Tarte au Sucre, or sugar tart, is a dessert that comes from the North part of France – Normandy and Nord-Pas-de-Calais, and the like – and if you’ve ever seen the movie Bienvenue Chez les Ch’tis, you’ll know all about Nord-Pas-de-Calais.
(If you haven’t seen that movie, it’s hilarious).
Tarte au sucre is such an interesting recipe. It’s like a coffee cakes with the brown sugar topping, except that it’s made with baker’s yeast instead of baking powder. It’s similar to brioche with the eggs and milk in the dough, except that it doesn’t rise as well and it’s not at all sweet until you add the topping. I’ve seen it likened to pecan pie without the pecans, and some recipes call for using a pie crust, but it’s really not like that at all. Not the traditional kind. I translated and modified this recipe in my attempt to get to an original recipe that suited my taste.
One little tidbit I appreciated reading (although I can’t find the website where I read it) is that the tarte au sucre changed in the early 19th century when Napoleon’s war with England stopped all trade between the two countries. The French no longer had access to cane sugar from England’s colonies, so they started using sugar made from beets, which is what we know as brown sugar. I love learning stuff like that, especially since I write Regency novels. I’m a history buff regarding this particular era.
Now for the recipe. You need to allow for rising time so you have to plan ahead. Mix 2 cups of flour with a teaspoon of sea salt (it has larger grains than table salt, so reduce the amount to 1/2 teaspoon if you’re using table salt). Form a well in the middle of the flour/salt mixture. In a separate bowl, beat two eggs. And then in another bowl, combine 1/2 cup of warm milk with 2 teaspoons of dried instant yeast. Pour the eggs and milk/yeast mix in the well you’ve created in the middle of the flour.
I had to redo the dough for this recipe because the first time I used the 15 grams of yeast the original recipe called for without realising that it was calling for fresh yeast. And instant yeast requires only half the amount of fresh yeast. So I had to ditch the first batch, which went very much against the grain, let me tell you. It didn’t taste bad, but I wanted to do the recipe correctly.
Use an electric mixer to beat the dough and add in 80 grams of cold butter, cut in chunks. You should beat the ingredients for 5 minutes (if you’re in a hurry) to 15 minutes (if you have time) to form an elastic dough. This is a good time to tell you I used gluten-free flour, and that works really well for this recipe since the eggs and milk help it to stay together. If you’re making this gluten-free for someone who is intolerant, think of using a gluten-free yeast as well.
Let it rise in the bowl for an hour. I put it in an oven that was barely warm since it was cold outside. This tarte was traditionally made in the winter when it’s cold and people need more calories. It was also featured at every winter festival in the North of France. However, now it’s made all year around.
Butter and flour a quiche pan, then roll out the dough gently with some more flour.
I’m not sure how it is with regular flour, but with gluten-free it will not hold together perfectly when you transfer it to the quiche pan. But never mind.
Let it rise for another hour, or hour-and-a-half, in the quiche pan, and then when you’re ready, pre-heat the oven to 190°C. First you’re going to poke holes in the tarte so the topping can seep through.
In a separate bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of heavy cream, an egg, and 2/3 cup of brown sugar. The sugar is almost double what the original recipe called for, but I made that adjustment (and reduced the salt) based on the comments in the post, and on other recipes, and my own judgment of what seemed right. Pour it over the top of your dough and add 40 grams of cold butter cut in chunks.
Into the oven it goes for a half hour.
And then you’ve got this gorgeous creation.
The topping caramelises to make this crunchy, chewy addition to the slightly salty (and yeasted) bread. It’s such an interesting combination. It’s good. (Trust me. The tarte is almost gone in our house).
RECIPE
Here’s the recipe with some conversions (grams and celsius). I can’t seem to use the recipe box plugin so I’ll have to type it out. It’s less convenient because you can’t print it out, but it will be all in one place.
Dough : 300 grams flour, gluten-free or regular (2 cups), 1 teaspoon sea salt (or less if table salt). 100 ml warm milk (1/2 cup), 7 grams instant dry yeast (2 teaspoons), 2 eggs, 80 grams of butter (5.5 tablespoons). Form a well with the flour and salt mixture. Beat the eggs in one bowl, and mix the yeast and warm milk in another. Pour both into the flour mix and use a beater to mix. Add the cold butter cut into chunks and mix for at least 5 minutes. Let it rise one hour.
Butter and flour a quiche pan. Roll out the dough until it’s about the same size as the pan, then cover the bottom with dough. Let it rise another hour. Then poke holes in the dough.
Topping : 1 egg, 2 tablespoons heavy cream, 130 grams brown sugar (2/3 cup packed), 40 grams butter (almost 3 tablespoons). Mix everything but the butter and pour over the dough. Sprinkle chunks of cold butter over the top.
Pre-heat the oven to 375°F or 190°C. Bake for a half-hour.
I want to leave you with some book news since that’s such a big part of what I do. The first thing is that A Noble Affair is free on kindle for another day if you want to grab a copy.
The second thing is that I’m part of a promotion right now where you can read Regency novels and novellas for free in exchange for signing up for the author’s newsletter. (You can always unsubscribe if you find you’re getting too many emails). Click on the button below to access the author giveaway. And I may I add that this is the perfect way to discover if you like my writing. (If you see this post after the promotion is finished, you can still get my Regency novella for free by signing up for my author newsletter here.
Finally, If you haven’t yet gotten a copy of my newly-released book, A Regrettable Proposal, I hope you will.
Have a sweet day! 
