Classic Apple Tart

An Apple tart is a dish eaten all around the world, and everybody has their own recipe and tricks that makes their tart unique. This Apple Tart recipe tries to stay true to the classic with a minimum number of ingredients, and little specialised equipment. It is easy to make at home, but can look professional and polished with a little extra effort.

Ingredients:

100 g of frozen unsalted butter
1 and 1/2 cups of All Purpose Flour/Maida (plus extra for rolling)
1/4 tsp Salt
3 Tbsps Sugar (both powdered and granulated are okay)
3 medium sized Apples (shouldn’t be overripe)
1/2 a lime
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Special equipment:

Tart pan (I used a 9 inch diameter pan – ideally with a removable bottom)
Oven
Grater with large holes (Optional)

Directions:

Place your butter in the freezer for 5-10 minutes so it hardens considerably. Also place a cup of water in the fridge so it has a chance to chill.
Add the 1 and 1/2 cups of flour, 1/8 tsp of salt (a pinch), and 1 tbsp of sugar to a large mixing bowl and stir so they are evenly distributed.
Take the butter out of the freezer and grate it using a large-holed grater so the butter is added to the flour mixture in very small pieces. In case you don’t have a grater, you can cube the butter and add it into the flour mixture, and then proceed to cut the butter up and incorporate it into the flour using 2 forks or 2 butter knifes. Keep going until the mixture has the consistency of wet sand.
Add 2-3 tbsps of the cold water and begin kneading the dough in the bowl until it just comes together into a ball. Try not to knead the dough too much. Place the dough in the fridge to chill for 10-15 minutes.
Wash and thinly slice your 3 apples into even pieces and place them in a large bowl. To this, squeeze half a lime (equivalent to 1 tbsp of juice), add 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tbsp sugar, and the remaining 1/8th tsp of salt (a pinch). Mix this well, and leave the apples to marinate in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
Remove your chilled dough from the fridge and begin to roll it out on a well floured surface. The dough should be rolled so that it is larger than your tart pan – approximately into a 10 or 11 inch circle. The dough might crack a little towards the edges and this is okay – patch the cracks together as best as you can and keep rolling.
Transfer the sheet of dough into the 9 inch tart pan. This can be done by gently draping the dough over the well-floured rolling pin. Fit the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan as evenly as possible and cut off the excess dough from the rim.
Use a fork to poke holes all over the base of the tart. This is to ensure that it does not puff, and stays flat while baking. Place the tart base in the fridge for 10 minutes to chill.
Mix 1 tbsp of flour and 1 tbsp of sugar in a small bowl until they are well combined. Remove the chilled tart base from the fridge and sprinkle this onto it evenly. This is to absorb any juices let off by the apples during baking and prevent the base from getting soggy.
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C.
Remove the bowl with the sliced apples from the fridge and neatly place them onto the tart base. I decided to place them in a concentric circle pattern so it looks like a flower.