Vocal Voices

I made a puff pastry tart thing yesterday for lunch - sheet of ready puff and with a layer of tomato and chili paste first which was then topped with tomato, mozarella, ham, mushrooms (precooked) and basil.

The problem I found was that the cooking time needed for the puff was too long / hot for the toppings and the melted cheese esp was quite crispy and the pastry slightly underdone (soggy bottom alert!). Could I pre-bake the puff first - say for 15 minutes and then put on the toppings and cook for another 15 mins?

yesterday I did 15 mins at the recommended 200 degrees but then had to turn the oven right down to 150 degrees for the last 15 minutes otherwise everything would have been burnt

No problem with a pre-bake, Ria. People have been doing just that with vol-au-vents and canapés for years. 15 mins at 200-220 should be good.

If the base is quite big it might be a good idea to line it with foil and put some baking beads/dried peas in to stop it rising too much.

On second baking a brush with milk might stop the pastry burning.

Perfect, thanks for that

May have to invest in baking beans or dried peas... don't have things like that in my household Wasn't there a chef on TV recently (re-run of a programme) that used flour instead?