What makes this dessert a spin on the standard apple cheese tart? It is made with sourdough pizza dough, laminated with butter, and is ready in eight hours start to finish. Almost unheard of for a sourdough croissant dough. The trick? Laminating a sourdough pizza dough, and using a starter that was fed and refrigerated the night before. Mind you, you will only want to do this with a mature active starter that you have been successfully baking with previously. Using the starter in this manner does not diminish its strength, and shaves 3-4 hours of the process. As well by using a lean dough as the base the bulk ferment and final proof is done in 1/3 the time. The results are delicious, slightly rustic, croissant base.
How Did This Dessert Come About?
Impatience! Have you ever made a sourdough croissant base? It is a long process! The thought of waiting 24 + hours for my tart, nearly brought tears to my eyes, I wanted it five minutes ago. Fortunately, I had started making my pizza dough a few hours ago. I typical make a large batch of sourdough pizza dough to make 4 large pizzas. Two to enjoy that day, and two for the freezer for the next week. Yes, we eat a lot of pizza. My 5-year-old basically lives on pizza, hence me becoming such a sourdough fanatic. If he is going to be eating that much bread I want it to be as good for him as possible.
As I looked at this dough on the counter ready to be divided, I asked myself…can I laminate a lean dough, such as pizza dough? Stretching it may be a challenge. The higher hydration may be a challenge. But there it was already there and ready to go. I thought its worth a shot! To my pleasant surprise, it worked beautifully. I struggled to refrain from eating the whole tray in one sitting.
What is your favourite quality in a dessert? I love a hint of salty savoury mixed with sweet and sour. This dessert hits all those points, with the salty savory tones of the buttery croissant base mixed with the sweet and sour notes of the sweetened cream cheese and apple topping.
Laminating Dough
Laminating dough is when you layer butter and dough together, by rolling out, and folding it over on itself several times. This is usually done with an enriched dough. I will go over the whole process of later, in a few easy to follow steps. If this is your first time lamenting dough pack some patience, there is a bit of a leaning curve. Expect to struggle a little for 3-4 attempts before success. Mind you, the results will absolutely be yummy and totally edible, but it may lack some of the desired qualities, until you get the technique right. The struggle is to achieve distinct, light layers throughout, with almost a web like appearance.
Obstacles to Achieving Beautifully Layered, Laminated Dough…
Rushing, you must take your time rolling the dough, think of it as a meditative process.
Over heating the butter and having it melt into the dough, this happens if your working environment is too hot or you do not take the time to chill the dough between rounds.
Being too aggressive in your rolling and tearing the dough exposing the butter. This is where things get messy, and what you want to avoid the most. If this does happen though, by all means still bake it, it will just be less than perfect. It is the taste that counts the most.
If any of the above happens to you the first few times laminating dough, don’t be hard on yourself, you in good company. The company of just about anyone who has ever made croissants, and laminated a dough.
Laminating dough in this manner is not to be confused with the general lamination of dough that is performed to build strength in a sourdough and done at some point within the coil fold or stretch and fold process. In the latter type of lamination, you prepare the counter with some cold water, and literally stretch the dough into a big sheet as far as you can with out tearing, and fold the dough back onto itself before placing in a dish prior to subsequent coil folds.
Steps to Laminating Butter With a Dough
Rollout The Butter – For this recipe you will be using 226 grams of butter, the equivalent of 2 sticks. The higher quality, higher fat butter you use the better. I use salted butter for this desert. Begin by slicing the sticks of butter in half lengthwise, place them between layers of parchment paper, and allow to sit at room temp for about 10 min till softening slightly. With a rolling pin, begin rolling out the butter between the parchment until it is about 7 ½ inch square block of even thickness. To square the sides, you can use a butter knife or bench scraper. When done place in refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes.
Rollout The Dough– For the first round you want to roll out your dough so it is a bit more than double the width of you butter, and a bit longer than the butter square. You want to be able to fold the dough over the butter and seal it all around so it doesn’t leak out. A well floured surface will ensure your dough does not stick to the counter. You can also roll out on floured parchment if you are concerned about dough sticking.
Layer in The Butter– Place your butter on top of one half of your dough and fold the other half on top of it. Gently press down on the edges to seal the butter in, trim where there is excess dough to make it more square. You are rolling the dough out this time so it is just a bit under 3 x the length of what you started with.
Roll dough with butter between layers gently– Fold as you would a letter going into the mail.
Refrigerate 15-20 min if you are in a warm climate you may want to use the freezer.
