Paris-Brest
(pah-ree-brest)
Chapter 5 — Desserts & Café
Eighty-three percent butterfat. Do not look for shortcuts here; you will make a craquelin to ensure a shattering crust, dry out your choux on the stove, and whip an ungodly amount of high-fat cultured butter into a temperamental mousseline hiding a core of pure praliné. Clear a wide shelf in the refrigerator for a twelve-hour chill before the praline mousseline ever meets a star-tipped piping bag, starting a full day before guests arrive so the mechanical precision justifies itself when you crack the shell and hit that impossible, nutty lightness.
Before you start
Make and freeze the craquelin dough.
Mix 50 g softened butter, 50 g light brown sugar, 50 g flour, and a pinch of salt into a paste. Roll between two sheets of parchment paper to a 2mm thickness. Freeze flat until rock solid, then use a cutter to punch out discs sized to your piped choux. Keep them in the freezer until the exact moment of baking.
Make the pastry cream base the night before.
Steep the scraped vanilla bean in 300 ml hot milk. Vigorously whisk 3 egg yolks and 60 g sugar until pale, then whisk in 30 g cornstarch and 10 g flour. Temper the hot milk into the yolks, return to the heat, and whisk aggressively until it boils. Cook for exactly 2 minutes to cook out the starch flavor. Pour onto a tray, press plastic wrap directly to the surface, and chill overnight.
Ingredients
- cultured unsalted butter50 g
- light brown sugar50 g
- all-purpose flour50 g
- kosher salt1 pinch
- whole milk300 ml
- vanilla bean1 med
- large egg yolks3 large
- granulated sugar60 g
- cornstarch30 g
- all-purpose flour10 g
- whole milk60 ml
- water60 ml
- cultured unsalted butter50 g
- granulated sugar4 g
- fine sea salt2 g
- all-purpose flour75 g
- large eggs3 large
- cultured unsalted butter150 g
- praline paste150 g
- toasted sliced almonds1/4 cup
- powdered sugar1 tbsp
Method
- 01
Boil the milk, water, and butter for the choux.
In a saucepan, bring the 60 ml milk, 60 ml water, 50 g butter, 4 g sugar, and sea salt to a rolling boil over medium-high heat.
- 02
Dump in the flour and dry out the paste.
Remove the pan from the heat, add the 75 g of flour all at once, and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon. Return to medium heat for exactly two minutes, stirring constantly until the dough pulls away from the sides and leaves a thin film on the bottom of the pan.
- 03
Incorporate the eggs one by one until the dough reaches the bird's beak stage.
Transfer the dough to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low for two minutes to release steam. Slowly stream in the beaten eggs, a little at a time. Stop adding eggs when the dough drops heavily from the paddle but leaves a glossy, slow V shape hanging from it.
- 04
Pipe the choux into a crown and top with the frozen craquelin discs.
On a parchment-lined baking sheet, pipe 6 to 8 small choux rounds, each about 1 1/2 inches wide, so they touch each other in a tight circle. Place a punched-out frozen craquelin disc firmly onto each mound.
- 05
Bake the choux without opening the oven door.
Bake at 375F for 25 minutes. Do not open the door under any circumstances, or the steam pressure will drop and your pastry will collapse into sad, flat discs. After 25 minutes, prop the door ajar with a wooden spoon and bake 10 more minutes to deeply dry the interiors. Let cool completely.
- 06
Whip the softened butter for the mousseline until completely aerated.
In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the 150 g of room-temperature butter on high speed until it is light, fluffy, and resembles white mayonnaise.
- 07
Emulsify the room-temperature pastry cream and praliné paste into the butter.
Lower the mixer speed and add the chilled pastry cream one tablespoon at a time, allowing it to fully incorporate. Add 100 g of the praliné paste, turn the mixer to high, and whip for 5 full minutes until the cream miraculously lightens in color and doubles in volume.
- 08
Assemble the crown with a hidden ring of pure praliné.
Using a serrated bread knife, carefully slice the cooled choux crown in half horizontally. Pipe a base ring of mousseline onto the bottom half, then pipe a distinct, separate inner ring of the remaining 50 g of pure praliné paste. Cover the pure paste entirely with a massive, decorative swirl of the remaining mousseline.
- 09
Cap, garnish, and chill the pastry before serving.
Gently place the top half of the choux crown over the cream. Dust aggressively with powdered sugar and scatter with toasted sliced almonds. Chill for at least one hour so the butter in the mousseline sets slightly, ensuring clean, restaurant-quality slices.
Notes
The Mousseline Rescue Protocol.
If your mousseline breaks and looks grainy, your pastry cream was too cold and seized the butter fat. Do not throw it away. With the mixer running on medium, briefly run a blowtorch over the outside of the metal mixing bowl. The gentle heat will melt the seized crystals, and it will re-emulsify. Alternatively, set the bowl over a warm bain-marie for 10 seconds while whisking.
Cultured butter is non-negotiable.
You must use European-style cultured butter (at least 82 percent fat) for the mousseline. Standard American butter contains significantly more water. In an emulsion where butterfat is the only structural integrity holding the cream together, excess water will cause your filling to weep and break.