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By Root 452 0

the dough hook, add the softened butter in chunks, and mix for 2 minutes, adding additional flour as needed to make a ball. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured cutting board, place it in the buttered loaf pan. Cover with a damp towel and set aside to rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

When the dough has risen, brush the top with the egg wash and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top springs back and it sounds slightly hollow when tapped. Turn the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool.

When cool, cut 4 thin (¼ inch or less) slices, remove the crusts, spread with butter, and cut each square into quarters. Preheat the broiler.

Place the brioche squares on a sheet pan and, watching carefully, broil on the middle rack until they crisp and brown lightly, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove, cool, and top each brioche square with some crème fraîche and caviar. Garnish with a sprinkle of chives.

PAIRING: A blanc de blanc champagne, such as Schramsberg Blanc de Blanc 2006, North Coast, California, or a light sparkling wine.

celery root tart with caramelized leeks and caviar

For the tart dough:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted

butter, cut into ½-inch cubes

½ teaspoon salt

6 to 8 tablespoons ice water

1 egg, beaten well with 1

tablespoon water, for

egg wash

For the tart filling:

1 pound celery root (aka

celeriac), cut into medium

dice

2 medium shallots, thinly

sliced

2 teaspoons minced fresh

rosemary

2 tablespoons extra-virgin

olive oil

Salt and freshly ground

pepper

1 egg, beaten

Cream, as needed for

puréeing

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 medium leek, sliced into

thin rounds, white and light

green parts only (about 2

cups)

For garnish:

¼ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano

curls, made with a peeler

1 ounce paddlefish or white

sturgeon caviar

Learning how to make perfect pastry requires practice, but once the skills are attained, oh my goodness—you’ ll have the pleasure of watching your guests’ eyes light up as flakes of pastry cascade from their smiling lips. I prefer all-butter doughs for their flavor, and I love how sweet and nutty celery root gets after it is roasted. I think, as of this writing, I’ve probably made and eaten at least a million of these tarts. Pull out the caviar for special occasions.

MAKES 4 SMALL OR 2 LARGE TARTS

To prepare the dough, add the flour, butter, and salt to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse about 20 times, then check the consistency of the dough. The butter should be in pieces the size of small peas or large grains of rice. Keep pulsing as needed until the dough has reached that consistency, then transfer it to a large bowl.

Add 6 tablespoons of ice cold water to the bowl and with the fingers of one hand in a “claw” shape, mix the dough. Squeeze the dough in your hands: if it holds together, it’s ready. If it’s dry and does not hold together, add a tiny bit more water. Mix again with your hand. (You do not want to add too much water.)

When the dough is ready (it should be a bit crumbly), place it on some plastic wrap. Pull up the sides of the wrap, using it to help form the pastry into a disc. Cut the disc into quarters (or in half, for the larger tarts). Put each piece in plastic wrap and form into rough discs. Chill in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Dust the counter and the dough with flour, and with a rolling pin, roll out each disc to ⅛-inch thickness. Using an 8-inch plate as a guide, cut the dough into circles. Crimp or fold in the edges of the tart shells, poke the bottoms all over with the tines of a fork, and place them on a sheet pan. Brush the edges with the egg wash. Chill for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.

Place the tart shells on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until nicely browned. You may want to rotate the pans top to bottom, front to back, midway through cooking. Lift the tart shells carefully and make sure the bottoms are lightly browned. Let cool.

Increase the oven temperature to 400ºF.

To prepare