I've just returned from visiting friends in Singapore. While I was there my friend Maya asked if I could teach her how to bake my chocolate tart recipe. What follows are the lessons we learnt while making pastry in high humidity. 

For me, the most interesting part of baking in humidity was how little liquid you needed to add to the pastry. It's almost as though the pastry mix was absorbing moisture from the air? 

Secondly, we had to find a way to keep the butter "solid" enough to mix it into the flour. Not only is Singapore humid, it's also hot. We found the best technique was to put ice cubes in a mixing bowl, then work your butter and flour in a larger mixing bowl nesting on top. This way the butter stayed cool enough for you to work with it.

Finally, the pastry itself seemed to take 3-4 minutes longer to bake. I would suggest you check it after 20 minutes and if it's not baked leave it in for a few minutes more.  

So, our final technique is as follows:

Measure out all your ingredients before you start working. I think being able to work quickly helped us create a good pastry.

Put ice cubes into a mixing bowl, then put a larger mixing bowl on top of the one containing ice. Put the butter, flour and ground almonds into this large mixing bowl. With your hands rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Next add the icing sugar and continue to rub the mix together. 

Add the egg, then quickly mix it all together with your hands. Now add the water one tablespoon at a time. We found 2tbsp was enough. If your pastry does not come together after 2tbsp try adding a touch more. Once combined you should be able to shape the dough into a ball. Wrap this ball of dough in cling film and leave in the fridge overnight.

You can then use this pastry to bake any of my tart recipes:
http://www.fodmapfoodie.co.uk/recipes/category/tarts

These low FODMAP profiteroles take a little bit of time and effort, but the results are well worth it!
​
Start by preheating your oven to 220c (425f)

Put the butter and water in a saucepan and heat over a medium heat until the butter melts. Bring the mixture to the boil and immediately remove from the heat. Add the flour and baking powder then stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until it forms a ball. Depending on the size of your wooden spoon you may end up with two balls rather than one, this is not a problem.

Once the ball forms, return the mixture to a low heat and continue to stir vigorously for 5 minutes. I can't lie to you, your forearms will hurt after 5 minutes! Stir through the pain, the end result is well worth the effort. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a couple of minutes.

Add one egg and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until combined. Then add the second egg and beat until you have a smooth paste.

Traditionally the paste should be piped into discs on your baking tray. If you have a piping bag than go for it. However, I've always intended for this site to show easy ways of making interesting dishes. So, I've used a spoon to make discs on the tray. Whichever method you use, the important part is to get them as close to the same size as you can. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes then turn the temperature down to 190c (375f) and bake for another 10 minutes.
Take the pastry buns out of the oven and pierce with a fork before returning to the oven and baking for 5 more minutes at 190c (375f).

To make the chocolate topping, fill a saucepan about 1/4 full with water and simmer over a medium heat. Place a mixing bowl on top of the saucepan and add the chocolate. Once the chocolate melts add the butter and stir until combined. Take the mixing bowl off the saucepan and leave to cool for 15 minutes.

Use a pastry brush, or teaspoon, to brush the melted chocolate onto the top of your pastry buns. Once the top of all buns are coated in chocolate start on the creme patissiere filling.

My recipe for creme patissiere can be found here. Once you've made it, allow it to cool to room temperature then syringe into the holes you made in your pastry buns.

I appreciate a syringe is not something most people have in their kitchen. However, I highly recommend picking one up, they are very useful. If you don't have one, slice the buns half way open with a sharp knife then fill using a teaspoon.

Once filled with creme patissiere the profiteroles are ready to eat. So drop on your favorite Sunday morning album, relax and enjoy the fruits of your labour

4 egg yolks
60g caster sugar
30g cornflour
280ml lactose free milk
1tsp vanilla extract

I've got to say up front, I am more than a little proud of myself here!

Start by beating your egg yolks together with the caster sugar, they should become slightly thickened. Next whisk in the cornflour.

Heat the milk and vanilla extract in a saucepan on a low heat until it just starts to boil. Remember to sir it regularly so it does not scald on the bottom. Apologies to the experts among us, but for the novices, milk does not boil like water. It should rise slightly in the pan but not bubble.

Pour half of the warm milk into the egg mixture. You need to try and pour this into the side of the bowl rather then directly onto the eggs. Also you must whisk constantly while adding the milk to avoid scrambling the eggs.

Now pour the egg/milk mix back into the saucepan containing the remaining milk. Whisk constantly. You will notice the mixture thicken. There is a fine line here. The first time I did this I did not allow the mixture to thicken enough and was left with a creme paissiere that was too runny and unusable. You can also leave it on the heat too long and the mixture will split and become unusable. Ideally you want a consistency you could pipe in a piping bag.

Once the mixture has thickened you need to take it off the heat and cool it rapidly so it does not continue cooking. I found the best way to do this is to put the saucepan into a large bowl of ice water. Once completely cooled store the creme patissiere in the fridge. 

200g gluten free plain white flour
100g unsalted butter
100g ground almonds (serving size will be low FODMAP)
25g icing sugar (if you want a sweeter pastry)
5tbsp cold water
1 egg

Put the butter and flour into a large mixing bowl. With your hands rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Next add the ground almonds and continue to rub the mix together.

(If you want a sweeter pastry add the icing sugar at this stage)

Now add the water and egg, then quickly mix it all together with your hands. Once combined you should be able to shape the dough into a ball. Wrap this ball of dough in cling film and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours.

A quick note here. This gluten free pastry dough will seem much softer and "wetter" than ordinary flour pastry.

1 sterile jar
150g caster sugar
100g butter - cut into pieces
3 lemons - zest and juice
3 eggs

I like to start be sterilising my jar, I have an old jam jar I use for this recipe. Wash and rinse it  thoroughly in the sink. Then place both the jar and the lid in the oven at 175C. They need to be in the oven for at least 20 minutes.

While the jar is sterilising, put some water in a pan and set it over a low heat. Put the sugar, butter, lemon juice and zest into a mixing bowl. Sit the mixing bowl over the pan of simmering water, ensure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir the mixture occasionally until all the butter is melted.

Now, whisk your three eggs together and then pour the eggs into the warm lemon mixture. It is important that you thoroughly wisk the lemon/egg mix until all the ingredients are combined. If you just pour the eggs in and leave them sitting there you'll get some very funky scrambled eggs!

Leave the mixture to cook for about 12 minutes, stir it occasionally. It is this occasional stirring that will help you see when the cooking is complete. The mixture will change from a watery consistency to a thicker consistency. When cooked the mixture should be thick and creamy, you should be able to coat the back of a spoon with it.

Take the lemon curd off the simmering water and set aside to cool. Continue to stir it occasionally as it cools. If you time it right, your jar should be sterile about the same time you take the lemon curd off the heat. Take it out of the oven, remember it will be very hot, and set it aside to cool as well.

Once your lemon curd and jar are both cool, spoon the mixture into the jar, seal, and store it in the fridge. It will keep for several weeks and you can use it as a base for all kinds of low FODMAP goodness. I'll demonstrate this in the coming weeks. Of course, you'll have to resist sitting on the sofa with the jar of lemon curd and a spoon!