This is the traditional dessert from Aveyron, the part of France where I come from. At home, I tend to use an Aubrac tea bag, which is an infusion of local plants, instead of an English breakfast tea bag. It doesn’t make a big difference, however, it’s just the tradition.
Ingredients
For the fouace dough
- 8 g fresh yeast
- 75 ml full fat or semi-skimmed milk
- 250 g white bread flour
- 4 g salt
- 85 g caster sugar
- 1 medium egg
- 1 teaspoon orange-flower water
- 40 g soft butter, diced
- 1 beaten egg, to glaze
For the prune compote
- 500 g stoned dried Agen prunes
- 50 g caster sugar
- 2 pinches of ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 English breakfast teabag
- 1 tablespoon dark rum
How to Make It
- Make the fouace dough. Prove for 2 hours in a warm place, then put in the fridge for 1 hour. Or rest overnight in the fridge. Make the prune compote
- Put the prunes, caster sugar, ground cinnamon and vanilla extract in a large pan and cover with water. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Put the tea bag in the pan and infuse for 15 minutes. Drain the prunes and keep the cooking juice to adjust the consistency of the compote. Blitz the prunes with the dark rum in a food processor, gradually adding a little prune cooking juice to lighten the mix. Cool for 1 hour at room temperature.
- Line the tart tin and cut away the excess pastry with a knife. Spread out the prune compote and make a lattice pattern on top with the leftover dough.
- Brush the dough with the beaten egg and bake the tart for 25 minutes. Cover it with foil to prevent it from burning and continue to bake for another 10–20 minutes. Cool in the tin.
