So. Much. Custard: Part 2
Pasteis de Nata
Top to bottom: Flan; Cherry Iced Buns; Almond Iced Buns; Pasteis de Nata
Here are the recipes we used, join in and follow along! Part One: a Perfect Flan that actually was. Part Two: a recipe I've been looking at for ages, David Leite's Portuguese custard tars, Pasteis de Nata. Finally Part Three: a recipe from the BBC (sorry, you'll need a scale for this one), Nadiya Hussein's Almond and Sour Cherry Iced Buns. This last recipe we changed the most, but I have to say the buns were absolutely delicious!
Moving on to the Pasteis de Nata! While I didn't change this recipe too much, I did use my pie dough instead of the pastry dough they give you in the recipe. You can find a video on how to make mine at the Aubergine Chef vlog and also my recipe for Gluten Free Pie Dough. Use the recipe as is, for two 9" pie crusts, for the quantity of dough David Leite's recipe. Also, be aware that they want you to bake these puppies at 550 degrees Fahrenheit - make sure your oven will do it! I'm sure you can still bake them successfully at a lower temp, but the caramelization and scorching of the custard are part of the authentic deal.
I have to admit, I wondered if it was going to be worth the trouble as I did all the business with buttering and folding the dough. It was a bit of a mess, and goopy with butter, but worked fairly well. He wants you to roll the dough into an 18" square and then an 18x21" rectangle, so be aware that you're going to need some serious flat acreage. The dough board I use is, it turns out, 18" x 21" so I just made it.
Things to know: BE PATIENT, DON'T HURRY, ROLL GENTLY. Always start rolling with your dough in the shape you want to end up with, so mold your pastry dough into a flat square tile before you start rolling. And chill your dough first for this because it's going to need the structural stability of cold butter to help it out here.
I have to say, after tasting the finished tarts, I think maybe it was worth the trouble. It didn't come out like puff pastry, but it was extremely flaky. However, if you don't want to fool with all that, just roll the dough out, cut it with a 4" round cutter and press the dough into the muffin tin like a regular tart shell, it will be delicious too!
I didn't change the custard recipe at all except to substitute gluten free flour for the regular flour called for - try to find a gf flour blend that does NOT have xanthan gum in it. I really prefer my flour to not have gums in it since I use different amounts for different recipes, and I try to leave it out entirely wherever possible anyway. You can use my flour blend which is 2 cups rice flour, 2/3 cup arrowroot starch, 1/3 cup tapioca starch. Try to find the finest grind of rice flour you can.
I did make the Pasteis dough, which has to chill for a while, and the custard, ahead of time, so my custard was cold when I poured it into the shells. I did find that some of the tarts didn't set up - it's a pretty quick bake, even though it's at 550F - so I would recommend either making the custard just before you need it or warming it up a little if you've refrigerated it.
This recipe made two dozen tarts - I would ignore his directions about the roll of pastry dough - just cut each of the halves into 12 pieces. The gluten free dough isn't as stretchy as regular dough and you need all of that to fill the muffin cup. Also, I greased the first muffin tin, then thought there was so much butter in the dough that it was probably unnecessary. But I did have a couple of shells stick in the second pan, so buttering the muffin tins isn't a bad idea.
And stay tuned for ….
