times
Gender:
Contact:
Egypt

Post by Countessa »

Mrs. Doubtfire wrote:Strawberries are just coming in, so shortly I will be showing you how to make strawberry tarts just like the ones you buy in the best bakers in the UK, using my own special receipe for sweet pastry (and a few special ingredients excluding the bugs). :mrgreen:
I love strawberry tarts so am awaiting your recipe asap Mrs D!!! :D :)


I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure...
User avatar
Maggy
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 65
Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2006 12:01 pm
Location: Luxor Egypt
Been thanked: 3 times

Post by Maggy »

I bought strawberries a couple of days ago,they were lovely:P:P
Maggy the Moggy
User avatar
FABlux
Egyptian God
Egyptian God
Posts: 9975
Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2005 1:32 pm
Location: Luxor
Has thanked: 155 times
Been thanked: 78 times
Gender:
Contact:
Egypt

Post by FABlux »

Maggy wrote:I bought strawberries a couple of days ago,they were lovely:P:P
Aren't they just :D We saw the first ones 2 days before we went away, about 18/19th Nov & they were 7LE for a very large (1kg?) tray. Expensive I know :roll: but they were the first of the season :oops: & wonderful. We pigged out for 2 days :oops: then made a couli with the rest which I popped in the freezer
User avatar
Phantom
Member
Member
Posts: 245
Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2005 1:42 pm
Location: Cornwall
Has thanked: 66 times
Been thanked: 6 times
Gender:
Contact:
United Kingdom

Post by Phantom »

Lisak wrote:Its called Habibi and its in Far Gosford Street. (not far from the bottom of Ball Hill)
www.habibirestaurant.co.uk

Manal, the owner is a wonderful lady and welcomes everyone as part of her family. I love it there.

Ahhh, Far Gosford Street, Ball Hill and Walsgrave - happy memories - last time I went back though I got lost - they've moved all of the roads :)
You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave ............

Image
User avatar
Countessa
Egyptian Pharaoh
Egyptian Pharaoh
Posts: 5787
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2005 7:42 am
Location: Luxor
Has thanked: 19 times
Gender:
Contact:
Egypt

Post by Countessa »

Mrs. Doubtfire wrote:Strawberries are just coming in, so shortly I will be showing you how to make strawberry tarts just like the ones you buy in the best bakers in the UK, using my own special receipe for sweet pastry (and a few special ingredients excluding the bugs). :mrgreen:
Mrs D.......I bought some delicious strawberries today :) Can you please give us your recipe because my mouth's been watering at the though of strawberry tarts for the last few days :P
I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure...
User avatar
Mrs. Doubtfire
Egyptian God
Egyptian God
Posts: 7601
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 12:34 pm
Location: Egypt
Contact:

Post by Mrs. Doubtfire »

I Will try! I dont use receipes as a rule, so you can simply measure out in mugs. What you will need is as follows:

An electric mixer.
Ordinary plain Egyptian flour.
Icing Sugar,
Ordinary granulated sugar
Salt,
Local loose butter
Strawberries
Strawberry Jelly,
Cornflour,
Vanilla Custard Powder.

Firstly, prepare strawberries, removing the hull or any particularly nasty bits. Cut them into halves or quarters. You will need at least a half Kilo for a 7" Flan, and you may mix some of them with apple if you wish.

Into a pan put about half the strawberries with a very small amount of water. Add plenty of sugar according to taste. Bring all to the boil, but do not let the strawberries reduce to pulp. Try and keep them in fairly solid pieces. Carefully drain off the liquid but save it.

The real secret is in the pastry, and apart from strawberries any number of fillings may be added.

