This damson crumble tart is one of my favourite late summer tarts, so it is perfect for making in early September.
It’s a take on the traditional Luxembourgish Quetschentaart: a simple yeast dough topped with damsons and dusted with icing sugar.
I added my little twist by spreading the base with Quetschekraut (damson jam), to make it more moist. And, to give it the final touch: I topping the tart with an irresistible buttery crumble.
For the yeast dough:
240g flour + extra for dusting
15g fresh yeast
4 tbsp lukewarm milk
¼ tsp salt
30g sugar
4g vanilla sugar
40g butter
1 egg
3 tbsp Quetschekraut (damson jam)
700g damsons
For the crumble:
75g flour
50g sugar
60g soft butter
30m tart tin • Prep 40’ • Resting 1h • Oven 50’ • A little effort
For the ‘starter’, put the flour into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. Crumble the yeast into a jar and mix with the lukewarm milk and 1 teaspoon of sugar until diluted. Pour the yeasty milk into the well, making sure that the liquid doesn’t spill too far out of the well. Stir the milk mix inside the well with a bit of flour from the sides so that you get a loose dough. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and leave to rise at room temperature for 15 minutes.
After the 15 minutes, cut the butter into cubes. Add the salt, the sugar, the vanilla sugar, butter and the egg to the ‘starter’ and mix with the kneading attachment of an electric hand or stand mixer. Work into a smooth dough, using your hands if necessary. Cover the bowl with the tea towel and leave to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes so the dough doubles in size.
Meanwhile, wash, stone and quarter the damsons.
Grease a 30cm tart tin and dust with flour.
After resting for 30 minutes, the dough can be rolled out. Dust your work surface with flour and thinly roll out the dough so that it’s slightly larger than the tart tin. Place the dough into the tin and push against the rim.
Spread the damson jam all over the base of the tart and arrange the damsons on top in a circular pattern on top.
Cover the tart with the tea towel and leave to rest in a warm place for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.
Meanwhile, make the crumble. Rub all the ingredients in a bowl with your hands until you get a crumbly texture.
Top the tart with crumble and bake for 30 minutes.
Leave to cool and serve the tart with whipped cream.
