Fraisier

Today we put together the fraisier I mentioned a little while ago. Here it is being put together. A layer of Viennese biscuit is placed in a circle, imbibed then covered with a layer of crème diplomate (crème pâtissière lightened with whipped cream and set with gelatin). Then the half strawberries are set into the ring.

Then there is a layer of diced strawberry, another layer of imbibed biscuit and then some more cream.

A very thin layer of marbled marzipan goes on top (not a fan of this, but it is good and kitsch like most classic French patisserie).

Spot of decor in the shape of a marzipan carnation and some huge, clumsy writing. The acetate is still around the entremets hence the condensation covering the strawberries which is a shame for this photo.

We also revised the hideous Moka. Made even more hideous by my ropey inscription. Need to do some practice before the exams...

So exhausted, glad tomorrow is a bank holiday in France.

Hidden Fruit

The above are known as fruits déguisés. They are marzipan combined with various dried fruits such as dates, hazelnuts, walnuts and almonds (nuts qualify as fruit in France). The ones on the left have been candied (i.e. left in a very concentrated syrup) while the ones on the right have been been dipped in cooked sugar (just before it colours and becomes caramel).

I think they are hideous and do not understand the name. What are they disguised as?

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We did another little practice for our exams today, knocking out 20 eclairs, 10 carolines, 12 palmiers, 6 apple turnovers and a pear and chocolate charlotte. Nothing there aren't already photos of before.

Starting to get very tired.

Raisins breads

One good thing about getting the hang of the croissant dough I posted about the day before yesterday is that it forms the basis of a host of different Viennoiseries.

Here, for instance, are some pains aux raisins under way. The dough is rolled out as per usual (this is half of a half-batch rolled to 45 x 30cm), spread with some crème pâtissière (except for the margin at the bottom which will be used for sticking) and sprinkled with some macerated raisins. The pastry is rolled from the top down to form a loose sausage, it is chilled and then cut into rounds every 3cm.

Similarly for pains aux chocolats. Base is 45 x 27cm (again, half a half-batch) making the goodies 9 x 15cm each.

An interesting fact is about the chocolate in the eponymous pains. Normally you see them with two batons but sometimes, as here, with one. When there are two batons, they are usually what are known as bâtons boulangers, which are rubbish quality chocolate. The batons in the photo below are not only twice the weight (hence only one) but also made of a much better quality chocolate. So these are the ones to look out for.

We also knocked up another Black Forest Treat to amuse ourselves while the PLF rose.

And here are the goods cooked. Almost over-cooked. While talking to the prof about the best way to cook Viennoiseries, I forgot they were in the oven.

Nutters

I keep meaning to write a post about the mad people in France. There's a fair amount to say.

On the way to the cinema on Saturday, for instance, I bumped into one of the boulangers from the school (who share science lessons with us). He stopped me in the middle of the street and set off one one about the history of French celts, the oriental origins of the English language and how our problems all started when we dispatched the Jews to Wales.

And yesterday, on the way to the swimming pool, a really odd case came and sat next to me at the bus stop. He told me he was an artist of life, that he'd trained as a lawyer in England in 1986 and how, now, it was terribly funny to think he'd been depressed for so many years. Every now and again he'd pause gravely and try and come out with an English word. When, encouraged, I'd correct him, he'd write it down on a different scrap of paper each time. Very odd words like "bench" and "ambassador" and "rug".

Either nutters or my French is considerably worse than I'd thought.

Here are some flowers in the rain at the swimming pool:

And here I discover my town (really a close suburb to the city centre) is twinned with Edenbridge, right next to my prep school. I'm not sure it's actually that close unless you're a crow. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I discover a Frenchman pretending to be one.

Croissants: recipe

Today, especially for Dr. Rouge-Gorge, a classic croissant recipe. Click here to see a photo post showing the various stages of croissant-making. Most of the process is contained therein, save for the quantities themselves. A few elaborations below.

For the détrempe

55g fresh baker's yeast (or 40g if rising overnight, see notes below)

500g white bread flour

500g ordinary plain flour

150g butter, melted

120g sugar

25g salt

590g whole milk

For the beurrage

500g butter

Notes on ingredients

We never work with dried/easy-blend yeast so I don't want to give advice on how to go about it. It should be possible to substitute easy-blend yeast without too much hassle and no doubt some noggin has written about it on the Internet elsewhere. You could always go to your local baker's and ask for some yeast, but they might be a bit peeved!

If preparing the dough the night before, use 40g.

The bread flour is used because it will provide more gluten to the dough which will help it rise. However, to avoid overdoing it, ordinary flour makes up the other half.

I suggest weighing the ingredients directly into the bowl of your mixer in the order listed. This means the yeast will be covered by the flour to precent it drying out, and it won't come into contact with the salt which risks killing it.

As with the inverted puff pastry, I would recommend shooting with a half quantity. I would also strongly recommend getting the hang of puff pastry and all the rolling out before taking on the croissant dough. The croissant dough is quite a bit tougher on the rolling out front due to the higher levels of gluten.

Method

1. Slowly combine the ingredients in a mixer with the dough hook. Once combined, turn up the speed to medium until the dough comes cleanly away from the sides of the bowl.