To prepare the pastry for a 7' sponge tin l" deep. Put about a mug and a half of flour into a mixing basin. It should not be necessary to add any baking powder if you mix it correctly, and the pastry will be light and biscuity with a superb flavour like you would expect from a high class bakers. (indeed Mrs. Bubblefire is a high class baker and known as the Queen of Tarts!! haha)

Add to the flour about a third of teaspoon of salt. Add one rounded desertspoonful of ICING SUGAR. Add a rounded desertspoonful of CUSTARD POWDER. The amount of Icing sugar added to the flour is a matter of taste. If you do not like sweet pastry then make the necessary adjustment on the second time around. But do not use granulated sugar in the pastry as it will make it go spotty and alter the texture.

Add to the flour and added ingredients about a quarter in volume of pure butter. Too much and the pastry will disintegrate, not enough and it will be hard. The butter should be cold and firm, cut it into the flour with a sharp knife until it is manageable enough to use the food mixer. Mix first on slow speed and increase to maximum as the butter breaks down. The result should be a mixerbowl full of fine breakcrums. Whilst mixing on a slow speed gently add a teaspoon of cold water, and continue mixing. Repeat this until the 'crumbs' begin to bind together. This is not 'home-made' pastry, it is a professional method, so you have to be extremely careful to get it just wet enough to hold together. Too much water will react with the icing sugar, and you can use it as cement to hold housebricks together. So not too much liquid please, but just enough to hold it all together and enable it to be rolled out.

Collect this together and ball it in the hand, squeeze to ensure it all holds together and suitable for rolling out. If you have a large rolling board pop it in the freezer before you start if possible and make sure the rolling pin has been kept in the freezer for a while. However, flour the board, put the ball of pastry in the centre and press down round the edges and center to form a fairly neat 'round' then continue to roll out with the pin, trying to keep it as round as possible or you will be short when it comes to lining the tin.

The pastry will appear quite yellow (custard powder) and will be soft and pliable resembling soft plasticine. When rolled out to just about somewhere between an eighth to a quarter of an inch maximum, roll it round the pin and insert it carefully into the baking tin.
Cut neatly round the edge of the rim to remove excess. Now fill with the strawberry or strawberry and apple mixture (without juice). The top layer should be decorated neatly with strawberry halves or quarters. If you have sufficient pastry over, reconstitute it by gently kneading, and roll out into an oblong shape at least as long as the baking tin is wide. Roll out to just over an eighth of an inch think and cut into at least 4 strips about a quarter of an inch wide, or more if you have pastry to use up. Place this on the top and criss-cross it over the flan, sticking the ends to the edges with water. For a glaze, you can now 'paint' any of the visible pastry with either honey, egg or whatever you usually use for a glossy effect.

Insert into the top of a bottle gas oven for about half an hour or until the pastry has gone a golden brown and is firm to the touch. I can only assume you have got your oven adjusted to a suitable baking temperature, as most of them do not have thermostats, and even when they do, they often dont work correctly anyway. So one has to know what ones oven does!

Whilst this is cooking, you can prepare the strawberry glaze. Take all the sugar juice and add some jelly crystals, and or, thickener such as cornflour. Try to get a very strong strawberry flavour as this fades very quickly when cold.

When the flan is suitably cooked, allow it to cool outside the oven. When COLD, very quickly turn it out and upright it on to a flat plate. If it breaks up at this point, you have used too much butter or water in the pastry, or you have slightly overmixed with the mixer and made the result too short. Serve cold with cream or reheat it and have it with custard.

The result will be a professional Strawberry tart with the right flavour, texture and colour. There are slightly other ways of doing it, but see how you get on with this method first. Hope it comes out a success for you. :mrgreen:
Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post
  • The Queen
    by carrie » » in General Discussions and Rants
    6 Replies
    2327 Views
    Last post by crewmeal
  • Mrs Queen...
    by Who2 » » in Politics and Religion
    5 Replies
    1217 Views
    Last post by Horus
  • Queen has died.
    by HEPZIBAH » » in General Discussions and Rants
    15 Replies
    1878 Views
    Last post by HEPZIBAH
  • Falling for Mrs Queen...
    by Who2 » » in General Discussions and Rants
    2 Replies
    739 Views
    Last post by Who2