dimanche 27 septembre 2009

Autumn memories, plus pâte feuilletée for the Daring Bakers


(I accidentally published the picture without the text while I was fiddling around so apologies for the confusion for those who saw that!).

It was perhaps the last beautiful day of autumn before the cold and darkness of winter set in. When I awoke, the sunlight was already streaming into our apartment and the sky was clear and the deepest blue. Though the trees were not yet bare, many of the leaves were tinged with gold or red and acorns and conkers lay scattered on the ground. Somehow I already had a feeling the day would be special and we set off early for Potsdam along the cobbled streets you find in the East. Potsdam was a place we visited back in 2006 before arriving in Berlin but that was at the height of summer when everyone seemed a little stunned by the heat. Along both sides of the tree lined roads, there were already rows of parked cars as others set out to picnic and walk. We stopped for lunch at a curious place with fake petrol pumps decorated with pictures of red Indians. Most tables were occupied by bikers and I couldn't imagine the food would be any good. How wrong can you be though? J. had the lentil soup and I chose potatoes with Fromage Blanc and onions (a speciality I thought was found more in Northern Germany but which is actually more common in the South as I learned from Christa - thanks for the info!), followed by homemade apple cake with fresh cream. It was simple but perfect being there, enjoying every minute.

Afterwards, we walked close to the Glienecke Bridge where captured spies were once exchanged at the time of the Iron Curtain. Around us, lamas grazed in gardens of exotic houses with thatched roofs while others took tea in a converted castle down by the river Havel.

We drove up to the Sanssouci palace and park where Frederick the Great used to live in summer. It's still perhaps my favourite park where I've sat many hours reading or strolling until I came to the most amazing buildings like the orangery or the Chinese tea room with its golden roof. This time, we walked hand in hand, looking at the statues and the yellow walls of the palace glowing in the sunset. The hours had gone by unnoticed and I felt heaviness in my heart at the thought of returning. Somehow, the loveliest days of autumn fill me with joy but also a kind of strange melancholy as you can feel the need to catch the fading light while it lasts. The evening became cooler with sharpness in the air; on our way back, we stopped to look at a favourite spot of J's down by the lake and held each other close. I often think back to that day two years ago, especially as the autumn weekends in Berlin are now spent alone. When we still had our apartment in Pankow, I would take his sweaters and wrap them around my shoulders when it grew dark, as if I could somehow feel his warmth but now there are just these sun-drenched images of an Indian summer to do that.

This month's Daring Baker's challenge seems perfect for autumn when the days are getting shorter and you long for something special to bring back the warmth of summer. Admittedly, after the Dobos Torte last month, I was terrified to find out that I'd have to make puff pastry and vol-au-vents. Couldn't it be something easier? I remember Ju once telling me "La pâte feuilletée est un truc impossible à faire soi-même, c'est à oublier." And if she couldn't do it, could I? I had visions of butter oozing and pastry that wouldn't rise. The only thing to do was to take a deep breath and get my rolling pin out. What happened? Well, it was not only much easier than I could ever have imagined but it was also fun. I decided to make two large square vols-au-vents with caramelised apples but immediately regretted not having made more pastry because the variety of things you can do with puff pastry is simply amazing and J. expressed a strong desire for something with spinach and ricotta. Thanks to Steph from A Whisk and a Spoon for inspiring me. Otherwise, I'd probably never have ever attempted anything so scary. And believe me, if I can do it, so can you!

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Puff pastry (aka pâte feuilletée) is something most of us usually buy at the grocery store, but in order to be really daring, we should make our own at least once in awhile, right? Kitchens should be getting cooler in the northern hemisphere, and are hopefully still cool-ish in the sourthern hempisphere, so I’m hoping you will all join me in making homemade puff pastry from Michel Richard’s recipe, as it appears in the book Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. With our homemade puff we’ll be forming vols-au-vent cases to fill with anything we chose.

Puff pastry is in the ‘laminated dough” family, along with Danish dough and croissant dough. (In fact, if you participated in the Danish Braid challenge back in June 2008, then you already know the general procedure for working with laminated dough.) A laminated dough consists of a large block of butter (called the “beurrage”) that is enclosed in dough (called the “détrempe”). This dough/butter packet is called a “paton,” and is rolled and folded repeatedly (a process known as “turning”) to create the crisp, flaky, parallel layers you see when baked. Unlike Danish or croissant however, puff pastry dough contains no yeast in the détrempe, and relies solely aeration to achieve its high rise. The turning process creates hundreds of layers of butter and dough, with air trapped between each one. In the hot oven, water in the dough and the melting butter creates steam, which expands in the trapped air pockets, forcing the pastry to rise.

Equipment:

-food processor (will make mixing dough easy, but I imagine this can be done by hand as well)
-rolling pin
-pastry brush
-metal bench scraper (optional, but recommended)
-plastic wrap
-baking sheet
-parchment paper
-silicone baking mat (optional, but recommended)
-set of round cutters (optional, but recommended)
-sharp chef’s knife
-fork
-oven
-cooling rack

Prep Times:
-about 4-5 hours to prepare the puff pastry dough (much of this time is inactive, while you wait for the dough to chill between turns…it can be stretched out over an even longer period of time if that better suits your schedule)
-about 1.5 hours to shape, chill and bake the vols-au-vent after your puff pastry dough is complete.

