The French Pastry School-Week Sixteen - Petit Fours

   L'Art de la Pâtisserie  



Chef Jonathon Dendauw  Petit Fours
Table 4  Partner: Jaisaira

Monday

Three varieties of petit fours; 
     Petit fours frais
     Petit fours sec
     Petit fours moelleux

Little bite size versions of other things that are made in larger sizes.  Made for special occasions and for Salon de Thé (tea).  Petit Fours Frais do not get frozen.  They use fresh fruit and the shelf life does not exceed one day.  Petit Four Sec is a dry petty four that has a 2-3 day shelf life.  They do not get frozen.  Petit Fours Moelleux are tender.  Madeleine.  If they have flour in them they last one day if they have almond flour in them they last 3-4 days.

Almond Sablée Dough:

• Sanding method.

• In mixer bowl with a paddle, cold butter, salt, unsifted flour.

• Paddle on low.

• Sift 10x.

• Mix to crumbly but do not over mix.

• Scrap up bottom and sides of bowl.

• Add vanilla, TPT and 10x.

• Mix for 1 second.

• Add yolks.

• Mix to just combined.

• Wrap in plastic wrap.

• Place in cooler overnight.

The fat discourages the development of proteins.  The proteins get covered with fat.  No egg whites.  Albumen adds toughness.  Higher percentage of fat tastes good.  This dough needs skilled people in production.  If only non skilled people are available, use sweet dough because it is easier to work with.

Sweet Dough:

• Room temperature ingredients.

• Creaming method.

• In mixer bowl with a paddle; butter, vanilla, salt.

• Mix on speed 1.  Do not incorporate air.

• Add TPT.

• Sift 10x.

• Add 10x.

• Sift flower.

• Add eggs slowly.

• Add 25% flour.

• Add rest of flour.

• Wrap in plastic wrap. 

• Store in cooler overnight.

Fat encapsulates flour and vanilla added at the beginning retains its flavor.  Could replace 10x with regular sugar.  It costs less money and changes the texture of the dough.  The dough will become more fragile and larger pieces of sugar makes the dough less cohesive.  Crunchier flavor.

TPT started before the 1960's.  Everyone did their own almond flour; remove skins, grind and sift almonds.  Robo coupe TPT kept some consistency and helps the almonds not turn into butter.  Grinding, friction and heat separates out the fat from the nut.  The 10x coats the almond meal and retorts the oil extraction.  Theorehtically, you could add the 10x and almond meal together without putting it in the robo coupe.

Bakers had to whistle while they made TPT because you can not whistle and eat almonds at the same time.  Almonds are expensive.  

Extra Fine Sablée Dough:

• Creaming method.

• Sift cooked yolks with a rubber spatula and a tamis.

• In a mixer bowl with a paddle, butter, salt, vanilla.

• Cream on speed 1.  Do not incorporate air.

• Sift 10x.

• Sift flour.

• Add TPT and 10x and mix on low.

• Scrape sides.

• Add yolks.

• Combine well.

• Add 25% of flour.

• Mix.

• Add remaining flour.

• Scrape sides.

• Place in plastic wrap.

• Place in cooler overnight.

Use this dough to make cookies or something flat.  The sides will collapse.  lethithin in yolks emulsifies so cooking half makes the ingredients bind less.  The combination of cooked and raw yolks makes the dough softer and more tender.

Chocolate Sweet Dough:

• Creaming method.

• In a mixer bowl with paddle; butter, salt.

• Mix on low.  Do not incorporate air.

• Sift 10x.

• Sift flour together with cocoa powder. 

• Add TPT.

• Add eggs slowly.

• Incorporate slowly.

• Combine fully.

• Scrape sides.

• Add 25%  flour/cocoa powder mixture.

• Add the rest of flour/cocoa powder mixture.

• Wrap in plastic wrap.

• Place in cooler overnight.

22-24% cocoa butter fat in FPS's cocoa powder.  Other nut flours can be used in place of almond flour.  This dough has to be worked very cold.  Must learn to use cooler and freezer to keep it at the right texture.

Pâte a Choux:

• In a medium pot; butter, salt, sucrose, water and milk.

• Melt butter.

• Bring to a simmer.

• Turn off the heat.

• Dump in flour.

• Whisk until mixture comes together.

• Switch to rubber spatula.

