Breton Flan

The Flan* Mission

*That's 'flan' to be pronounced with an outrageous french accent to get it right: 'flohn'.

When I was younger my family had a small cottage in the depths of the countryside of Brittany, northern France where I spent almost every holiday. I am sure my love of fantastic food and beautiful countyside originates in all those weeks away.

Anyway that's the context for you, the point is one of my favourite memories when I drift off into nostalgia is the beautiful Breton custard pastry 'flan'. Made with dried apricots, prunes or my preference being for the plain; it is a simple but incredibly yummy treat.

I have set myself a mission to find the perfect recipe for flan, one that will satisfy all my memories of time spent in France.

Joanne Harris' version.
Yummy but not right.

My hunt began rumaging through my own bookshelf. The only book to have anything close was The French Kitchen by Joanne Harris and Fran Warde, the recipe did not have the thin pastry that I am after but I tried it anyway to see if the custard was right. I did it with prunes and ohh it was yummy (and lovely fiance's first taste of this french treat I have gushed about so often). But it wasn't right, tasted very buttery (quite a lot of melted butter went into it) and the top was sprinkled with sugar which is just plain wrong. Flan as I know it should have an almost leathery 'skin' on the top (not making it sound appetising there) none of this sugar business. So it was a fail in terms of nostalgia but still a yummy dessert.

Then a few days ago I was in St. Pancras train station getting a train to see the in-laws and saw that Paul (the french bakery store, not a random chap) was selling flan, naturally I could not resist. Oooh it was tasty but oooh no it wasn't right. This time there was pastry holding it together, making it something you can eat on the move (as it should be) but the pastry was too crumbly and cake-y. The custard was certainly closer than the Joanne Harris but had too much wibble about it (maybe not the technical word there...).

So dear readers, the hunt continues and I will keep you informed. But please do send me any recipes you may have for it and I will put them to the taste test!