Forming and Baking the Vols-au-Vent

Yield: 1/3 of the puff pastry recipe below will yield about 8-10 1.5” vols-au-vent or 4 4” vols-au-vent

In addition to the equipment listed above, you will need:
-well-chilled puff pastry dough (recipe below)
-egg wash (1 egg or yolk beaten with a small amount of water)
-your filling of choice

Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled. (If you are looking to make more vols-au-vent than the yield stated above, you can roll and cut the remaining two pieces of dough as well…if not, then leave refrigerated for the time being or prepare it for longer-term freezer storage. See the “Tips” section below for more storage info.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.

(This assumes you will be using round cutters, but if you do not have them, it is possible to cut square vols-au-vents using a sharp chef’s knife.) For smaller, hors d'oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking—not wadding up—the pieces…they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides.)

Using a ¾-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little “caps” for you vols-au-vent, or put them in the scrap pile.

Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.

Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)

Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly. Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)


Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for cold fillings or to warm for hot fillings.

Fill and serve.

*For additional rise on the larger-sized vols-au-vents, you can stack one or two additional ring layers on top of each other (using egg wash to "glue"). This will give higher sides to larger vols-au-vents, but is not advisable for the smaller ones, whose bases may not be large enough to support the extra weight.

*Although they are at their best filled and eaten soon after baking, baked vols-au-vent shells can be stored airtight for a day.

*Shaped, unbaked vols-au-vent can be wrapped and frozen for up to a month (bake from frozen, egg-washing them first).

Michel Richard’s Puff Pastry Dough

From: Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan

Yield: 2-1/2 pounds dough

Steph’s note: This recipe makes more than you will need for the quantity of vols-au-vent stated above. While I encourage you to make the full recipe of puff pastry, as extra dough freezes well, you can halve it successfully if you’d rather not have much leftover.

There is a wonderful on-line video from the PBS show “Baking with Julia” that accompanies the book. In it, Michel Richard and Julia Child demonstrate making puff pastry dough (although they go on to use it in other applications). They do seem to give slightly different ingredient measurements verbally than the ones in the book…I listed the recipe as it appears printed in the book.http://video.pbs.org/video/1174110297/search/Pastry

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour
1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter

plus extra flour for dusting work surface

Mixing the Dough:

Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them.

Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)

Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that's about 1" thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Incorporating the Butter:

Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10" square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with "ears," or flaps.

Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don't just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8" square.

To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.

Making the Turns:

Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24" (don't worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24", everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).

With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.

Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24" and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.

Chilling the Dough:

If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you've completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.

The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.

Steph’s extra tips:

-While this is not included in the original recipe we are using (and I did not do this in my own trials), many puff pastry recipes use a teaspoon or two of white vinegar or lemon juice, added to the ice water, in the détrempe dough. This adds acidity, which relaxes the gluten in the dough by breaking down the proteins, making rolling easier. You are welcome to try this if you wish.

-Keep things cool by using the refrigerator as your friend! If you see any butter starting to leak through the dough during the turning process, rub a little flour on the exposed dough and chill straight away. Although you should certainly chill the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns, if you feel the dough getting to soft or hard to work with at any point, pop in the fridge for a rest.

-Not to sound contradictory, but if you chill your paton longer than the recommended time between turns, the butter can firm up too much. If this seems to be the case, I advise letting it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes to give it a chance to soften before proceeding to roll. You don't want the hard butter to separate into chuncks or break through the dough...you want it to roll evenly, in a continuous layer.

-Roll the puff pastry gently but firmly, and don’t roll your pin over the edges, which will prevent them from rising properly. Don't roll your puff thinner than about about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick, or you will not get the rise you are looking for.

-Try to keep “neat” edges and corners during the rolling and turning process, so the layers are properly aligned. Give the edges of the paton a scooch with your rolling pin or a bench scraper to keep straight edges and 90-degree corners.

-Brush off excess flour before turning dough and after rolling.

-Make clean cuts. Don’t drag your knife through the puff or twist your cutters too much, which can inhibit rise.

-When egg washing puff pastry, try not to let extra egg wash drip down the cut edges, which can also inhibit rise.

-Extra puff pastry dough freezes beautifully. It’s best to roll it into a sheet about 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick (similar to store-bought puff) and freeze firm on a lined baking sheet. Then you can easily wrap the sheet in plastic, then foil (and if you have a sealable plastic bag big enough, place the wrapped dough inside) and return to the freezer for up to a few months. Defrost in the refrigerator when ready to use.

-You can also freeze well-wrapped, unbaked cut and shaped puff pastry (i.e., unbaked vols-au-vent shells). Bake from frozen, without thawing first.

-Homemade puff pastry is precious stuff, so save any clean scraps. Stack or overlap them, rather than balling them up, to help keep the integrity of the layers. Then give them a singe “turn” and gently re-roll. Scrap puff can be used for applications where a super-high rise is not necessary (such as palmiers, cheese straws, napoleons, or even the bottom bases for your vols-au-vent).