• Cook on medium heat for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

• Evaporate moisture.

• Dough should stick to bottom of pan and make a roll.

• Put dough in mixer bowl on the paddle.

• Paddle on low to cool it down.

• Add eggs very slowly.

• Scrape bowl.

• Dough should make a V while slowly dripping form paddle.  

• Place dough in pastry bag fitted with a #11 round tip and a french tip.

• Pipe onto silpat.

Chouquesttes are 1" diameter
Eclairs are 3" long.
Salambos are 2" long and 1" wide.
Paris-Brest is 3" in diameter.

Panade is the first dough, when it does not stick and before the eggs have been added.  This sought makes, eclairs, salambos, chouquesttes, Paris-Brest.  Water dries out the dough and does not have good flavor.  Milk tenderizes the dough and adds flavor but it is expensive.  This recipe calls for 50/50 milk to water.

Sugar helps with caramelization and salt helps with flavor.  The eggs form the crust and retain water so the dough can puff up during baking.  Overcooking leads to less volume.

Verbal Evaluation:

Fives on attitude, teamwork and organization.  4 on product.  He said I move quickly but with purpose and he can tell I will be successful in any kitchen.  I missed a week but he felt comfortable grading me.

Tuesday

Dacquoise:

• Begin with French Meringue.

• In mixer bowl with whisk; cream of tartar, room temperature egg whites, salt.

• Whisk on low.

• Add sucrose in three stages, gradually.

• Take meringue to medium stiff.  Not too stiff or it is difficult to incorporate dries later and the meringue will deflate.

• Sift 10x with cornstarch.

• Do not sift almond and hazelnut powders.  They are too thick.

• Line sheet tray with silpat and stencils.

• Fold dry ingredients into meringue in thirds.

• The meringue should not spread out when you stop folding.

• Meringue should not be glossy or shiny.

• Do not use parchment in place of silpat.  The moisture will cause wrinkles in the parchment.  

• Spread meringue on stencil with offset spatula.

• Lift stencil off quickly.

• Sprinkle top of cookies with 10x.

• Wait 15 minutes and sprinkle top of cookies with 10x again.

• Bake  15 minutes, vent open for at 300º

Dry little cookies, meringue, macarons style filled with almond cream.  Cornstarch helps stabilize the water in the meringue.  The corn start coagulates at 70ºc and happens during the baking in the oven.  10x absorbs humidity and ensures that the 10x remains on top of the cookie during baking.

Whipping egg whites on a lower speed helps smaller, even bubbles to develop.  If one bubble deflates it is not as big a deal as when one large bubble deflates.  

10x rules:  Bake under 150ºc and the mallaird reaction is slowed down.  The time on this recipe is also short.  The 10x doesn't melt so it does not take on any color.  The maillard reaction needs time and temperature.  

Pastry Cream:

• In a medium pot; half of sucrose, butter and milk.

• In a plastic bowl;other half of sucrose, egg yolk and pastry cream powder.

• Whisk immediately.

• Boil pot.

• Pour half of mixture over egg mixture.

• Whisk.

• Strain eggs into pot.

• Bring to a boil while whisking.  Thicken.

• Cook for 1 minute while constantly whisking.

• Pour onto plastic lined sheet tray.  Cover to touch.

• Place in freezer for 20 minutes and then move to cooler.

Pastry cream starts to thicken when it reaches 70ºc.  

Pastry cream needs to be used within 1 -2  days if it is going to be used raw.  Would not fill a puff pastry with 3 day old pastry cream because the water will weep and the color and texture changes dramatically.  It is also a high bacteria food.  If 3 day old pastry cream is used it should be baked.  

Chocolate Pastry Cream:

• In a pot; cocoa powder, water and half the sucrose.

• In a plastic bowl; other half of sucrose, pastry cream powder and yolks.

• Whisk yolk mixture together immediately.

• Bring milk to a simmer.

• Pour half of the milk into the yolk mixture.

• Whisk.

• Strain yolk mixture into pot.

• Over medium heat, whisk, whisk.

• Bring to a simmer for 1 minuted.

• Take off heat.

• Add chocolate, whisk, incorporate fully.

• Pour into plastic wrap lined sheet tray.

• Cover with plastic wrap.

• Place in freezer for 20 minutes.

• Transfer to deli cup.

• Place in cooler overnight.

