Recipe: Doornikse appeltaart

Recipe for Doornikse appeltaart from Dark Rye and Honey Cake: Festival Baking from the Heart of the Low Countries

I discovered this recipe for apple pie connected to the city of Doornik (Tournai) in a cookery manuscript from Ghent; it was then copied into the Cocboeck published in 1593 by Carolus Battus, who also shared a recipe for an apple pie ‘in the Wallon fashion'. Both these recipes in their turn were then reproduced in De Verstandigen Kock (The Clever Cook), which was published first in Amsterdam in 1667, but had several editions published in Antwerp, and editions in Ghent and Brussels. This cookbook travelled to America with many settlers from the Low Countries in the 17th century, as is shown by the many copies held in libraries there.

Although today Doornik is a Walloon town not far from the French border, in the 5th century it was the capital of the Frankish Empire. In the 15th century it was part of the Duchy of Flanders under French rule and an important centre of the wool trade. In 1513, the English King Henry VIII conquered Doornik, which makes it the only Low Country town that was ever under English rule. So the town was indeed important enough to have a tart connected to it. Yet this recipe is completely forgotten about; in fact, it only appears in these three texts.

In the 1950s edition of Ons Kookboek from the Farmers' Wives' Union is a recipe for ‘Luikse Appeltaart' which is almost identical, with almond macaroons added to the mix and the cinnamon moving from the filling to the crust. This is my recipe based on the 16th-century recipes for Doornikse appeltaart.

Serves 4-6 people

For the pastry

• 180g strong/bread flour
• 20g icing sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 100g unsalted butter, chilled
• 1 egg yolk
• 1tbs cold water

For the filling

• 350g Cox, Granny Smith or other slightly tart dessert apples
• 60g icing sugar
• 110g butter, melted
• 5 egg yolks, plus 1 whole egg
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 1tbs rice flour

Recipe

Use a 27cm top diameter x 23cm base diameter x 3cm depth pie tin, greased and floured.

For the shortcrust pastry, combine the flour, sugar, salt and butter in a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse for 8 seconds or until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and water and pulse again until the dough forms a ball in the bowl. Remove from the bowl and knead briefly. Wrap the pastry in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

For the filling, slice the apples into rounds and then into thirds. You need 230g of chopped apple.

Add the icing sugar to the melted butter and beat until smooth. Add the egg yolks and the egg and beat well, then stir in the cinnamon. Set the filling aside to rest while preheating the oven to 180°C. Do not use the fan setting.

Briefly knead the pastry until smooth, then pat it into a round disc and roll it out onto a floured work surface to a thickness of 3mm. Lay the pastry in the pie plate or tin. Trim off excess pastry. Coat the apple slices in the rice flour and arrange in the pie plate or tin. Stir the filling well, then pour it over the apple slices and gently shake the tart so the filling can get all around the apples.

Place the tart in the middle of the oven and turn down the heat to 160°C. Bake for 40 minutes until the filling is set, then increase the oven temperature to 180°C and bake for an additional 10 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is golden.

Recipe from Dark Rye and Honey Cake by Regula Ysewijn (Murdoch books, £26)