Rustic Caramelized Peach Tart

This peach tart is the front cover for the cookbook written by Maxine Clark.  I made her strawberry vanilla tart a few months ago when strawberry is in season.  I don't think that tin peach would taste the same as the fresh one so I wait till the peach season arrives to make this French style tart.  I chose to make the pastry using the cheat's rough puff pastry method by grating frozen butter onto the flour before folding.  The best part of this tart is the crispy buttery crust and the sugary caramelized peach syrup.  It's a simple form of tart that doesn't need any special tart tin but you need the skill to fold the pastry.  And I could tell you that it worths the effort!  I could image myself sitting at the veranda with red and white checkers tablecloth looking at the rural view from the French farm while sipping a cup of tea.  It's so simple and so good.  

Rustic Caramelized Peach Tart


Pastry:
250g plain flour
a pinch of salt
150g unsalted butter. frozen
150ml or a bit more iced water

Filling:
4-6 ripe peaches
55g butter
juice of 1/2 lemon
150g caster sugar
whipped cream or creme fraiche, to serve

Method:

1. For the pastry: Sift flour and salt in a mixing bowl.  Hold the butter in a tea towel (I use glad wrap) and quickly grate the butter into the flour.
2. Stir the butter into the flour with a knife.  Pour in water and mix with knife again until a messy lump is form.  Add a bit more water if needed.
3. Knead until it forms a streaky, lumpy ball.  Wrap with glad wrap and chill for 30 minutes until firm.
4. Sprinkle some flour onto the kitchen bench or work on a piece of baking paper.  Unwrap the dough and roll out away from you into a long rectangle 3 times longer than it's wide with 1 cm thick.  Remove any excess flour on the surface with a brush.
5. Lightly mark the pastry into 3 equal parts with knife then fold the 3rd closest to you over the middle and then fold the top third to cover the folded parts.
6. Turn it anticlockwise 45 degree like a book shape, then mark at one edge with finger to indicate you have completed 1 roll, then repeat the rolling and folding once more.  Rewrap and chill for 15 minutes.
7. Repeat rolling and folding twice more then wrap and chill for 30 minutes ( I chill for 15 mins) before rolling into shape.
8. Roll out the pastry and cut into a circle with 28cm in diameter about the size of a large dinner plate over baking paper.  Twisting the pastry over itself to make the edge.  Press slightly to seal and transfer onto a baking tray and chill for a further 15 minutes.
9. For the filling: Halve and pit the peaches and cut into chunky slices.  Heat butter in a saucepan the add the lemon juice and 1/2 sugar.  When the butter and sugar melted, add the peaches and toss gently.  Pile the peaches over the pastry with some butter sugar sauce and sprinkle the remaining sugar.  Bake at preheated oven at 230c for 20-25 minutes or until golden, puffed and caramelized. Serve with cream.

Source: adopted from the cookbook, Tart - sweet and savoury by Maxine Clark