swiss wähe/ tart

Food & Drink, Events and Entertainment
1
I've searched and no one has asked this, i don't think.

I need to make a swiss wähe this weekend for early thanksgiving get together. I've had loads before back in CH but never made one.

Please give me your hints and recipes.

I have a small oven but that shouldn't be an issue?

Also, is it possible to make one in a deep pie dish? (also one that has a premade crust?) I am just trying to get easier short cuts as I have to make other dishes too...

I'm thinking of plum wähe

@eastenders?

2
It's not that hard to make a decent wähe, and you can use almost any dish you want so long as your pastry fits and it has high enough walls to keep the liquid.

That said, I'm not EE or by any means an expert. I just know how to make an easy wähe that satisfies my tastes.

Our quick, go-to recipe is: preheat oven to 180 use shop-bought sweet pastry, be sure to leave it on the paper as you place it in the pan. We use a 9" pie plate or our 9x13" cake pan prick the pastry with a fork a few times so it doesn't puff up too much when cooking wash and dry the plums then cut into halves and remove stones arrange plums on top of the pastry, open side up. we prefer to pack a lot of plums in but you'll see shop made ones are a bit more sparse whisk 250 ml milk, 1 packet of vanilla sugar (8 g), and one medium egg,until nice and frothy. If using a bigger pan, you might need a bit more milk mix pour the milk mix evenly over the plums, then jiggle the pan to make sure it settles a bit bake for 35-50 mins - it really depends on the plums and the pan as to how long let cool, and enjoy with some freshly whipped cream. Or use a can of whipped cream if you are in the mood to cheat even further what's the French word for wähe??

3
Tarte is probably the closest translation of wähe.

4
That should work

But Wähen are not done with sweet crust (Mürbeteig etc.) but with "Kuchenteig" (which is also used for salty Wähen and stuff). You can take "Blätterteig" but I would not advise it.

The other thing to add is: If you use juicy fruits (which I hope your plums are) you best cover the pastry (after pricking it, yes) with finely ground nuts. If they are really, really juicy you can also prebake the pastry for 5-10 minutes before adding the rest. Because the danger here is that your pastry base ends up all soggy.

5

thanks, sounds like the ones i ate in switzerland. A question, have you ever made it sans milk? ie. no custard? Perhaps then it's no longer a wähe?

yes, was going to use ground almonds - but almond flour also works?

6
Oh, that's me being dumb then. I thought Kuchenteig was sweet pastry, since it has the word kuchen = cake, right? The whole result turns out sweet enough.

Never tried it without custard.

7
You probably could but why on earth would you?

Not sure about almond flour. But ground almonds will be fine.

You want this thing to be tasty, no? Next thing you're gonna ask is if you can leave of the plums.

Logic conclusion but not accurate here.

You know Wähen can not only be made with fruits but spinach, cheese, onions, cabbage ..... endless. All with "Kuchenteig".

8
But sweet pastry works really well for fruit tarts, obviously you wouldn’t use it for a savoury one.

Flakey pastry just wouldn’t work at all.

9
For a tart absolutely. But then it's no longer a "Wähe".

I like it with flakey pastry - a matter ot personal taste. I like flakey pastry, with or around or under anything.

10
Some people use Kuchenteig and some use Blätterteig... it really doesn't matter.

3Wishes recipe is perfect, however the idea of adding ground nuts is also good. I prefer almond nuts to hazelnuts, but that's my personal taste.

If you make a Wähe without a custard, then it becomes an American apple pie.

11
well lol no not going to make a biscuit!

in france and swiss french part they eat their tarts without. only fruit and sugar?

i prefer with custard but some of my family without

isn't american apple pie covered? i mean open tart form. though to make it clearer i will try to make the traditional wähe

way so with the custard.

12
A wähe is a «flan»

Very close to a «clafoutis» that we make with cherries or a «flan aux pruneaux» as you are describing.

13
So sorry Swissotter, been busy gardening and am a bit late to the party, but you've been given a lot of good tips already.

I'd say 3wishes has nailed it perfectly with her suggestions. Also curley has given a good tip about lining the dough, when using fruit that oozes juice when cooking, with ground nuts (not almond flour, that would turn cloggy).

wso I can only add my measly 2 cents

An old Swiss housewives trick, when lacking ground nuts, you can use breadcrumbs or ground rusk (Zwieback) as well for this purpose.

We make our open sweet pies with the dough that picks our fancy or is in store in the freezer...

- short crust (Kuchenteig/pâte a gateau brisée)

- puff (Blätterteig/pâte feuilleté)

- sweet short crust (Süsser Mürbeteig/ pâte brisée sucrée)

The 'Teigli' e.g. custard like liquid, I use 2 eggs, 2-300ml milk and season with vanilla sugar or essence, but for plums... I use about 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon or my home made pumpkin spice.

Also, we are very fond of scattering an open plum pie with marzipan for baking (this has a softer texture than the one you need for decorations)

When you bake the pie it is done when the top looks golden brown and when you shake the baking dish, and filling with the custard just wobbles slightly but is not liquid anymore.

I wish you success baking and may the pie you'll offer, get lots of compliments!

14
thanks EE,

I knew you would have many tips and ideas.I am intrigued with the marzipan ontop of the open pie. what do you mean? surely after baking the open pie not before?

also for the plum pie - yes i have cinammon sugar at hand

15

Nope we add it before baking, it then caramelizes on top but remains soft underneatth, we love it

I look for a piccie and send that to you 'on the other page', as I am a bit über-blonde, when it comes to posting pics here....sigh

16
It must be a cantonal thing regarding the name then because it is definitely a ‘tarte aux pruneaux’ here. Typically served for the Jeûne fédéral.

They are all labelled as ‘tartes’ In the stores here whether they have the custard part in them or not. Never seen anything with pastry called a flan in this part of Romandie.

17

You're right there, although 'Flan' is technically, also correct to describe this kind of open pie in english gastrospeak.

I was looking many years ago in a discussion with Expats on my Blog (I think it was), for a more correct term to describe this dish....eventually we settled for open pie as the most accurate term to translate Wähe/Fruchtkuchen mit Guss to english.

A flan in French means something alltogether different , a Pudding alike a blanc-mange , a jelly like consistency, usually made with milk.

18
I use it all the time for both sweet and savory tarts and pies, in fact unless I want to make a homemade crust, it's all that I ever use.

Tom

19
Why not?

We made spinat-waehe the other night, blaetter-teig as always.

Tom

20
I have never used flan in English to describe that kind of tart so that too may be a regional thing.

An open pie is usually referred to as a tart, open pie sounds weird to my ears.

A flan can be one of two things to me (in English). It is either the pudding like thing as in French or a sponge base with custard and fruit. It is entirely possible that other people have an entirely different interpretation of a flan.

https://www.allrecipes.com/article/what-is-flan/

This is a fruit flan to me

https://www.sugarsaltmagic.com/simple-strawberry-flan/

It just goes to show how much differently things are named depending on where one comes from.