Mary Berry Mini Fruit Tarts

[Sai]

Hello,

I am a novice baker and still learning.....

I have been trying to follow Mary Berry's receipe for mini fruit tarts as seen on
TV as part of the Red Nose Bake Off

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mini_fruit_tarts_30208

However, I find the pastry very wet and soggy. It says to knead dough until smooth.

But however much I knead the pastry dough is still very soggy. I ended up adding
a ton of extra flour to try and fix it. Is this incorrect ?

Do you kneed soggy dough and somehow it magically becomes un-soggy ???

Please advise, many thanks.

 

[DancingLady]

Try decreasing the liquid a little bit. Sometimes a recipe is a little off if the person who made it was in a dry climate and you are in a humid climate or your kitchen tends to be more humid.

Just kneeding it will not make it un-soggy. It's generally OK to add some extra flour if your dough feels like it needs it, but since it needed a lot, you probably have too much liquid to begin with.

 

[Trellum]

I agree with dancinglady, I rarely follow closely most of the recipes I find... I just use as much water as I believe necessary. Might not be apparent for you now, but once you become an experienced baker you will know just by looking at the ingredients and the quantity. Until then just add water to the dough as you see fit; add it little by little.

 

[Tina Nord]

I would gently tap the fruit with paper towels to soak up some of the liquid before making the tarts and then you can add a little flour to soak up any extra juices. I made the mistake of not doing this the first time I made blackberry pie and ended up with a soupy mess.

 

[Sai]

Thanks for your replies they are much appriciated.
Next time I will add the egg in a little at a time until it makes a good (but un-soggy) dough
and leave the remainder.

One final question. What is the purpose of kneading the dough ?

 

[Tina Nord]

Kneading the dough works out all of the air bubbles, as well as makes the dough smooth and easy to work with. The best example I can think of is, you know how when you make drop biscuits and they come out lumpy...that is the result of unneeded dough.

 

[connie]

Thanks for your replies they are much appriciated.
Next time I will add the egg in a little at a time until it makes a good (but un-soggy) dough
and leave the remainder.

One final question. What is the purpose of kneading the dough ?

I think the recipe is wrong. It should be 2 medium egg yolks not 3 and to be honest, I think they need to be 2 small egg yolks as well.

If you look at the recipes

For the pâte sucrée

• 100g/3½oz plain flour
• 75g/2½oz softened butter, cubed
• 75g/2½oz caster sugar
• 3 medium egg yolks

and then look up various other sweet shortcrust pastry recipes including the one of the BBC website itself other recipes say

• 90g/3½oz butter, softened

• 65g/2½oz caster sugar

• 3 free-range egg yolks

• 200g/7oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting

Compare the 2... 7 oz of flour, 3 medium egg yolks... 3½oz flour, 3 medium egg yolks... It is never going to happen.

I would also be questioning the sugar as well... both call for 2½ oz....

 

[Tina Nord]

What is caster sugar, I have never heard of that before? Just remember that the more egg you add, the more dense your end product will be, so I think @connie is correct here.

 

[connie]

What is caster sugar, I have never heard of that before? Just remember that the more egg you add, the more dense your end product will be, so I think @connie is correct here.

I think caster sugar equates to fine sugar and our icing sugar to your superfine sugar... its a UK-US thing. Sorry I forgot about that bit. the original link is from the BBC, so I have just kept the same terminology and not changed it.

 

[Sai]

Thanks for your replies.
You can see the celebrities trying out the receipe in this video

The Mini Fruit tarts is the 2nd baking challenge that starts from approx 18min into
the program. There is a quick glimps of the receipe at around the 20mins mark.

If the receipe is incorrect I wonder how they got good pastry !!!

Anyway I am going to try less egg next time as you all recommend.