Tarte Tropezienne

Ingredients

• 250 g strong white bread flour
• 30 g caster sugar
• 5 g fine salt
• 10 g fresh yeast or 4 g dried yeast
• 3 medium eggs
• 2 tbsp warm whole milk
• 125 g soft unsalted butter, diced
• 1 tbsp orange blossom water, for the dough
• 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tbsp milk, to glaze
• 50 g pearl sugar
• 400 ml whole milk, for the cream
• 1 vanilla pod, split and scraped
• 4 egg yolks
• 90 g caster sugar, for the cream
• 40 g cornflour
• 120 g soft unsalted butter, for the mousseline
• 2 tbsp orange blossom water, for the cream
• 150 ml double cream, cold

Before you cook

• Crumble the yeast into the warm milk and leave it for 10 minutes until it foams.
• Weigh the 125 g butter into small cubes and leave them out to soften completely.
• Line a baking tray with paper and draw a 22 cm circle as a shaping guide.
• Split and scrape the vanilla pod into the 400 ml milk.

Steps

1. Put the flour, 30 g sugar and salt in a stand mixer with a dough hook, then add the yeasted milk, the three eggs and one tablespoon of orange blossom water.
2. Knead on medium speed for 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and pulls cleanly from the bowl.
3. Add the soft butter a few cubes at a time and knead for a further 10 minutes, until the dough is silky and elastic.
4. Cover the bowl and chill the dough for at least two hours, or overnight, to firm up.
5. Bring the vanilla milk to a simmer.
6. Whisk the 4 egg yolks with the 90 g sugar and the cornflour until pale and thick.
7. Pour a third of the hot milk over the yolks while whisking, then return everything to the pan.
8. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the cream thickens and boils for one full minute.
9. Push the pastry cream through a sieve into a shallow dish, cover the surface with cling film and chill until cold.
10. Shape the cold dough into a ball, flatten it to a 20 cm disc and set it on the lined tray.
11. Cover loosely and prove at room temperature for 90 minutes, until visibly puffed and springy.
12. Heat the oven to 175C fan.
13. Brush the brioche with the egg glaze and scatter the pearl sugar thickly over the top.
14. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until deep golden and hollow-sounding underneath.
15. Cool the brioche completely on a wire rack.
16. Beat the 120 g soft butter until pale, then add the cold pastry cream a spoonful at a time, beating until smooth.
17. Beat in the two tablespoons of orange blossom water.
18. Whip the 150 ml cold double cream to firm peaks and fold it into the mousseline in two additions.
19. Split the cooled brioche horizontally with a long serrated knife.
20. Pipe the cream in fat touching rounds across the base, right out to the edge.
21. Set the sugared lid back on and press it very gently.
22. Chill for one hour, then cut into wedges with a hot knife.