- You can hold some of the milk back and add it at the end on checking the consistency of the dough. Problem is, if you're on your own and not sure of your target texture, there's little point.

- You're probably a bit loopy if you want to do this by hand. I never have, but just follow your usual dough-working procedures... combine everything together at fingertips or with a scraper then turn out the dough and work until smooth and elastic.

2. Transfer to a plastic bowl covered with cling film and either leave at room temperature for 60-90mins, knock back then pop, still covered, into the fridge overnight or let rise for 45mins at 25°C, knock back, then spread on an oven tray (c.2cms thick) and leave covered in the fridge until well chilled.

- We use a proving chamber for these rising periods which helps control temperature. Domestic alternatives are stretching the scope of this little post but ideas include a turned off microwave or a polystyrene box, heated with a bowl of boiling water. Some people go with the airing cupboard -- but this risks being even too hot and drying out the dough.

3. In either case it is now time to move on to the beurrage. Whip the butter out of the fridge and soften it by walloping with a rolling pin in a an acrylic or silicon sheet. This gives you a chance to shape the butter into a square (c. 20 x 20cm for a half quantity) and to soften it while keeping it cold. Roll out the détrempe to c. 40 x 20cm and pop the butter on top.

- A crucial point is to seek the same texture between the butter and the détrempe. If they are significantly different, you risk marbling the pastry and not having distinct butter-détrempe layers. If the butter is too hard, bash it more with a rolling pin. If the dough is too soft, pop it back in the fridge/freezer for a bit.

4. Then you need to follow steps 2,3 and 4 here. Which amounts to a tour d'incorporation immediately followed by a tour double, resting until well chilled, a tour simple, resting until well chilled, then rolling out and chilling. Takes some time, especially without a blast chiller.

- Aiming for 50 x 60cm when finally rolled out (with a half quantity). It is easier if you cut the dough in half and do this in two stages. It is quite thin. You may well need to chill the dough during the process. The warmer the dough gets, the more elastic the gluten and the more frustrating the endeavour becomes.

5. Proceed as per the first croissant post here. The proving is done after the first glaze at 25-30°C. The proving space needs to be get humid to prevent a crust forming on the croissants. This is done with a bowl of boiling water in the proving space. It should take about 90mins.

- At each of the stages of fermentation it is hard to know how long to leave the dough the first few times you try. The classic rule is 'until the dough looks like it has nearly doubled in volume'. At this final stage you want the dough to be quite loose/baggy - so if you prod it gently, it doesn't spring back to its original shape.

- Glaze lovingly with beaten eggs. Most people say to add a pinch of salt since this helps break down the egg proteins - since we use liquid egg in the first place, no need.

6. After glazing for a second time, pop in the oven at 190°C and cook until golden. Transfer to drying rack &c.

PS Croissant making is not one of the easiest things to get off a blog. Regular readers will know about my early struggles and that was using professional equipment and with a teacher in the room. Further, I don't think I've been particularly eloquent and I've rather rushed it. Sorry. Still... any questions or doubts, pop me an email/comment.

Welcome

Woke late then over-indulged in Fanny Craddock from the comfort of my bed. By the time I had got to the swimming pool via 4 patisseries for industrial research, I only had 20mins to bash out some lengths. So to make up I went to watch a film about swimming. The cinema was very slick -- just two days old. The film was pretty average.

Poirier

The fraisier is a real classic of french patisserie. It's a strawberry entremets with slices of strawberry visible all around the edge. Today we didn't make a fraisier. We did make a poirier which is the same thing made with pears. We'll be making a proper fraisier next week after today's practice.

I thought it might be interesting for some to see the layers going into an entremets. Here is the first layer, a Viennese biscuit, going into a ring lined with celluloid tape, sitting on a laminated paper circle. The word biscuit in patisserie refers to all kinds of sponges, too. The Viennese biscuit is soft and supple. It is imbibed with a Poire Williams flavoured syrup.

 The body of the entremets is a Poire Willims flavoured crème diplomate. Crème diplomate (lit. diplomat cream) is crème patissière lightened with whipped cream and lightly set with gelatin. A ring of the cream is piped onto the edge of the biscuit leaving a half-cm gap with the mould. The pear slices are inserted then the layer of cream is completed.

Then a layer of diced pears.

A touch more cream then a second layer of bisuit.

A final layer of cream and everything is smoothed over.

The entremets is blast chilled to ease the passage of a decorous layer of Italian meringue. The thin layer of meringue is patterned with the blade of a serrated knife and some swirls are piped round the edge. The meringue is singed, the inscription inscribed and a chocolate fan and miniature pear half are added.

Foil chimneys in our Berrichons. These are puff pastry cases filled with slices of potato sprinkled with parsley, onion and lardons. Once cooked, the tops are excised and a healthy spoonful of crème fraîche added. Very delish.

One of our quiches from the other day. It's a funny kind of regional quiche (can't remember the name) with far too much carrot for my taste. The pastry, here, has been blind baked but once the filling was added, the quiches were frozen raw. That is what you see here, hence the funny colours/textures.

(And here is that bitch of a test in all its glory.)