Roll again in direction opposite too last lengthwise, fold as you would an envelop, once more.
Refrigerate again for 15-20 minutes
Final roll- This rollout may require a short rest 5-10 min midway through the process if dough is too elastic and fighting back.
Cut the dough with pizza roller– You want a rectangle about the size of standard cookie sheet, cut off any excess or rough edges. There is also the option to make a smaller tart, and use the remaining dough to make 3-4 croissants. Simply cut the remaining dough into long triangles and roll.
Cover lightly with oiled plastic wrap and allow to proof for about 4 hours– You want your dough to have puffed up to about double the height.
Top with cheese and apples and bake.
Example Schedule
5:00 PM- On the evening Before baking, I will feed my starter before I prepare dinner, allow it to sit at room temp for 90-120 minutes. Once I am finished cleaning up after dinner I place my starter back in the fridge. Typically, there will be an increase in volume of at least 50%.
8:00 AM- Remove starter from refrigerator, allow to sit at room temperature for at least an hour.
9:30 AM- Mix your dough; flour, water, salt, sugar, and starter. Rest for 15-20 minutes, mix further, and rest 30 minutes.
10:15-10:30- General, sourdough lamination (not with butter) to build strength in your dough. Place in square Pyrex dish.
11:00 AM- Coil fold
11:30 AM- Coil fold
12:00 PM- Coil fold
12:30 PM- Coil Fold (occasionally I skip the last one if I must leave to go somewhere)
12:30 PM-Bulk Ferment
2:00-3:00 PM- Laminate dough (somewhere between the two times listed)
3:00-4:00 PM- Final proof, prepare cream cheese topping and place in refrigerator
6:00-7:00 PM- Slice apples, thin as possible, spread cream cheese on pastry, leaving at least an inch around the edges, top with apples, and brush crust with egg wash.
6:15-7:15- Bake for 20 minutes at 425, reduce to 375 for an additional 15-20 minutes. Cool for five minutes, slice and enjoy.
Do You Have a Sourdough Starter?
Like all the recipes featured on Bubbling Starter, this bread is made with a sourdough starter. To learn how to make your own; check out Beginners Guide to Creating a Bubbling Starter.
A Spin on the Standard Apple Cheese Tart
This apple cheese tart is made with sourdough pizza dough, laminated with butter, and ready is eight hours start to finish.
10
servings40
minutesIngredients
Dough
500 g Flour. My favorite mix is 450 g Bread Flour, and 50 g Semola Rimacinata, however if unavailable all bread flour works just fine.
75 g full hydration, active bubbling starter.
10 g salt
15 g sugar
355 g water (71% hydration)
- For Laminating Dough
226 g salted butter
- Cream Cheese Topping
120 g cream cheese
50 g sugar
5 g vanilla
1 egg yolk
- Egg Wash
1 egg white
pinch salt
pinch sugar
dash milk
Directions
Dough
- Mix- Measure flour, and salt into a plastic container, set aside.
- Measure active starter into a very large glass bowl, add warm water, and sugar. Stir to combine.
- Slowly pour in flour mixing with a dough whisk or if you don’t have one a fork will do. Mix until well combined the dough will be fairly wet and a little lumpy. If you start to feel resistance in the dough let it rest for 20 minutes, and mix again until smooth.
- If you have time and are after amazing, I highly recommend resting the dough for 15-20 minutes, laminating the dough (this is a general sourdough lamination, not to be confused with laminating the dough with butter, which you will be doing later) performing 3-4 stretch and folds, or coil folds
- BULK FERMENT- In my kitchen in the winter I find 4-6 hours is usually sufficient, including active time.
- Laminating Butter With Dough
- Refer to detailed directions, and photos on how to laminate dough with butter above. Once dough is laminated proof for 2-4 hours.
- Cream Cheese and Apple Topping
- After dough is laminated, prepare the cream cheese topping. place one egg yolk, sugar, cream cheese, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Stir with fork or whisk until well combined and smooth. Place in refrigerator until needed. Place remaining egg white in small dish with a dash of salt, sugar, and milk, cover and keep cool until needed as well. You will need to give the egg wash a good stir before using it.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Core and slice apples as thin as possible, spread cream cheese on pastry leaving at least an inch around the edges. Top cream cheese with apples, and brush outer crust with egg wash.
- Bake on parchment lined cookie sheet for 20 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit, then reduce temperature to 375 and bake for a remaining 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, slice with pizza roller and enjoy.
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