Chocolate pastry cream is a combination of cocoa powder and chocolate.  Cocoa powder does not have the best flavor but it adds a darker color.  Chocolate adds flavor but not as much color.

There is not butter in this recipe because there is fat in the chocolate and the cocoa powder.  If you added butter the pastry cream would split from too much fat.  There is less pastry cream powder in this recipe because the chocolate has a setting affect.  While the pastry cream is cooking it is going to seem like it is not thickening.  Boil for 1 minuted but do not expect it to be as thick as regular pastry cream.  

Add cocoa powder to milk when it is cold.  It will dissolve better.

Páte a Choux:

• In a pot; butter, milk, water, salt and sucrose.

• Sift flour.

• Melt butter.

• Bring to a simmer.

• Off heat, dump in flour all at once.

• Stir until dry.

• Put on mixer with paddle attachment.

• Cool down mixture a little.

• Add eggs slowly.

• Place dough in pastry bag with #11 tip and French tip.

• Pipe salambos, eclairs, chouquettes, and Paris-Brest.

• Egg wash.  This helps with color and volume.

• Top chouquettes with sucre grand.

• Top Paris-Brest with sliced almonds.

• Bake at 375ºf for 20 minutes.

Dacquoise Cream:

• Scale 100g pastry cream.

• Whisk pastry cream to smooth it out.

• Whip butter and salt on high in mixer bowl with whisk attachment.

• Sift 10x.

• Add pastry cream to butter.

• Add wine, walnuts and 10x.

• Whip on medium high.

• Scrape sides.

• Whip on high to gain a lot of volume.

• Place in pastry bag with not tip.

• Pipe cream onto dacquoise shell.  

• Top with another shell.

The wine adds a nice flavor.

Wednesday

French Buttercream:

• With a paddle in mixer bowl; whip butter, salt and vanilla.

• Whip on medium high.  The butter will become very white and fluffy.

• In a pot; water, sucrose and glucose.

• Dissolve sugar to make sure it is hydrated.

• Cook syrup to 118c.

• Whip eggs and yolks with whisk in mixer bowl.  Warm eggs with torch if they are cold.

• Turn eggs up to medium speed.

• Turn down mixer when adding cooked syrup.

• Turn up to medium high.

• Should make a soft meringue.

• Egg mixture should cool down to 35ºc and be at the ribbon stage and very light in color.

• Add half of the butter.  Mix gently to start.

• Mix for a few seconds.  

• Add the other half of butter.

• Scrap sides of bowl.

• Buttercream should be smooth and stiff.  Not loose.

Adding only 10g of vanilla bean paste to the butterceam is only about adding flecks.  If you really want flavor add triple the amount of vanilla bean paste.  French buttercream is for taste not decorating because it has a yellow color and it is not as shelf stable.  Yolks are a more hazardous ingredient.  Getting volume from the buttercream is important in filling macarons.  You want to add 7-10g of buttercream to each macarons but they should have volume.

Pull butter out of cooler the night before.

Blueberry Filling:

• Mix small amount of sucrose and pectin together so it does not lump.

• In a medium pot; frozen blueberries.

• In a small bowl; mix lemon, cornstarch and water together so there are no lumps.

• Add pectin into pot with blueberries. 

• Bring blueberries to a simmer.

• Stir, stir.

• Add cornstarch.  Texture will change immediately.  

• Reduce heat.

• Cook 1 minute.

• Pour into plastic lined sheet tray.

• Cover with plastic wrap.

• Place in cooler.

Small tarts.  Par bake shells.  Assemble at the end.  It does not matter if lime or lemon juice is use.  The acidity activates the pectin.  Corn starch is a thickener.  Can substitute any berry in this recipe.

4-5 day shelf life.  Can be frozen separately or on final product.  Could be used inside of cake or as bostock.  Not as sweet as jam.

Paris -Brest Cream:

• Scale 112g pastry cream and 112g French Buttercream.

• Whisk together; salt, hazelnut paste, pastry cream and French Buttercream.

• Place in pastry bag fitted with French tip.

Traditional filling.

Finishing Pâte a Choux Shapes:

• Slice Paris-Brest in half, pipe star kisses around bottom half of Paris-Brest and replace top.

• Poke hole in bottom of chouquettes, eclairs and salambos using smallest start tip.

