Pastries

Light choux puffs full of whipped filling

Makes 8

Ingredients

250ml milk
250ml water
200g unsalted butter
300g plain flour, sieved
8 eggs

For the crème mousseline
500ml full fat milk
6 egg yolks
200g caster sugar
60g plain flour
400g unsalted butter, softened

Icing sugar, for dusting

First make the creme.
Place the milk in a saucepan and bring to the boil. While the milk is heating, place the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl and beat with electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Then add the flour and mix again to incorporate.
Once the milk has reached boiling point, strain half the milk into the egg mixture, whisking until smooth. Add the remaining milk and mix, then pour the mixture back into the pan, whisking all the time and return to the heat. Bring to the boil and cook gently for 1-2 minutes, still whisking. Pour into the bowl and add half the unsalted butter, stirring to melt. Leave to cool.
Once cooled, using an electric mixer, beat the remaining softened butter into the creme mixture. Chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.

Now make the choux pastry.
Preheat the oven to 185°C/gas mark 4. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
Heat the milk and water then add the butter and once melted bring to a fast boil. Remove from heat and immediately add all the flour. Return to the heat and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and is smooth and glossy.
Allow the mixture to cool a little, then add the eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition. You will be left with a smooth and glossy mixture.
Spoon the mixture into piping bag and pipe 8 small rings, about 10cm in diameter onto lined tray. Then pipe a second ring on top of the each first ring.
When ready to bake, turn the oven down to 180°C and place the choux pastries in the oven and cook for 30 minutes until golden brown, watching them closely. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

To assemble, once cool, place a choux pastry ring on plate and cut in half horizontally. Spoon the creme into a piping bag and pipe over the bottom half of each choux ring. Place the other half on top and dust with icing sugar to serve.

Pastry-making is an art and to be successful you do need to practise. However, do give this simple recipe a go. It is a very workable dough and if you are gentle it will be forgiving. Don’t panic if the rolled sheet breaks, you can press the edges together. You need to “rest” the dough between all moves by chilling in the fridge. When you come to rolling, cover the bench with baking paper, dust with flour and roll the pastry out on the paper rather than your bench top. It makes moving the pastry easier.
I used this pastry for the following two recipes. If you don’t feel game, use a bought short crust.

120g butter
120g cream cheese
1 cup of sifted flour
pinch of salt

1 Cut the butter and cream cheese into small cubes and bring to room temperature.

2 Work together in your blender with the flour and salt until it just forms a ball.

3 Remove and knead a little. The dough should feel like soft Plasticine and not be sticky.

4 Wrap and leave in the fridge for an hour.

5 Remove from the fridge, bring to room temperature and roll as above. Dust your rolling pin with flour as well as the surface you are rolling on.

6 When you have an even sheet, sit this on a tray and return to the fridge before using. Rest for at least 15 minutes.

500g (1 lb) sieved flour
315g (10oz) softened butter, cool
pinch of salt
water
extra flour to roll pastry

It will take approximately 3 hours all up to finish the pastry.

Put flour in a bowl, create a well in the middle then add salt and some of the water, you want to obtain a firm dough, not too moist but not too dry either. Its called ‘the detrempe’ – that’s the base of the puff pastry. Put it in the fridge to rest for 1/2 hour.

Meanwhile take the butter, put between to baking paper sheets and with the rolling pin gently soften it to obtain a square of 10-15cm, not to thick.

Take pastry out of the fridge, flour bench top and roll the pastry into a cross leaving a square in the middle the size of the butter, and slightly thicker than the four side of the pastry.

Put the butter in the middle of the pastry, fold all four sides on top and roll the pastry gently in a long bend, fold that band in 3, starting from the top towards you then the bottom over the top you just folded, give it a quarter turn to your right and roll and fold again as previously. Put in the fridge to rest for 1/2 hour, and repeat the same again. You have to do it 3 times in total giving 1/2 hour rest between each turn.

At the end put in the fridge for 1/2 hour to finally rest then your ‘pate feuilletee’ is ready to use.

Tips for making pastry and baking
Roll evenly, always from you, with short, sharp movements. The object is to keep all air in and not to press any out.
Pastry improves by chilling and resting some time before baking, this helps avoid shrinkage during cooking – wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Roll out pastry to 3mm thick for pies, two-thirds is required for the base, the remaining for the lid.
Roll pastry bigger than the dish it is to line, then roll the rolling pin over the top of a straight-edged dish, or alternatively use a knife at right angles to the edge of the dish, to gently cut away the pastry.
Don’t stretch the pastry when lining pie tins. Instead, gently ease it into place – this will prevent the pastry shrinking during cooking.
Refrigerate the finished pie before cooking to allow the pastry to rest and therefore avoid shrinkage during cooking.
Bake in a hot oven; open oven door as little and, as gently as possible.

An adaption of Laurent Loudeac’s recipe. Laurent trained in classical French cuisine in the Loire Valley, and can now be found at the Hippopotamus Restaurant, Wellington.

