*pink cheeks*

Oh la la! Lovely compliments I get from the little galette des rois I made yesterday.



I made pâte feuilletée again and the second time around it felt easier. I hadn’t had the guts to try it for my whole life! If only everything else in life turned out to be as simple. Now now, that sounds a bit cocky … so ok, it wasn’t the easiest thing but puff pastry is simply time consuming to make and do not let that deter you.

Long post alert! Though I thought a detailed raconte of the steps is essential for this recipe.

Galette des rois à la frangipane
(from Larousse des desserts p.129)
pour 4-6 personnes
600 gr pâte feuilletée
300 gr crème frangipane
1 egg

Prepare the pâte feuilletée
Prepare the crème frangipane
Divide the pâte in two and roll out until it is about 2.5mm thick.
Beat the egg and brush the outer edge of one of the disks. Spread the crème frangipane, and pose the other disk on top making sure they seal properly all around.
With a little knife, trace parallel rayures (mmmhhh, now what does this translate in English) in one direction, and then the other. (Oh please, don't worry if you are confused because me too I was terribly confused. Please google images then you'll get the idea)
Leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes whilst the oven preheats to 250°C.
Glide the galettes in the oven, reduce the temperature to 200°C and bake for 40 minutes.

Now, for the components...

Butter puff pastry
(from Baker & Spice Exceptional Cakes by D Lepard & R Whittington)
Butter paste
340 gr unsalted butter, softened
150 gr French T550 flour or plain flour

Assembly
560 gr French T550 flour or 280 gr plain flour and 280 gr strong bread flour + extra for sprinkling
4 egg yolks
180 ml bottled spring water
2 tsp Maldon salt, ground fine

First prepare the butter paste : put the butter and flour in the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with the paddle. Mix on the slowest speed until combined. Transfer the butter paste to a sheet of cling film and shape into a rectangle about 6mm thick. Wrap in the cling film and keep in cool place (but not in the refrigerator) while you make the dough.

Put the flour, egg yolks, water and salt in a bowl and mix to a dough. If necessary, add another teaspoonful or two of water, but be careful – the dough will soften on resting. What you want is a smooth but fairly tight dough. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until the dough is very smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball, wrap in cling film and leave to rest for 1 hour or, ideally, overnight.

Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the dought into a rough square about 8mm thick. Place the rectangle of butter paste in the centre and fold the corners of the dough over the top to cover the paste completely. Wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out, rolling away from you, into a long rectangle about 65-70 x 35-40 cm and 1 cm thick.

Fold one end in by a sixth and then the other end in by a sixth. Fold both ends over again by a sixth so that they meet in the centre. Now fold the two together, as if you are closing a book.

Next turn the dough so the fold is to one side. Roll it out gently away from you again into a long rectangle about the same length as before. Fold one end of the dough in by one-third, then the other end in by a third, over the top of the first third. This is a single turn.

Spread a sheet of cling film over a tray, place the dough on top and cover tightly with cling film. Leave in the refrigerator or cool place for 1 hour.

Set the dough on a floured work surface so the fold is to one side. Roll out into a rectangle again and give it a single turn, followed immediately by another single turn. Wrap in cling film and leave in the refrigerator overnight before using.



Crème frangipane
(from Larousse des desserts p.54)
100 gr butter in room temperature
100 gr icing sugar
100 gr almond meal
1 tsp corn flour
2 eggs
1 drop of bitter almond essence
125 gr crème pâtissière
Cut the butter into little pieces and place in a bowl. Soften with a spatula then switch to an electric mixer at low speed, add successively the icing sugar, almond meal, corn flour, the almond essence (which I substituted with a tiny dash of orange blossom water) and eggs. Lastly, incorporate the crème pâtissière and mix well.
Cover with cling wrap if not used immediately.

Note:
1. I'm tired of typing, will type up the recipe for crème pâtissière in le prochain blog.
2. Bon courage et bon appétit!

Happy Birthday Her Majesty

It's public holiday today here in Sydney, the weather was rather nice... my ma and pa have returned home, leaving me and Fig in a weirdly quiet studio. Fig by the way, had been a good boy all the time my parents were here but as soon as they've left he's back to his old self, meowing persistently as early as 5:14 am this morning.

I just finished watching Masterchef and OH! How I want to make some choux à la crème right now! It was an excellent episode by the way... Poh, Chris, Tom and my favourite Julie battled it out having performed the worst in Sunday's invention test. Today in the pressure cooker test, they had to make a croquembouche in 2.25hrs and it was a gripping episode let me tell you. I spare you the details but despite her rather disastrous croquembouche not coming out of the cone all in one piece, Julie's still in it!!

So, anyways ... the daring bakers challenge of last month. Here's another photo of my strudel again.



I was very late and only made the strudel sometime last week, the result could've been better I thought... doesn't it look rather rustic? I didn't read the recipe properly and rather than pulling the pastry, I rolled it out and chickened out thinking that it might rip and so it wasn't thin enough to envelope the filling more than twice. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw other people's pastry rolled out thinner than paper and bigger than a table. Never mind the stodgy look, I had a piece shortly after it came out of the oven with mum, it was rather lovely.

Apple strudel
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)

1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.

4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.


(heart printed on my strudel yes!)

Tips
- Ingredients are cheap so we would recommend making a double batch of the dough, that way you can practice the pulling and stretching of the dough with the first batch and if it doesn't come out like it should you can use the second batch to give it another try;
- The tablecloth can be cotton or polyster;
- Before pulling and stretching the dough, remove your jewelry from hands and wrists, and wear short-sleeves;
- To make it easier to pull the dough, you can use your hip to secure the dough against the edge of the table;
- Few small holes in the dough is not a problem as the dough will be rolled, making (most of) the holes invisible.

Both Courtney and Linda did a trial run on making the strudel. Below are their notes:

Courtney's notes
- She could't get it to stretch to 2 feet by 3 feet, it turned out more like 2 feet by 2 feet. But the dough was tissue thin nevertheless;
- She got some serious holes, but after rolling it wasn't noticeable;
- She used a large cheese cloth which helped manipulate and stretch the dough more than a heavier cloth would have.

Linda's notes
- I made the dough by hand, just mixed the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. Kneaded it for about 5 min like you would bread dough. This worked as well. Haven't tried using a standmixer so I don't know how it compares.
- Instead of cider vinegar I used red wine vinegar;
- I used bread flour;
- Picking up the dough to let it stretch didn't work well for me, holes appeared pretty much instantly. Instead I stretched the dough while it was lying on the tablecloth by putting my hands underneath and stretching it out further and further;

I must dash off

I'm late... very late! but I finally attempted last month's daring bakers challenge this morning and here's a little photo of my strudel.



The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

I'll be back with some details shortly ladies and gents.