• Fill chouquettes with praline flavored pastry cream using #10 pastry tip.

• Fill salambos with Kirsch flavored pastry cream.

• Fill eclairs with chocolate pastry cream.

• Sprinkle 10x of Paris-Brest.

• Sprinkle 10x over chouquettes.

• Dip salambos into hot caramel.

• Dip eclairs into chocolate fondant.

Thursday

Streusel:

• Cold butter.

• Unsifted flour.

• Sanding method.

• In mixer bowl with paddle; almond flour, kirsch, flour cold butter.

• Low speed.

• Turn speed to medium.

• Looking for no more butter pieces.

• Spread onto parchment lined sheet tray.

• Bake at 350ºf, deck oven for 15 minutes.  Vent open.  Check for doneness.

Can add egg if streusel is not coming together.

Raw product can go in cooler for storage.  Par baked products can be stored at room temperature.  
small tart = fine streusel.  Larger tart = rougher streusel.

Tart Shells:

• Trim edges with a sharp knife.

• Place properly on parchment lined half sheet tray.

• Fork the bottom.

• Par bake 10 minutes.

• Cool.

• Egg Wash.

• Bake 2 - 3 minutes.

Can freeze (refresh) or store in air-tight container with desiccant.

Macarons:

• Scale 5g of green food coloring on mini scale.

• In mixer bowl with whisk attachment; salt and 90g egg whites.

• Start on low.

• In a medium pot; sucrose, water, glucose and food coloring.

• Low heat to melt sucrose.

• In a large bowl; TPT, 60g egg whites (still in the deli cup).

• Get ready a pastry bag with a #9 tip.

• Crank up heat on syrup.

• Cook sugar syrup to 118ºc.

• Once the whites foam, speed them up but do not over whip.

• Pour 118ºc syrup over egg whites.

• Whip meringue to stiff peak.

• Cool meringue to 35 - 40ºc.  

• Mix 2nd scaling of egg whites into TPT.   Mix well.  Will be thick.

• Add meringue to the TPT mixture in 3 additions.

• 1st addition softens the mixture.  

• Add 2nd ⅓ addition.  Fold.  Do not deflate.

• Add 3rd ⅓ addition.  Fold.  Do not deflate.

• Macronage.

• Put batter into pastry bag.  

• Pipe macarons evenly.

• Allow to dry for 30 minutes..  Skin will form on surface.

• Bake for 12 - 13 minutes at 300ºf in the convection oven with the vent open the entire time.

Macronage is deflating the batter to get the right texture.  It will be shiny, glossy and slightly runny.  if you over mix, it will be too runny and the shape will not be round.  The tail should disappear.  Piped macarons will spread a little.

2 different kinds.  Parisienne Macarons and Macaron de Nancy.  Parisienne are famous for their color.  Macarons can be made with French or Italian Meringue.  Italian Meringue is more reliable and harder to over mix.  Color can be added to the syrup or the egg whites.  Cooking the syrup evaporates extra moisture.   Too much moisture causes the shell to crack and have black dots.  

Color must be non fat based powder, liquid or get.  Most of the flavor of the macarons comes from the filling not the shells.  Macarons must sit in the cooler for 2 days.  

In a large batch, mixture can be made ¾ of the way by machine and the last ¼ finished by hand.

Rules:

1 Dry TPT 2 days at room temperature or in the oven at 120ºf for four hours.

2 Aged egg whites.  2 days at room temperature covered with fork poked plastic wrap.  This strengthens the albumen.

Shells for Blueberry Tarts:

• Take tarts out of tart molds.

• Egg wash inside of tart shell to seal it.

• Place back in over for 2 - 3 minutes.

Jaconde:

• Prep sheet pans with parchment cut to fit without any bends.

• Butter the parchment with melted butter.

• Melt butter and let cool.

• In mixer bowl with paddle; 40g sucrose, TPT, half of eggs, flake flour.

• Mix on low.

• Whip on medium high 7 - 10 minutes until mixture has more volume.

• Add remaining eggs very slowly.

• Scrape sides.

• In another mixer bowl, whisk; egg whites, egg white powder, ⅓ of sucrose, salt and cram of tartar (French Meringue).

• Whisk on low.

• Increase speed on whites and add ⅓ sucrose.

• Whip whites to a medium soft peak.

• Pour half of batter into large bowl.