For my filling, I used 6 apples, peeled and cored and caramelised them in 75g of melted butter with 50g of sugar until they were golden and soft. Then I simply transferred them to the empty vols-au-vent cases which J. and I consumed ravenously with afternoon tea.

20 commentaires:

  1. I've just found your blog and it seems that I'll love a lot. Just my two cents. You wrote "I chose potatoes with Fromage Blanc and onions (a speciality of Northern Germany)" My mother native from Northern Germany never heard about this before she moved to the south. There, and in Alsace too, it's called "Bibbeles Käs".(Bibbele are chickens , sorry but the whole story is too long to be told here).

    Bye,I'll come back soon. Christa

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  2. Rosa - thanks a lot! I was pretty pleased with the results and can't wait to try again.
    Christa - Thanks for your comment and for correcting my mistake (I've now modified the text!). It's always good to learn more about food and I didn't know you also find it in Alsace, even though I lived in Mulhouse for a while.

    Cheers, Vanessa

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  3. Thanks for your comment on my last posting! Your autumn late-afternoon shots are beautiful, especially the woodland one. Seeing your pictures is like a mini trip back to Berlin for me...
    By the way, you are the second person who's recommended me to read Carson McCullers, so I'm definitely going to now. I miss you too - hope to see you sometime though. A xx

    The cake looked ace, and three cheers for your puff pastry!
    xxx Abbie

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  4. Thanks so much Abbie! I hope you like Carson McCullers - it's real southern gothic but so beautful and so moving.
    Berlin looks so lovely right now but I'm sure the countryside round you does too. Tomorrow will apparently be grey and cold so I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

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  5. Delicious looking tartlets! Great Sanssouci shots!

    Cheers and have a wonderful week,

    Rosa

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  6. Je suis encore soufflée par ce défi pâtissier. La pâte feuilletée ! wow ! Ici les matins se rafraîchissent, mais nous n'avons pas encore un temps d'automne, une saison que j'aime bien, cependant. Jolie promenade...

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  7. Rosa - Thanks so much - it was an inspiring challenge! Have a great week too.
    Rose - Oui, c'est vrai que c'est encore un été indien. Ces souvenirs d'automne me redonnent l'envie de retourner à Potsdam mais le week-end prochain on va à Marienbad. Quant à la pâte feuilletée, c'est pas du tout difficile et je suis sûre que tu y réussirais si tu essayais - moi je suis assez nulle avec la pâte brisée et pourtant j'y suis arrivée!

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  8. This is funny, potatoes and fromage blanc (with salt, peper and ciboulette) is a specialty from Sologne: huge family tradition for me... even though I only started appreciating it after I was a teenager.
    And I really don't have your patience for the pâte feuilletée - but I'm sure Pia has already started rolling up her sleeves!

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  9. Julie - Yeah, that's really funny. Now there's some more confusion because it seems that potatoes with fromage blanc and this oil they serve it with here is something typical from Brandenburg but with onions, more from the South. I'm glad you're a fan of that too - writing this inspired me to have it for lunch yesterday. I don't blame anyone for getting pâte feuilletée from the supermarket and won't be making it every week but it's fun for a challenge!

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  10. C’est toujours un plaisir de te lire et de regarder les jolies photographies que tu nous offres:))

    Ta pâte feuilletée est magnifique!
    C'est difficile de croire que c'est la première fois que tu en prépares!
    Avec des pommes caramélisées impossible de se tromper!

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  11. Que de patience et quelle réussite, je suis encore à me la procurer au marché. Je viens de découvrir votre blog et j'en suis heureuse car il y a beaucoup de choses intéressantes.

    Passez une belle journée et à bientôt.
    Josée

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  12. Isa - merci de tes très gentils commentaires! Je craignais tant ce challenge mais me sentais fière de mes tartelettes après. Comme J. adore des pommes, cette choix s'imposait mais maintenant j'ai très envie d'essayer des recettes salées comme les tiennes!
    Josée - Bienvenue alors! Je suis contente que vous vous plaisiez ici. Mais c'est vrai il faut pas mal de temps libre pour la pâte. Normalement, mes recettes ne sont pas si exigeantes!

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  13. Thanks for this walk and the recipe step by step, well done! Cheers

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  14. Dada - Thanks for your comment! I hope to return to Potsdam soon.

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  15. c'est diablement fluffy cette pate et bravo pour le pas à pas !
    et chez moi en ce moment un légume oublié et revisité à ma façon alors je t'attends !! Pierre

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  16. Que de travail bravo le résultat est magnifique et le tutoriel très réussi

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  17. Pierre - merci!
    Colargol - Merci pour le grand compliment - je suis vraiment touchée! Ça demande un peu plus longtemps que d'habitude mais on se sent si fier de sa pâte après!

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  18. Great and delicious recipes. Beautiful pictures. I really love your blog.

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  19. Rêves de tables - Thanks so much for your visit. I'm really flattered by your compliment, especially as I just looked at your amazing blog.

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