Archive for August, 2010

Pâte à choux

Pâte à choux (Choux Pastry) Ingredients 240 g Water 120 g Butter in  chunks 150 g Flour 4 eggs Pinch of Salt Description Pâte à choux is a light pastry dough used to make éclairs and beignets. The preparation is very easy, but the cooking requires some skills especially if we have to fry it. [...]

Sucrée, Sablée, Breton and Brisée

Not everybody knows that instead of just one kind of short crust there are at least 4 different types that French classify as: pâte Sucrée, Sablée, Brisée and Breton. Each one has its own preparing method though it tends to become similar when an electric mixer is used.   This is the right blade (called the Leaf) [...]

Dacquoise

Ingredients 25 g Sifted Flour 150 g Almond Flour 150 g Icing Sugar 250 g Egg Whites 100 g Sugar Description A dacquoise is a biscuit made out of a sort of meringue with almond, hazelnut, toasted pine nuts or a combination of nutty flours. It is very delicate, soft and it may be prepared [...]

Rolling Biscuit (Roll Cake or Log Cake)

Ingredients 10 Eggs (medium size) 180 g Sugar 330 g Almond Flour 100 g Flour (sifted) 100 g Butter 330 Egg Whites 250 g Sugar Description If the name biscuit à rouler doesn’t ring the bell, think of a roll cake filled with chocolate or colorful jelly, then you’ll know what we are talking about. [...]

Chocolate Sponge Cake

Ingredients 500 g Almond Paste 600 g Eggs (about 10 medium size eggs) 80 g Flour T45 (cake flour) 15 g Yeast (powder) 300 g 70% Dark Chocolate in small chunks 150 g Butter in chunks Description The T45 Flour is perfect for making fine cakes and sweets: sponges, choux pastries, cakes, crepes, as well [...]

Sacher Biscuit

Ingredients 225 g 70% Dark Chocolate in small chunks 150 g Butter (soft as paste) 275 g Yolks (about 13 yolks) 60 g Icing Sugar 70 g Flour (sifted) 4 g Yeast (in powder) 70 g Almond Flour 275 g Egg Whites (about 7 egg whites) 100 g Sugar Description Everybody knows that the Sacher [...]

Fluffy Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients 170 g Whipping Cream 3 yolks 5 Egg Whites (possibly 2 or 3 days old) 70 g Sugar 300 g 70% Dark Chocolate in small chunks 6 g Gelatin (in case Milk Chocolate is used) Chocolate conversion There’s a strict relation between chocolate percentage and weight. Please, refer to this table for applying changes [...]

Creamy Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients 300 g Crème Anglaise 5 g Gelatin (only if Milk Chocolate is used) 330 g 70% Dark Chocolate in small chunks 450 g Whipped Whipping Cream Chocolate conversion There’s a strict relation between chocolate percentage and weight. Please, refer to this table for applying changes to the recipes based on chocolate. 650 g 70% [...]

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients 100 g Whipping Cream 325 g 70% Dark Chocolate in small chunks 500 g Whipped Whipping Cream Chocolate conversion There’s a strict relation between chocolate percentage and weight. Please, refer to this table for applying changes to the recipes based on chocolate. 650 g 70% Dark Chocolate = 690 g 60% Dark Chocolate = [...]

Chocolate Bavarian Mousse

Ingredients 350 g Crème Anglaise 150 g 70% Dark Chocolate in small chunks 450 g Whipped Cream 6 to 7 g of gelatin Chocolate conversion There’s a strict relation between chocolate percentage and weight. Please, refer to this table for applying changes to the recipes based on chocolate. 650 g 70% Dark Chocolate = 690 [...]

Fluffy Chocolate Ganache

   Ingredients 350 g Whipping Cream 350 g 70% Dark Chocolate in small chunks 260 g Whipped Whipping Cream Chocolate conversion There’s a strict relation between chocolate percentage and weight. Please, refer to this table for applying changes to the recipes based on chocolate. 650 g 70% Dark Chocolate = 690 g 60% Dark Chocolate = [...]

Creamy Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients 500 g Crème Anglaise 200 g 70% Dark Chocolate in small chunks Chocolate conversion There’s a strict relation between chocolate percentage and weight. Please, refer to this table for applying changes to the recipes based on chocolate. 650 g 70% Dark Chocolate = 690 g 60% Dark Chocolate = 750 g 50% Dark Chocolate [...]

