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Hi Bold Bakers!
What do you get when you combine buttery flaky puff pastry and my favorite Caprese salad? My Caprese Savory Tart!
Somewhere between the idea for my savory breakfast tart and a Caprese salad, this recipe was born. My show-stopping Caprese Savory Tart features a puff pastry crust topped with fresh and fragrant basil pesto, thick slices of melty mozzarella cheese, and sweet roasted tomatoes. The flavors of this lovely tart are classic but served up in a whole new hand-held way.
More elegant than a pizza but way more fun than a salad, this Caprese Savory Tart is my new go-to!
What is Puff Pastry?
Puff pastry is one of my favorite kitchen staples. It can be the base of so many sweet and savory dishes, and it’s one of the easiest pastry doughs to work with as it takes any shape you give it very easily. In this case, I am using a previously frozen, then defrosted, puff pastry. You can get this at almost any grocery store, usually in the freezer section or with other refrigerated pie doughs.
[ Take a look at my Homemade Rough Puff Pastry Recipe too! ]
To make the Caprese Savory Tart crust, I start by blind baking my puff pastry tart base. This means briefly baking the tart to a golden brown. The purpose of this is to ensure that the crust is cooked through. Since the roasted tomatoes, cheese, and basil pesto really can all be eaten raw, they are layered onto the tart then heated quickly. Blind baking means both the tart crust and the filling are neither over-baked, no under-baked — they are cooked to perfection

How to roast tomatoes for the savory tart
Making this tart is really just a matter of assembly, but the first step to making this tart is to roast the tomatoes. “Do I have to roast the tomatoes?” you might ask. Well, this is a really important step in creating the right texture to your tart.
If you just sliced raw tomatoes and layered them out, they would leak juice leaving you with a soggy mess. By pre-roasting the tomatoes the flavor is concentrated, and the tomatoes are broken down but still juicy. This ultimately adds a layer of flavor to the tart that raw tomatoes just don’t have. To roast my tomatoes I like to season them well and lightly drizzle with olive oil. After roasting at a high temperature, they are halfway to a sun-dried-tomato-taste. Juicy, yet crisp around the edges — this is exactly what you want to layer onto my Caprese Savory Tart.
Can you Make a Vegan Caprese Tart?
If you are unable to eat dairy or animal products, no fear, this tart can be made 100% vegan by substituting traditional mozzarella for a vegan cheese. As the rest of the ingredients are plant-based, this will make the tart completely vegan.

Like Savory? Here are some more options!