Rustic Peach Tart
Feeling peachy? We are, now that I’ve made this delectable Rustic Peach Tart! If you ❤️ peaches, you are going to want to make this, probably more than once before peach season passes us by! Yup, it’s that kind of good!!
How much do you love peaches?!! Naturally sweet, meltingly juicy and so gorgeous to look at, it’s not hard to understand why they’re such a beloved summertime treat. I could eat one every day. Unfortunately though, in their natural state, which is to say, uncooked, I’m highly allergic to them (and pretty much all other stone fruits). Nothing dangerous happens, but I start to sneeze and itch—even my hands get all tingly and red I f they come into contact with the peach juice. Fortunately I can eat them when they’re cooked (the protein I’m allergic to apparently gets broken down when heated) and so to get my peach fix, I just have to suffer through pies and tarts like this! It’s a tough life, right?!!
The filling for this simple tart is little more than peaches because they’re just so perfect on their own. Really, what more could you need?!! Except for maybe a bit of sugar, vinegar and some tapioca to help thicken things up a bit!
The crust for this though, is a little more complex in ingredients, as well as flavor and texture (though it’s still super easy to make.) That’s due to the fact that there’s whole wheat flour and cornmeal along with the white flour, so there’s a bit of hearty oomph in each bite. It really balances out the sweetness of the filling.
And for those of you who feel a bit intimidated by pie/tart dough, particularly the rolling out and crimpng part, this is the one for you because it’s all about the freeform, rustic look here. All you do is fold up the dough around the filling, brush with a little egg and sprinkle with a bit of coarse sugar. No pesky fluting or weaving! We’re talking stress-free summer baking!
When this emerges from your oven all golden brown and bubbly and making your house smell absolutely wonderful, you’re supposed to let it cool to room temperature and then slice it up to serve. Some people (no names mentioned) like to stand around with forks and attack it the minute it’s done, willingly risking singed tongues!! Can you blame them?!!
Rustic Peach Tart
Makes one 10-inch tart (give or take)
Prep time for dough: 10 minutes, plus at least 1 hour chilling time: Prep Time for Tart: 15 minutes, plus 10 minutes to macerate and 15 minutes for rolled out dough to chill; Assembly Time: 10 minutes: Bake Time: About 45 minutes-1 hour
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 3/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup cornmeal
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted cold butter, cut into cubes
- About ¼ cup ice water
For the Filling
- 2 pounds ripe peaches, peeled, pitted and cut into wedges
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons instant tapioca
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 2 tablespoons, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- Demerara sugar for sprinkling
The Recipe
1. To make the dough: whisk the flours together in a large bowl. Add in the cornmeal, sugar and salt and whisk well. Add the butter and use a pastry cutter or your fingers to work the butter into the flour mixture until it is crumbly. Add in most of the cold water and use a fork to toss together until the mixture can be formed into a ball. If it seems too dry, add the rest of the water. Once you’ve formed the ball, flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour and up to one day.
2. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400º F. Lightly flour a wooden board or countertop and your rolling pin and roll out dough to a 14-inch round. If dough seems too hard to roll out, let it sit out for 15 minutes or so. Also, don’t stress about making a perfect round, you’re only going to fold this up later, so it really doesn’t matter. Lightly flour a large rimmed baking sheet and transfer the rolled dough to it, by folding the dough over the rolling pin and carefully unrolling it onto the prepared sheet. Chill for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the filling: Place the sliced peaches in a large bowl and toss them with the sugar, tapioca, and vinegar. Let sit for 10 minutes.
4. Remove chilled dough from fridge and mound peach mixture in the center of it. Fold the dough up over the filling, leaving a center of exposed peaches. Pinch and crimp the edges around the filling so the dough stays sealed and then brush the dough with the beaten egg. Dot the filling with the butter and sprinkle the entire thing with the Demerara sugar.
5. Bake for 15 minutes until the crust begins to color a bit, then lower the oven temperature to 325º F and bake for another 30 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the crust is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature, then slice and serve.
Enjoy!
Note: Recipe adapted from The Beetlebung Farm Cookbook by Chris Fischer. By accident I used instant tapioca instead of tapioca flour but it turned out great anyway, but if you like feel free to use the same amount of tapioca flour or even cornstarch instead.
