Pate Brisee - Tarte aux Quetsches (Plum Tart)

Well friends, after three weeks of not having heard back from the publishers, I've gotten the distinct impression that I never will. So, I've decided to forge ahead by 1) simply listing the recipe ingredients, and 2) sharing the (hopefully tasty) end results with all of you! First up is Chef Felder's Pate Brisee, which also works well as a basic pie dough. After attempting the below plum tart, I ended up using this same dough recipe for our family's blueberry pie, and it turned out pretty well. I'll definitely continue to experiment with this dough, and hopefully improve my crust-rolling technique.

Pate Brisee - Tarte aux Quetsches (Plum Tart)

Adapted from Patisserie: Mastering the Fundamentals of French Pastry
 
For the Pate Brisee (pie dough):
125 g butter, diced
250 g all-purpose flour
40 g granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
125 ml cold water

For the Filling:
Six plums (pitted and sliced into 1/16ths)
50 g plain, fine breadcrumbs
25 g granulated sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Optional:
1 cup lavender simple syrup (see Lauren Craig's blog, Perpetually Chic, for a very easy recipe)
1 Tbsp fresh lemon zest
1 tsp cornstarch

Other:
9 inch tart pan with removable bottom 

I've never made a plum tart before, but this first recipe looked absolutely divine. How can you not fall in love with a glistening, purple star burst of fruit surrounded by sweet pastry? I was sold. I did make a few modifications, however, and I was pretty happy with the result. Instead of slicing the plums in half and filling the crust with bare fruit, I cut them into thin crescents, soaked them in a bit of lavender simple syrup, lemon zest, and corn starch, and arranged them in a pinwheel. I also used a bit of the syrup left over, mixed it with a tablespoon of apricot preserves, and used that to glaze the fruit after pulling the tart from of the oven. While I didn't get as much of the lavender flavor as I was hoping for, the fruit looked beautiful, and the glaze covered any plum slices that may have dried out a bit while baking. Topped off with a little bit of cinnamon and sugar, and voila! Bon appetit!