• Place ½ of batter over meringue, fold gently.

• Add remaining batter, melted butter and remaining ½ of meringue to bowl.

• Fold gently.

• Should stay nice and voluminous.  Not deflated.

• Pour equal amounts into 3 prepared pans.  

• Spread gently with offset spatula.

• Clean edges.

• Bake in convection oven for 5 minutes at 420ºf with vent open.

• Should be spongy with nice color.

• Cool.

• Cut edges away from pan.

• Stack biscuit with parchment.

• Wrap with plastic wrap.

• Place in cooler.

The whites and the batter should be close in texture.  Do not make French Meringue too stiff. Jaconde can be made and stacked for production.  Once frozen, they can be removed and quickly assemble and thawed as needed.

If Jaconde is over baked, the holes will crunch up and it will not absorb the syrup.  If Jaconde is under baked, it will be too sticky and will not soak up the syrup. 

Tart Shells (continued):

• Pipe blueberry filling into tart shells.

• Fill the shells full.  Filling will spread while baked.

• Hold shell over streusel topping and generously cover filling.

• Bake for 3 minutes (5 - 6 if streusel is too light).

• Cool.

• Sprinkle with 10x.

Mirror Glaze:

Chef did not give demo.  I followed the directions.  

Tricky biscuit because it is so thin.  Almond biscuit for the Opera Cake.  This biscuit can also be used for the Buche de Noël, a thin entremet.

Friday

Floriol - 1220 W. Webster Ave, Chicago, Illinois

7:00am - 12:00pm  Owner: Sandra Holl    Baking Manager: Betsy Grzywa

I started the day by buttering loaf pans and muffin tins.  I prepped a box of fall apples for the Apple Galette by coring them and slicing them evenly.  My final task was to make the cranberry scone, scoop, top and freeze them.  I did this myself from start to finish.

I spoke with Betsy and we decided that I should come in on Tuesdays when she and Danielle were both in.  I am excited with this day change.  

I brought back a beautiful box of pastries to share with my class.  I brought the Gateau Basque with cranberries, a pineapple upside down cake, olive oil cake and an Apple Galette.

Coffee Syrup:

• Bring water to a boil in a small pot.

• Add ground coffee.  Stir.

• Steep 5 minutes.

• Strain coffee ground out.

• Press down on the coffee grounds.  Not to hard.

• Add simple syrup.

Coffee syrup is used for the Jaconde in the Operah cake.  This is an infused syrup.  Instant espresso makes the flavor stronger without adding bitterness.

A pastry shop in Paris created this recipe to celebrate the opening of the opera house in the 1960's.

Opera Glaze:

• Half sheet tray lined with new acetate.  

• Stick acetate to tray with a little water.

• Melt chocolate and pâte de glacier.  Be careful.  They melt at different temperatures.

• Add oil.

• Mix carefully.

• Pour onto acetate.

• Spread with offset spatula to edges of pan.

• Tap, tap gently.

• Allow it to set at room temperature.

• Check for fingerprints to see if it has set.  No fingerprints should be seen.

Pâte de Glacier is chocolate with the cocoa butter removed and replaced with vegetable oil. This stays soft, more malleable and is easier to cut.  Oil is added to make it more fluid.

If the glaze sets too quickly, place it in a 100ºf oven to warm it up and make it fluid.

Ganache:

• Melt chocolate to 50%.

• In a small pot; milk and cream.

• Soften butter.

• Bring cream to a simmer.

• Pour cream over chocolate.

• Allow to sit for 15 minutes.

• Create core.

• Add a little of the chocolate to butter when it reaches 38ºc.

• Add it all back into the chocolate.

• Too small of a batch to hand blend.  

• Cover with plastic wrap.

Build Opera Cake:

1 Chocolate glaze on acetate.

2 Coffee buttercream.

3 Jaconde upside down, push, push, remove parchment.

4 Coffee syrup spread with pastry brush (⅓).

5 Ganache. spread with an offset spatula.

6 Jaconde upside down, push, push, remove parchment.

7 Coffee syrup spread with pastry brush (⅓).

8 Coffee buttercream.

9 Jaconde upside down, push, push, remove parchment.

10 Coffee syrup spread with pastry brush (⅓).

Let sit at room temperature for a minute.  Wrap in plastic wrap.  Store in cooler overnight.