It is a time consuming process to make them, but the results are well worth the effort. Make these over two days.

3/4 cup warm milk add
2 tbsp sugar and
1/2 tbsp dry yeast, leave till yeast starts to bubble

250g plain flour, chilled
1/2 tsp salt
250g softened unsalted butter (but cool)
1 egg wash for glazing croissant (1 tbsp of milk, 1 egg)

Put in a bowl flour, salt and yeast, mix well to obtain a nice soft, not too dry, dough. Cover with cling wrap and rest in a warm place for one hour or until double in volume. Punch dough with fist and refrigerate for another half an hour. Meanwhile soften the butter and roll between two sheets of baking paperl and shape it as a thin square with a rolling pin, about 17 cm x 17 cm. The butter should be the same consistency as the dough (you may need to chill it a little to firm it up after rolling).

Roll the pastry into a 26 cm x 26 cm square, turn it till it appears as a diamond. Place the butter in the middle and cover the butter by overlapping the four pieces of pastry, like an envelope. Fold in half. Now you can start rolling and folding your dough like a puff pastry.

Roll the pastry into a long rectangle, take off excess flour and fold starting by the top towards you 2/3 of the pastry then fold bottom piece on top, turn the pastry 1/4 and roll the pastry again and fold as before then refrigerate for one hour.

You will need to repeat this exercise two more times, then refrigerate overnight. Then it is ready to use.

Roll the pastry until about 1cm thick, 20 cm x 85 cm approximately.
Roll around the rolling pin and let rest in the fridge for 15 minutes before continuing.

Roll out. Using a ruler and a pizza wheel, mark the top of the dough at 12.5 cm intervals along the length. On the bottom of the dough make a first mark at 6.25 cm, then continue at 12.5 cm intervals. Cut from the top to the bottom mark, then from the second mark at the top to the same bottom point, creating your first triangle. Continue in this manner creating right way up, and upside down triangles.

To roll them, start from the base and roll softly, finishing by the point of the triangle. Brush it with egg wash, so it sticks together.

Glaze with egg wash, or brush with some melted butter.

Leave to proof for an hour before baking croissants in a preheated oven at 205 ºC fan (230ºC) for 10 – 15 mins.

Bon Apetit

These freeze well. Take them out of the freezer just before placing in a preheated 180 ºC oven for 8 minutes to crisp up.

An adaption of Laurent Loudeac’s recipe.

This is a delicate, simple pastry ideal for sweet pies.

250g all purpose flour
160g butter, cold and diced
250g cream cheese, eg philadelphia
generous pinch of salt

Ensure all ingredients are chilled.
Mix all the ingredients together using a knife, until you have a mass of crumbs.
Lay a large piece of plastic wrap on the bench put the crumbs in the middle, and loosely wrap them.
Try to give them as regular a rectangular form as you can.
Wrap well in cling film and refrigerate for half an hour. Then take it out, stretch it on a lightly floured surface using a rolling pin so as to obtain a rectangle two times longer than higher.
Fold it in three along the longer direction, and wrap again. Refrigerate another half an hour.
Repeat the folding procedure once more, and then your puff pastry is ready for use or for freezing. It will look a bit inhomogeneous at the beginning, but it will become extremely smooth by the time of the last fold.
If using from frozen, make sure you thaw it completely before stretching it.

Suitable for fruit pies, tarts, or tartlets.

225g (8oz) sieved flour
3 tbsp caster sugar
175g (6oz) butter
cold water
1 egg yolk
pinch salt

Put flour, sugar and salt into basin. Add the butter, and rub in lightly with the fingers until the mixture is like breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre and add yolk, mix in as little as possible of water to make a somewhat stiff dough. chill for 30 mins then turn on to floured board arid roll out as required.

Tips for making pastry and baking
All ingredients must be as cold as possible, also all utensils.
The shortening should be evenly distributed through the pastry, and as little liquid used as possible.
Pastry improves by chilling and resting some time before baking, except when baking powder is used, this helps avoid shrinkage during cooking – wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Handle the pastry as lightly and as little as can be managed, otherwise it will become a tough pastry.
Roll evenly, always from you, with short, sharp movements. The object is to keep all air in and not to press any out.
Bake in a hot oven; open oven door as little and, as gently as possible.

Roll out pastry to 3mm thick for pies, two-thirds of the dough is required for the base, the remaining for the lid.
Roll pastry bigger than the dish it is to line, then roll the rolling pin over the top of a straight-edged dish, or alternatively use a knife at right angles to the edge of the dish, to gently cut away the pastry.
Don’t stretch the pastry when lining pie tins. Instead, gently ease it into place – this will prevent the pastry shrinking during cooking.
Refrigerate the finished pie before cooking to allow the pastry to rest and therefore avoid shrinkage during cooking.

Suitable for meat & savoury dishes, and pasties.

225g (8oz) sieved flour
175g (6oz) butter
cold water
1 egg yolk
pinch salt

Put flour and salt into basin. Add the butter, and rub in lightly with the fingers until the mixture is like breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre and add yolk, mix in as little as possible of water to make a somewhat stiff dough. Chill for 30 mins then turn on to floured board arid roll out as required.

