For the pastry, I didn't follow his tips exactly. Instead of trimming the overhanging pastry before serving, I trimmed it after blind baking the pastry for only 10 mins. This is a very important step and it worked well for me.
I tried trimming the pastry at the very beginning before putting it into the oven, but the edge of the pastry shrank well below the height of the pastry ring, resulting in an uneven ugly-looking tart case. I also once tried trimming the pastry towards the end of blind baking (the pastry case was pretty much cooked through), but it ended up a disaster because the overhanging pastry stick on the edge of the pastry ring and it was extremely difficult to trim even with a sharp knife. Besides, as the bottom of the pastry case shrank while the overhanging pastry was sticking on the edge of the pastry ring, I ended up having a weird-looking shaped tart case.
I think Heston's tips is only applicable for pastry rings that have sharp edges. Mine is not, as you can see from the photo, its edge is round.
As to the lemon filling, I followed Heston's tips of pouring the liquid filling into the tart case while it's in the oven. That was a pretty clever tips! Why didn't I think of that before.....
Another very useful tips from Heston is using a candy thermometer to check the temperature of the filling. When the filling reaches 70ºC, you know that the tart is done and needs to be removed from the oven immediately.
When the tart was done, it looked like as if the top of the tart was covered by a thin layer of white film. However, after a while, it will turn back to a very nice-looking yellow colour. The filling looked so smooth.Here's the recipe that I modified based on Heston Blumenthal's recipe to suit my personal taste and the size of the tart ring that I used. For the pastry, I did it in a traditional way using my bare hands.
Ingredients:
Pastry
- 300g plain flour- 150g unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 120 icing sugar
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1 egg (lightly whisked, for the egg wash)
Filling
- 3 large lemons, zest finely grated & juiced- 150ml thickened cream
- 180g caster sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
Instructions:
Pastry
- Put the flour on a marble slab (if you don't have one, just do it on a clean kitchen bench) and make a well in the middle.- Place the butter, icing sugar & salt in the middle of the well and use your fingertips to mix until they're well combined.
- Then draw the flour towards the center little by little and mix them until they become a coarse sand-like texture.
- Make a well in the center again and add the egg yolks in.
- Draw the mixture towards the center little by little to mix them into the egg yolks.
- When the dough is well amalgamated, knead it with your palm 4 to 5 times until it's smooth.
- Mould the dough into a the shape of a rectangle and wrap it with cling wrap, refrigerate for at least 30 mins.
- Take the dough out from the fridge. Roll it between 2 sheets of baking paper to the thickness of about 2mm. Put it back to the fridge for another 30 mins.
- Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC (fan-forced).
- Line an 8 inch tart ring with the pastry, making sure to press it into the edges and leaving the pastry hanging over the edge (not too much).
- Prick the pastry bottom with a fork all over the surface.
- Take a sheet of baking paper and scrunch it up several times to eliminate any sharp edges.
- Place the baking paper on top and fill it with enough dried beans (or rice).
- Put it into the pre-heated oven and bake for 10 mins.
- After 10 mins, take the tart case out from the oven. Take out the dried beans together with the baking paper, trim off the overhanging pastry using a knife. Stick a knife (not a sharp one) into the edge running along between the pastry and the side of the tart ring, making sure that the pastry is not sticking onto the side of the tart ring.
- Put the baking paper and the dried beans back on top of the pastry case. Then put the case back to the oven for another 20 mins of blind bake.
- When the time is up, take the pastry case out from oven and remove the dried beans & baking paper altogether.
- Brush the entire surface of the pastry case with the egg wash using a pastry brush. Put it back to oven for 2 mins. Repeat this process for 3 times.
- Remove the pastry case from oven and let it cool completely.
- Leave the oven on, reduce the temperature to 120ºC
Filling
- Place all the filling ingredients in a heat-proof bowl and mix together using a spatula.
- Put the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, continue stirring the mixture until the temperature reaches 60ºC. Once it's reached 60ºC, remove the bowl from the simmering heat and strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a measuring cup or jug.
- When it's ready to bake, slide the baking tray out from the oven. Place the pastry case on the baking tray and then pour in the mixture. Slide the baking tray back in carefully.
- Bake the tart until the filling reaches 70ºC (takes about 8 mins).
- Allow to cool completely at room temperature.
You can find the original recipe of Heston Blumenthal's Lemon Tart in this website:
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