Whipped Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients 260 g Whipping Cream 25 g Liquid Glucose 25 g Inverted Sugar 180 g 70% Dark Chocolate in small chunks 450 g Cold Whipping Cream Chocolate conversion There’s a strict relation between chocolate percentage and weight. Please, refer to this table for applying changes to the recipes based on chocolate. 650 g 70% Dark Chocolate = [...]

Chocolate Basic Ganache

Ingredients 300 g Whipping Cream 30 g Inverted Sugar 260 g 70% Dark Chocolate in small chunks 105 g Butter (in chunks) Chocolate conversion There’s a strict relation between chocolate percentage and weight. Please, refer to this table for applying changes to the recipes based on chocolate. 650 g 70% Dark Chocolate = 690 g 60% [...]

Biscotto Savoiardo (Lady Fingers)

Ingredients 5 yolks 3 egg whites 70 g Sugar (35 + 35) 80 g sifted Flour type 00 Some icing sugar Description Very similar to the Pan di Spagna, except for the fact that here yolks and egg whites are whipped separately; the Savoiardi biscuits are one of the basic preparations of all time Pastry. [...]

Pan di Spagna (Sponge Cake)

Ingredients 7 eggs 180 g Sugar ½ Vanilla Bean 160 g sifted Flour type 00 Description The real Pan di Spagna is made without yeast. The sponginess and the rising of this preparation are obtained by the eggs and achieved with some skills. Some people wonder why their sponge cake rises in the middle and others do [...]

Italian Meringue

Ingredients 150 g Egg Whites (about 4 egg whites) 225 g Sugar 90 g Water Description Despite of the name, this is a French creation and it is the base for a lot of semi-frozen desserts, iles flottantes, fruit mousse and many more. It is the most stable of the three meringues (Swiss and French [...]

Swiss Meringue

Ingredients 150 g Egg Whites (about 4 egg whites) 250 g Sugar Description This meringue has a very little application in Europe, but still a leader in US for icing and frosting, also because it is very easy to make. Actually this is the original meringue which is indeed a Swiss creation. The weird thing [...]

French Meringue

Ingredients 150 g Egg Whites (about 4 egg whites) 150 g Sugar 150 g Icing Sugar Description This is the typical meringue that everyone has tried to make with frustrating results. It cooks in the oven, actually it dries up till it is ready to be added in other dessert preparations as a base for [...]

Pâte à bombe

  Ingredients 4 yolks 150 g Sugar 50 g Water Description This is like an Italian meringue made out of yolks instead of egg whites. The Italian meringue is used mainly for fruity mousse and semi-frozen preparations, while the Pâte à bombe is the base for chocolate or creamy frozen and semi-frozen desserts. It takes [...]

Crème au Citron (Lemon cream)

Ingredients 3 eggs 300 g Sugar 150 g Butter (in chunks) 2 Lemon juice with their zest (zest means the grated peel without the white bitter part) Description Not the usual lemon custard, this cream is a must in many recipes like the famous ‘tartelettes au citron meringuee’. Since lemons are the main flavor, they [...]

Crème au Beurre

Ingredients 90 g Milk 4 Yolks 90 g Sugar (45 + 45) 1 Vanilla Bean 375 g Butter 175 g Italian Meringue Description I used the French name instead of naming it ‘Buttercream’ because in US it might be intended as an icing for cake decoration which is totally a different thing. The Crème au [...]

Crème Anglaise

Ingredients 350 g Whipping Cream (fresh cream) 150 g Milk 110 g Yolks (about 5 or 6 according to size) 65 g Sugar Description The Crème Anglaise is the basic preparation for a lot of desserts including ice creams, chocolate creams, Creme Brûlée and more. Recipes might vary but the preparation method is the same [...]

Pastry Cream (Crème Patisserie)

Ingredients 4 yolks 1 Vanilla Bean 125 g Sugar 40 g Flour 00 ½ l Milk Description In this example, the Crème Patisserie is flavored with vanilla, but it could be lemon or liquor. In case of lemon I would suggest grinding the peel with a zester (Microplan type) and put it in the eggs [...]

Pastry tools and tips

The art of cooking is mainly based on feeling and taste. Since ingredients vary from time to time, the expert cook knows how to make adjustments on the fly to get the expected result. This ability of understanding flavors and textures really traces the gap between an ordinary cook and a master chef. On the [...]