Tips for making pastry and baking
All ingredients must be as cold as possible, also all utensils.
The shortening should be evenly distributed through the pastry, and as little liquid used as possible.
Pastry improves by chilling and resting some time before baking, except when baking powder is used, this helps avoid shrinkage during cooking – wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Handle the pastry as lightly and as little as can be managed, otherwise it will become a tough pastry.
Roll evenly, always from you, with short, sharp movements. The object is to keep all air in and not to press any out.
Bake in a hot oven; open oven door as little and, as gently as possible.

Roll out pastry to 3mm thick for pies, two-thirds of the dough is required for the base, the remaining for the lid.
Roll pastry bigger than the dish it is to line, then roll the rolling pin over the top of a straight-edged dish, or alternatively use a knife at right angles to the edge of the dish, to gently cut away the pastry.
Don’t stretch the pastry when lining pie tins. Instead, gently ease it into place – this will prevent the pastry shrinking during cooking.
Refrigerate the finished pie before cooking to allow the pastry to rest and therefore avoid shrinkage during cooking.

This is a low key simple pastry, for best results, and if you have the time I suggest this recipe.

4oz (125g) butter
8oz (250g) plain flour
pinch of salt

Measure out butter, then wrap it in foil and place it in the freezer, for 30-45 minutes.
Sift flour and salt into a large bowl (lifting the sieve high giving it a good airing).
Take the butter out of the freezer, fold back the foil.
While holding it in the foil, grate the butter, dipping the edge of it into the flour several times to make it easier to grate.
Take a normal kitchen knife start to distribute the gratings into the flour until the mixture looks evenly crumbly.
Then, using a tablespoon, sprinkle in cold water. Start with 1 tablespoon then continue to use the knife, making cutting movements and adding more drops of water, until the mixture begins to form a dough.
Now bring the whole thing gently together using your hands. If you need a bit more moisture, that’s fine. The dough should come together in such a way that it leaves the bowl fairly clean.

Rest the flaky pastry – pop it into a plastic bag and chill for 30 minutes before using.

The pastry freezes extremely well, in which case you need to defrost it thoroughly and let it come back to room temperature before rolling out.

Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough

Ingredients for the Dough
30g fresh yeast or 1 tbsp active dry yeast
1/2 c milk
1/3 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs, chilled and beaten
3 1/4 c flour
1 tsp salt

Ingredients for the Butter Block
240g cold unsalted butter
1/4 c flour

Dough
Combine yeast and milk in a bowl, along with sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and mix well. Add eggs.
Place the flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre.
Pour the liquid in the middle of the well.
With a knife, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle, slowly working towards the edges.
When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes (You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky).
Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Butter Block
Rub butter into flour with your fingers till fine and crumbly (can use a food processor.)
Set aside at room temperature.

After the dough has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.
Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and 25mm thick (The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour).
Spread the butter evenly over the centre and right thirds of the dough.
Fold the left edge of the dough to the right, covering half of the butter.
Fold the right third of the rectangle over the centre third (The first turn has now been completed).
Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally.
Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface (The open ends should be to your right and left).
Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, 25mm thick rectangle.
Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the centre third and the right third over the centre third (No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough). (The second turn has now been completed).
Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns.
Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight.

Your dough is now ready to be used.

To make danish pastries
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface to 5mm thick and cut into 8 x 10cm squares. Lay your filling diagonally across, then fold opposite corners in overlapping in the center to join.
Cover with cling film and chill for 20 minutes.
Brush with beaten egg and bake 200C for 18-20 minutes until golden. Cool for 5-10 minutes, swirl some icing over each pastry and serve warm.

Danish fillings
For the vanilla custard creme patissere 1/2 recipe

Apple filling
6 large apples, peeled, cored, and cut into pieces
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp unsalted butter

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl except the butter. Melt the butter in a pan until lightly golden, then add all the other ingredients. Cook for roughly 10-15 minutes until the apples start to caramelise. Cool completely before use. You can make the filling well in advance and stored in the fridge.

Can I freeze the dough?
You could make the Danish dough recipe up, then roll up between two sheets of baking paper (with the paper inside), into a sausage shape, wrap in cling film and foil and freeze for up to a month. Defrost fully before using.
If you’re cooking the finished Danish pastries from frozen, bake them for 5-10 minutes longer than the recipe until golden brown and cooked through.

Tricks to getting perfect Danishes every time
It is best to start the dough recipe the night before so the pastry is chilled and rested before assembling the pastries.
Roll the pastry in one direction, as this distributes the butter evenly, and helps to create the light, flaky layers.
Ensure the butter is softened at room temperature, so that it spreads evenly throughout the pastry. If the butter is too hard it will make the pastry streaky.
It is important to roll out the pastry to a long rectangle 4 times, to evenly spread out the butter and create lots of layers of light, flaky pastry – otherwise the pastry will be heavy and dense.