Zwetschgenkuchen (Prunes Tart)

Autumn is slowly approaching and the freshly-plucked prunes are in abundance for sale in the local supermarkets.  This is the time of the year when they are dirt cheap and I paid 69 Euro cents per kilo which was a good bargain.  Today, I prepared one recipe of yeast dough, out of which turned out two different kinds of cake for our tea-time.  This recipe is ideal when you are entertaining guests at home.  As the saying goes:  "Hit two birds with one stone"!  Apart from the Prunes Tart, I also baked the Streuselkuchen.

Ingredients:
600 g flour (type 550) or plain flour (type 405)
80 g fine sugar
1 egg white
1 tsp salt
40 g butter, to be gently melted
250 ml warm water (straight from the tap)
1 cube à 42 g fresh yeast, to be crumbled in warm water

1 kg fresh prunes, to be washed & dried
1 tbsp breadcrumbs
3 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 pkts Tortenguss (red) or red glaze
2 tbsp sugar

Glaze:
1 egg yolk, to be mixed with 1 tbsp fresh milk

Method:
In a mixing bowl, add flour, sugar, egg white, salt, melted butter and water & crumbled yeast mixture. Knead dough until it leaves the sides of bowl.  Cover bowl with a damp cloth and leave aside to let dough rise to double its volume.  Remove about 250 g of dough for the prunes tart.  The balance dough can be used to make Streuselkuchen or Hefezopf.

Grease a 30 cm diameter pan with butter and line with dough.  Brush with glaze and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.

Cut each prune into two and remove the seed.  Then, cut each half into two, without cutting through the skin.  Arrange cut prunes on dough as shown.

Bake in a preheated oven (fan:  160° C) on the centre rack for about 40 minutes. Once done, remove and leave to cool down completely.

From the balance of prunes, cut 10 prunes into wedges with seeds removed.  Add to a saucepan and add 500 ml water and 3 tbsp sugar.  Cook over medium heat until the prunes are soft and the juice is concentrated.  Remove from heat and leave aside to cool down.

Measure about 350 ml of prune juice.  In another saucepan, add one and a half packets of Tortenguss along with 2 tbsp sugar.  Gradually, add the prune juice and keep stirring until no lumps can be seen. Cook over medium heat until the mixture becomes clear red.  Let it boil gently for one minute.

Pour immediately onto tart, making sure that all prunes are covered with glaze. Leave it aside for about half an hour before serving.  Serve with whipped cream.

Here is the cross-section of the tart when cut:

Happy Baking!