TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Tarte TropézienneSaint-Tropez Cream-Filled Brioche
A Saint-Tropez dessert of brioche baked with pearl sugar, split horizontally and generously filled with a cream combining pastry cream and butter. Orange blossom water supplies its characteristic southern French aroma. It brings together two techniques: brioche fermentation and emulsifying the cream. It is also known for the story that Brigitte Bardot named it while filming in 1955.
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Ingredients (4 servings)
- Strong bread flourFor the brioche dough.250 g
- Fresh baker’s yeastActivate in milk before use.10 g
- Whole milk for the doughFor activating the yeast. Warm to about 35°C.60 ml
- Eggs for the dough2 pieces
- Caster sugar for the dough30 g
- SaltFor the dough.4 g
- Unsalted butter for the doughSoften to a creamy consistency.80 g
- Pearl sugarScatter on top before baking; it gives the dessert its characteristic appearance. Available from baking suppliers and online.30 g
- Whole milk for the cream250 ml
- Egg yolks for the cream3 pieces
- Caster sugar for the cream70 g
- CornstarchFor thickening the cream.25 g
- Orange blossom waterThe essential aroma of the dessert. Available from baking suppliers and online.1 tsp
- Unsalted butter for the cream, at room temperatureCombine with pastry cream to make a mousseline-style filling.120 g
Method
Dissolve the yeast in milk
- 1 Warm the 60 ml milk for the dough to about 35°C, pour into a bowl and crumble in 10 g fresh yeast, stirring to dissolve.
Activate the yeast
- 1 Leave at room temperature for 10 minutes.
- 2 Fine bubbles on the surface indicate activity.
Knead the brioche dough
- 1 Mix 250 g bread flour and 4 g salt in a bowl. Make a well and add the 2 eggs and 30 g sugar for the dough, plus the fermented milk, then mix.
- 2 Turn onto the worktop and knead for 10 minutes. Add the 80 g softened dough butter in 3 additions, kneading in each. Once glossy and no longer sticking to your hands, shape into a ball and return to the bowl.
Make the pastry cream
- 1 MeanwhileMake the pastry cream while the dough undergoes its first rise.
- 2 Heat the 250 ml milk for the cream in a saucepan until just below boiling.
- 3 Mix 3 egg yolks and the 70 g sugar for the cream in a bowl, then mix in 25 g cornstarch.
- 4 Gradually add the milk, return to the pan and heat while stirring constantly until thick. Once boiling, work the cream for 1 minute, then turn off the heat.
- 5 Mix in 1 tsp orange blossom water, spread on a tray, cover with cling film touching the surface and refrigerate.
Let the dough rise
- 1 Cover with cling film and leave in a warm place, ideally 27–30°C, for 1 hour 30 minutes, until 2 times its original size.
- 2 Keep the cream chilling during this time.
Ready when
Continue when the dough has doubled and an indentation made with a floured finger returns only slowly.
Shape and proof again
- 1 Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- 2 Gently knock back the risen dough, shape into a flat disc about 20 cm across and place on the tray.
- 3 Cover with a cloth and proof in a warm place for 45 minutes.
Add pearl sugar and preheat
- 1 Begin preheating the oven to 180°C.
- 2 After the second rise, lightly brush the dough with beaten egg, extra and optional, or milk, and scatter 30 g pearl sugar over it.
Bake the brioche
- 1 Bake at 180°C for 20–25 minutes.
- 2 It is ready when evenly golden and the underside sounds dry when tapped lightly.
- 3 Cool completely on a rack.
Finish the mousseline cream
- 1 Finish the cream.
- 2 Beat the 120 g room-temperature butter for the filling in a bowl until pale. Loosen the chilled pastry cream with a spatula and add in 3 portions, mixing each until smooth.
Ready when
It is ready when glossy and uniform.
Caution
A temperature difference between butter and cream causes separation. Avoid overly cold pastry cream and always bring the butter to room temperature before combining.
Fill and chill
- 1 Slice the cooled brioche horizontally in half.
- 2 Pipe a thick layer of cream onto the lower half with a plain round nozzle, replace the top and press lightly.
- 3 Refrigerate for 1 hour to settle the cream before cutting.
About this dish
Saint-Tropez, a port on the Mediterranean, was a quiet fishing village until the middle of the 20th century. In 1955, Polish-born pastry cook Alexandre Micka, who had opened a bakery there, began selling a cream-filled brioche based on his grandmother’s recipe.
That same year, Brigitte Bardot visited Saint-Tropez to film And God Created Woman and is said to have enjoyed the dessert and suggested calling it tarte tropézienne, “the tart of Saint-Tropez.” As the film succeeded, the town became a world-famous resort and the dessert’s name spread with it.
The precise cream formula is still said to be the founding shop’s secret. Sharing a chilled tropézienne after a seaside lunch remains a familiar scene in the southern French summer.
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