I've seen the Christophe Felder's custard tart mentioned several times on blogs as being "the best custard tart" of all time. Without further ado, I decided to test this recipe for my first entremet recipe!
I don't know what you think, but for me, custard tart is a pretty universal recipe. While with chocolate recipes you can quickly run into people who find it "too much" (sweet, heavy, cloying…), with custard tart opinions are generally unanimous and I've never heard anyone tell me: "sorry, I don't like custard tart".
Usually, I make the recipe from the "Pâtissier's Book". A simple pastry cream on a base of puff pastry. I particularly like this pastry cream recipe because it uses whole eggs and so you don't end up with leftover egg whites. This might seem trivial as a consideration but when you cook a lot, you quickly find yourself throwing away leftovers or restarting a recipe to use up the leftovers of leftovers... (true story).
EDIT This is actually a simplified version of Christophe Felder's original recipe (see comments), I'll test the real recipe soon to give an objective opinion.
The specificities of Christophe Felder's custard tart
With Felder's recipe, there's no egg problem either and you also avoid THE major technical point of custard tart: puff pastry. Felder uses instead a fairly sweet shortcrust pastry. On the filling side, the pastry cream is extended with heavy cream which makes the tart quite compact. If the recipe is simpler to make, it nonetheless requires some advance planning because the dough needs to be cooled before lining the pan.
You also need to let the pastry cream cool. To be safe, I'd say you need to allow 2 good hours of rest (or plan ahead the day before) to avoid any unpleasant surprises. And if you're REALLY motivated (and organized, which isn't my case since I often cook on a whim at the last minute), you can let the vanilla bean steep in the hot milk overnight, which will give it a more pronounced flavor.
Points to pay attention to
Regarding the recipe's attention points, it's mainly about not overworking your shortcrust pastry. You need to let it cool in the fridge to prevent it from shrinking during baking. I find that pie dough is always a delicate preparation. You need to work it enough for it to come together (and absolutely never add water!) but not too much either so as not to overdevelop the gluten and make it elastic…
Basically, as soon as it holds together, wrap it as a thick disk and let it cool quietly in the fridge. After about half an hour, let it come back to room temperature for 10 minutes (it's brittle and difficult to work with otherwise) and roll it out without overdoing it. To put all the odds in your favor, I recommend using T55 flour which is lower in gluten. It's not essential but it does help to get a less elastic dough especially when you're not used to it (hmm... even with a CAP diploma you watch sometimes often your oven with apprehension...).
For the pastry cream, you need to make sure to always mix well the eggs/sugar/cornstarch mixture when you pour the hot milk over it. Otherwise, the eggs coagulate and it's a disaster! I've detailed the step-by-step for you in this chocolate pastry cream recipe. If your mixer isn't a powerhouse, sift the cornstarch to avoid lumps once the milk goes back on the heat. Then, just gently mix with a whisk over low heat until the mixture thickens and takes on the consistency of mayonnaise.
Assembling the custard tart
Let the pastry cream obtained cool. Once cold, give it a quick beat with the mixer to make it more supple. This is how you'll get a nice smooth surface and spread it over the pie crust. Be careful, the cream thickens quite a bit when baked in the oven, I recommend filling your pie crust only 2/3 of the way. Last tip, the original recipe is for 16 people, you can easily divide it in half for a family dessert (for my part, I managed to line one ring 22 cm tall and another 20 cm tall).
Verdict? It's certainly a very good recipe. The best I've ever eaten? Definitely not (but having lived next to the bakery with the best custard tart recipe in Paris, my opinion may be a little biased). I found the crust a bit too sweet and it lacked a bit of vanilla flavor, despite my milk infused with very good vanilla. But overall it remains a very good dessert and my guests (more custard tart fans than me) really enjoyed it.
But having also heard a lot of good things about Conticini's recipe, I think I'll organize a little battle soon!
