Pastry Of The Week 10/03/13: The Results

Ta-daaaaah! Quite straightforward to make, although I need to work on my piping technique to get them as even as the boulanger does. Will update with taste results and recipe on Monday.

bob xx

PASTRY OF THE WEEK: IT'S BACK, BABY!

This week: Chocolate eclairs.  Here they are filled with a chocolate cream rather than whipped cream.  Nom. Of course I had to buy a sample from the boulangerie because I really needed to check what they taste like (Hey - they could have changed in the last couple of weeks since I had one, no?). I shan't be recreating them until tomorrow as I promised to wait until The Husband was back from his business trip.  The thing that most concerns me at this point is piping good, even eclair shapes and not blobby phallic shapes.  We shall see......

Pastry Of The Week 8th October: Fondant au Chocolat

Welcome to another Pastry Of The Week Whenever-I-Get-Around-To-It. Don't even ask.
Fondant au Chocolat has nothing to do with icing fondant, as some of my (imaginary) American readers might think, but is a soft, moist chocolate cake, usually with a chocolate glaze on top.  If The Daughter ever recovers the camera cable from the hellmouth that is her bedroom i will show you a picture of it in all its chocolatey glory.
The cake is somehow moist and rich without being too heavy, or tasting underdone.  For the glaze, the boulanger was unable to tell me what the ingredients were as he doesn't make it from scratch.  Unfortunately it is hard to get hold of quite a number of ingredients for breads and patisseries here because it's a 'trade' thing and they are not known or available in shops. Arse.
I have seen numerous recipes for Fondant au Chocolat, so I am going to have a poke around and try one or two out and see if I can come up with a glaze that fits.  Wish me luck, my imaginary friends.

Fougasse aux Anchois

Ingredients: 

For one fougasse around 300g:

• 180g plain flour


• 110ml warm water


• 2g fresh yeast


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 10g roughly chopped anchovy filets


• 1 beaten egg


• Dish of water at the bottom of the oven

• Prep time: approx 1 hour


• Proving time: 2 1/2 hours


• Rest time: 50 mins


• Baking time: 25 mins

Instructions: 

• Make a pile of the flour directly on your workspace, with a 'well' in the middle


• Gently pour in the warm water and work into a dough


• Knead for a full 5 mins until smooth


• Form into a ball, cover with a damp cloth and leave to rest 35 mins


• Crumble in the yeast and work it into the dough for 5 mins


• Add the salt and do the same


• Work in the anchovies, the n form into a ball once more


• Cover with a damp cloth and leave to prove for 90 mins


• Once the ball has doubled in size, fold it in on itself


• Reforrm the ball and leave to rest a further 15 mins


• Roll out the dough into a rectangle approximately 3cms deep


• Place on a baking tray and slash with a sharp knife a few times, then pull at the sides of the rectangle to widen the slashes


• Leave to prove for a further hour


• Thoroughly glaze the fougasse in beaten egg


• Place in the preheated oven for 20-25 mins (don't forget the dish of water), keeping an eye on the colour


• If the fougasse browns too quickly, lower the temperature to 180

Pastry of The Week 3rd September: Fougasse aux Anchois

Well here we are with the inaugural Pastry Of The Week (POTW) as chosen by The Daughter: Fougasse aux Anchois. Thanks. That'll be easy.
Fougasse comes in many forms, some an oiled bread similar to focaccia, some, like Fougasse Aigues Mortes, more of a cake.  The Fougasse aux Anchois is a lattice made from either pastry or dough, I'm not sure; it has a pastry-like texture on the outside, but a doughier inside, with (as you may have surmised) chopped anchovies in it, and is a speciality of the South. It is very salty, crispy on the outside and moist and more bread-like on the inside.  I recommend smearing it with cream cheese, or using it as an accompaniment to a mild soup.
At this point I have no idea how to recreate it, so I will be spending some time researching this week.  Further bulletins as events warrant.
Catch you later, special llamas!

 

Pastry of The Week 3rd September: The Results

Being confused as to the nature of the dough/pastry for the fougasse as made by my favourite boulangerie, I did want to ask the boulanger but he was frantically busy evry time I was in there this week and I have no desire to rub him up the wrong way (oo-er).  I settled for trying a bread-based recipe from a book called 'Tous les Pains' that I bought 5 or 6 years ago and have never got around to using (despite bookmarking several recipes).
Looking at the results, I am now 100% convinced that the fougasse we bought was made with pastry and I will have to find a good time to pick the boulanger's brain.  I'm feeling pretty good about the fougasse I made, however.  It looks ok for a first attempt, and we will find out at apéro tonight how well I did as far as taste.
All-in-all, I could quite cheerfully boot The Daughter around the room for choosing that as the first Pastry Of The Week.  It took hours and hours to make, which is probably why the boulanger does a pastry version.  I will update with a verdict on the taste later.  The Daughter had better bloody well like it......

Nomming Soon..........

In the autumn I shall be adding another item to the (site) menu: PASTRY OF THE WEEK!

Yes indeedy.  Purely for the education and edification of The Internet I shall drag myself to the Boulangerie Quissac every week and buy a pastry or cake.  I shall photograph it, taste it, then attempt to reproduce it.  Opinion will be sought from friends and family as to the level of my success/failure and the best recipes posted.

At Christmas I took a plate of my mince pies (will post my mincemeat recipe nearer the season) to the boulangerie and the whole staff loved them.  I am hoping that with enough bribes like that I may be able to charm my way into shadowing the boulanger for a shift or two :)

There. Now The Internet has something to look forward to over the summer.