Fresh fruit tart with vanilla pastry cream

Heat the oven to 350F.

Divide the chilled dough in half; cut one half into five or six strips and press them around the fluted side of the pan; chill again if it gets sticky.

Pinch the rest into the bottom and press flat; smooth with lightly floured hands, filling gaps and sealing where side meets bottom.

Press and rotate a floured straight-sided one-cup measure to force the dough up the sides just above the rim.

Trim the rim with a paring knife held horizontally on the pan edge in one motion toward the outside; save the scraps, about a tablespoon, for patching.

Freeze until firm so the butter hardens and the shell does not shrink.

Line with foil pressed firmly into the angles with the measuring cup; no weights needed.

Bake at 350F about 20 minutes with the foil.

Put the dairy in a small saucepan with the vanilla bean seeds and pod; bring slowly toward a simmer to infuse.

Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together to break up lumps; add half a teaspoon of salt to the dairy.

Add five yolks and whisk until light, pale and forming a slowly dissolving ribbon; it looks too thick at first.

Heat the dairy only until steaming, with bubbles at the edges.

Temper: whisk a tablespoon at a time of hot dairy into the yolks, then half to two-thirds of it; scrape well.

Return to the saucepan and whisk near constantly until thick enough to hold whisk marks and boiling, so the cornstarch reaches full thickening power.

Remove from heat; transfer to a bowl unless experienced; whisk in the cold butter a piece at a time, leaving any scorched part at the pan's corner.

Lift the foil off carefully; bake about 15 minutes more until golden brown across the bottom.

Patch any crack showing the pan with a lentil-sized bit of raw dough smeared in.

Whisk the pastry cream to loosen; spread into the shell; press plastic onto the surface and chill until set.

Cut large berries in halves or thirds; make sure the fruit is dry; scatter abundantly over the cream.

Warm about half a cup of apricot preserve and press through a strainer with a flexible spatula; add the solids back if wanted.

Dab the warm glaze on the fruit with a brush without stroking.

Set the tart on a bowl smaller than it and let the ring drop off; top with candied almond clusters if wanted.