Puff pastry tart - why was the bottom soggy?

[AngelDog]

I cooked a sheet of ready-rolled puff pastry yesterday topped with pesto, veg & grated cheese.

The bottom wasn't properly cooked - the edges were crispy but the middle was rather on the soggy side underneath.

The instructions said to cook for 10-15 mins at 180 degrees. I cooked it for 15 mins, maybe 20. It was out of the fridge for perhaps an hour beforehand.

What did I do wrong?

Was the oven pr-heated? It wasn't low fat cheese was it - they get quite watery when cooked.

Or watery veg -courgette, mushroom...!

Yes, the oven was pre-heated to slightly hotter than it needed to be. I had cherry tomatoes (cut side down so pretty watery), courgette, onion & red pepper, so that could have been a factor.

It was normal cheese.

I cook it with the 'dry' ingredients first then add the squishy ones towards the end. Sounds lovely though. I may need to. I may need to make it tonight!

It was the tomatoes that did it.

Bloody tomatoes

I wonder if brushing the base with a beaten egg white would help?

Hmmmmm. Not sure. The watery topping does mess it up though. Like pizza.

Actually, I remembered that my baking tray wasn't pre-heated which might possibly have made a bit of difference.

I'm going to use the leftovers to make mini-pizzas so I might try your method, wahwahwah.

IT was out of the fridge too long. YOu need to put it back in the fridge for about 30 minutes once assembled. No need to pre-heat the baking tray. Puff pastry gets very soft very quickly, so needs to firm up again before cooking.

Ah, I'll try that tomorrow - thanks.

I know what I am making tonight! How does ham, mozzarella, red onion, olives and asparagus sound?

after five or six attempts all ending up with soggy pastry i tried to bake it blind and then simply grill the topping. much much better

I did use it for a topping only over a chicken casserole. It was ice, but want NOT a pie!