Apricot & Custard Rye Pie Bar

Exploring flavour affinities.

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Hello, we’ve made it to newsletter No. 21! Thanks for being here.

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re already a subscriber, a fellow follower of all that is exciting and engaging about the world of baking, engaging all the senses with whole grains, seasonal fruit and flavour-forward ingredients.

If this is your first time here, you can expect musings, commentary, ideas and inspiration concerning the act and art of baking, including its more esoteric bits and pieces.

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A real quick one this week as I move through the challenge of being in multiple places at once, wearing different hats and spinning all the plates; this is life as a small business owner. But, if I have learnt anything, then as long as you can feign some degree of ‘put togetherness’ and resolve, you will move through it and survive to bake another day.

For me, this degree of ‘put togetherness’ surmounts dressing with relative coordination (meaning all items of attire are the correct way round), not setting off to work in one’s slippers, and ensuring a bag well-packed with snacks is always about one’s person. A girl can go far in the right shoes and fuel in her belly.

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If you’re reading this on the day it was posted, then know that I am out in a field on Stringer’s family farm taking in a tour of this year’s crops, from oats to rye, to barley, bean and wheat and catching up with a bunch of fellow bakers, farmers, growers and academics over lunch and cake.

We’ll be troubleshooting the never-ending challenges of creating a localised grain economy and what it looks like and means to us all. It can feel like slow progress sometimes, but it’s progress, at least.

Facing a field of wheat, or any of the crops for that matter, makes you feel small and overwhelmingly astounded by the work of farmers. They plan all year, endlessly moving in cycles, tending the crops in the present, knowing how the previous crop faired, and thinking about the one to be drilled in that very place next season. At least, that’s what responsible farmers do.

Put a farmer’s face to your flour and walk the wheat; it’s one of the surest ways to reconnect with your practice, baking as a vital agricultural act.

In the meantime, here’s the first recipe from my list of ideas posted last week on the theme of apricots and their flavour affinities. Dark rye flour in the shortbread base offers a rich, grounding flavour, on top of which creamy custard and honey roast apricots make a happy home, all finished with a toothsome textural crumble of rolled oats spiked with toasty caraway seeds.

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Apricot & Custard Rye Pie Bar

The idea of prescribing a recipe that requires you to make four separate components seems excessive, but here we are. It's justified by the fact that each element is customisable with bags of versatility and functionality across many baking applications beyond this one recipe. Plus, they can all be made in advance and/or frozen to have on hand when needed.

To save time and energy, the shortbread base and the apricots can be baked at the same temperature; take note of their different baking times. I highly recommend baking extra apricots while at it; they’re perfect on porridge, with thick yoghurt, whipped cream and meringue or ice cream.

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Ingredients
Makes approx 12 x 4cm x 6.5cm pieces

For the shortbread base

148g whole rye flour
148g wholewheat emmer flour
50g caster sugar
55g soft light brown sugar
1 tsp flaky sea salt
225g unsalted butter (cool and cubed)

Place the flours, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Blitz briefly to evenly blend the ingredients. Add the cubes of unsalted butter and pulse until the mixture forms a crumbly dough that comes together when pressed.

Tip the mixture into a greased, lined 8x8-inch tin and press down to create an even layer.

Bake at 170°C for 35 minutes until evenly brown; the surface should look dry, matt, and firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

For the honey roast apricots

340g (approximately 6) apricots
60-80g honey (depending upon the sweetness of your fruit and your preference)
1/4tsp flaky sea salt
1.5 tbsp lemon juice or orange blossom water
1/2tsp noyaux extract (not necessary, but nice if you already have some)

Halve the apricots and remove the stone.
Use a baking dish that snuggly accommodates them; add the remaining ingredients once nestled in. Give a little stir to combine and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes. The length of time depends on the ripeness of the fruit, but you’re looking for them to soften and become a little jammy and syrupy. Once they reach this stage, remove them from the oven and allow to cool.

For the custard

250ml whole milk
3 egg yolks
35g caster sugar
20g flour (white/plain)
Spent vanilla bean to infuse the custard
Pinch sea salt to season

Place egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl, whisk until pale, then whisk in the flour.
Place milk in a saucepan and heat to just below a boil.
Pour half of the milk over the egg mixture and whisk to temper the eggs. Then pour the egg-milk mixture back into the pan with the remaining milk, ensuring you scrape everything from the bowl containing the eggs.
Return the pan to the heat and stir with a spatula until the mixture begins to thicken; ensure you scrape the base of the pan thoroughly when stirring.
As the custard thickens, switch your spatula for a whisk and continue to cook it; whisk constantly and allow it to bubble for at least 1 minute to cook out the flour.
Remove from the heat and stir through the vanilla extract and the sea salt. Cover the surface with a reusable piece of parchment or plastic wrap and allow to cool.
The custard will keep for three days in the fridge.

For the crumble

40g rye flour
40g rolled oats
1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
40g unsalted butter (cool and cubed)
22g caster sugar

Place the rye flour, oats and sea salt in a bowl, add the butter cubes and toss to coat, then rub the butter and dry ingredients between your fingers and thumbs to create a rough breadcrumb-like texture. Stir through the sugar and freeze until you need it.

This will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

To assemble the pie bar

Spread the cooled custard over the baked shortbread base.

Lift the roasted apricots out of any syrupy juice and nestle them into the custard layer. Retain the honey syrup, and add to a cocktail or soda water.

Sprinkle the oat crumble over the top, covering the custard and apricots.

Bake in the oven at 180°C for 20-25 minutes or until the crumble top is golden and crisp.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool completely before slicing into bars.

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