When searching pastry shops for great breakfast pastries, I am amazed at the varieties displayed using only two to three types of doughs. Brioche, croissants, cinnamon rolls, bostock, pain au chocolat, pinwheels and elephant ears are all variations of only three doughs. Customers are always searching for a new item or a re-introduction of a favored classic. Adding these requests to an already strong menu of items can be challenging. But, by adding a new component, flavor or shape to a pre-existing base dough or filling, you can easily update your products.
Flavoring pastry cream with violet to enhance brioche introduces customers to a unique flavor without much extra work. This aromatic pastry cream is used to create brioche mousseline, a tea salon classic. Slice a brioche loaf lengthwise, soak it with simple syrup, then put it back together alternating brioche layers with the violet pastry cream. Cover the whole loaf in buttercream, and roll it in almond streusel. Fresh jam, chocolate pastry cream or ganache can be substituted for the violet pastry cream. This flexibility allows for an ever changing and exciting product line. Sell brioche mousseline whole or by the slice for afternoon tea.
To add variety to your Danish, use an exotic cremeux as an alternative to the traditional baked cream Danish filling. After preparing the cremeux, freeze it in small silicone dome moulds. Bake the Danish dough without a filling, and after it is cool, top it with the exotic cremeux. This method accomplishes a few goals. First, the crisp layers of the Danish dough are maintained as a result of being baked without fruit or cream. Second, the exotic cremeux is a refreshing alternative. Finally, the unique shape of the domed filling will attract your customers' attention.
By creating two simple fillings and unique presentations, your pastry display case can be reinvigorated. The potential for these classic pastry doughs are limitless, and your customers will respond to these exciting alternatives.
| |  |  |
| By varying flavors and shapes of two classic pastry doughs, you can revitalize your product line. Try a new spin on brioche and Danish. | On the interior slices, pipe the violet flavored pastry cream evenly on each layer. Leave the top slice bare. | Reassemble the slices, coat with buttercream and roll the loaf in streusel. Offer 1-in. slices with raspberry marmalade, or sell each loaf whole. |
 |  |  |
| Use a flower shaped cutter for the Danish dough. Then, cut the center out of half the flowers. | Stack the flowers without centers on top of the remaining whole flowers, and proof after eggwashing. | After baking, sprinkle confectioners' sugar over half the Danish. |
 | ||
| Place the domes of exotic pastry cream in the center of the Danish. |
Brioche MousselineViolet pastry cream | |
| INGREDIENTS | METRIC |
| Whole milk (3.5% milk) Sucrose Bourbon vanilla beans, 1 Butter (82% fat) Egg yolks Pastry cream powder Violet extract Total appr. wt. | 500 g 125 g 50 g 120 g 35 g 25 g 855 g |
| Method: Boil the milk and butter with 1/2 of the sucrose and the scraped vanilla bean in a stainless steel pan (aluminum pans leave a gray residue). Mix the remaining sucrose with the egg yolks. Add the pastry cream powder and enough milk to liquify the mixture. When the milk boils, combine 3/4 of it with the egg yolk mixture. Add this mixture back to the remaining milk, and bring it to a slow boil, mixing continuously. When the mixture begins to thicken, remove from heat, and whisk until the mixture is homogenized. This allows a slow and even coagulation of the eggs. Then, place the mixture back over medium heat for about one minute, whisking continuously, until the starch is cooked out. Spread the pastry cream onto a sheet pan between plastic wrap. Cool quickly in a freezer for five to 10 minutes. This instantly stops bacteria growth. Transfer the cream to the refrigerator. When needed, whisk the pastry cream until smooth, and add violet extract to flavor the pastry cream. Note: Pastry cream powder is a mix of starches, binding agents and vanilla flavor. Yields enough for five brioche mousseline loaves | |
Almond strusel | |
| INGREDIENTS | METRIC |
| Butter (82%) Turbinado sugar Cake flour Almond powder Ceylon cinnamon powder Kirsch (80 proof) Total appr. wt. | 120 g 175 g 140 g 140 g 1 g 25 g 601 g |
| Method: Mix all the ingredients together with a paddle attachment until a crumbly texture is achieved. If cold butter is used, a longer mixing time is needed. If using soft peak butter, make sure not to over mix or a dough will form. You also can rub the mixture between your hands or through a sieve to get an even crumble. Garnish with crystallized violet. Yields enough for 10 brioche mousseline loaves | |
Brioche | |
| INGREDIENTS | METRIC |
POOLISHWhole milk (3.5% fat), cool Dry yeast Pastry flour Sugar DoughSea salt Sucrose Bread flour Whole eggs, cool Soft butter (82% fat), 18°C Total appr. wt. | 50 g 8 g 60 g 20 g 8 g 20 g 340 g 220 g 200 g 926 g |
| Method: Take the temperature of the flour and the room. Then, adjust your liquid temperature accordingly. The dough temperature should be 75°F to 85°F. Make a poolish by mixing the milk with the yeast and sugar. Cover with the pastry flour, and let ferment until cracks form on the surface of the flour. It is very important not to disturb the poolish. To make the brioche dough, add the salt, sugar, bread flour, and eggs. Mix on medium speed for about five minutes, until the dough is elastic and wraps around the hook. The dough will have a shine and you should be able to stretch it until it is opaque. Add half of the butter, and mix in slow speed until incorporated, about two to three minutes. Add the remaining butter, and mix in medium speed for four to five minutes. Place the dough in a bowl, dust with flour, and cover with plastic wrap. Let it double in volume in a warm area (80.6°F/27°C). Press out the first gasses, and place the dough in the cooler for at least two hours. Press out again, and let the dough rest in the cooler overnight. When you shape brioche, do not use too much flour or else it will not stick to the table and form a tight seal on the bottom. After you shape the brioche, place them in buttered loaf moulds. (Mousseline moulds are 8 ins. long and 3 ins. in diameter.) Lightly egg wash, making sure the egg wash does not drip down the sides of the brioche. It is best to egg wash with a soft bristle brush, so you do not damage the dough, and prior to proofing so a skin does not form on top of the dough. Bake in a convection oven at 360°F (182°C), or in a deck oven at 380°F (193°C) with the vent closed for the first part of the baking. For the last five minutes, open the vent. Allowing the steam to escape makes a lighter final product. If your oven is too hot, the brioche will brown too quickly, and it will be hard to tell when it is done. To test doneness, insert a knife (the same direction that you would cut a slice), and hold it in the brioche for two seconds. Remove the knife, and if no residue is on the blade, the brioche is done. Yields enough for 5 brioche mousseline | |
Exotic Cream DanishExotic pastry cream | |
| INGREDIENTS | METRIC |
| Gelatin Water Mango puree 10% Passion fruit puree 10% Litchi puree 10% Egg yolks, fresh Whole eggs, fresh Sucrose Unsalted butter (82% fat) Total appr. wt. | 6 g 30 g 20 g 115 g 90 g 75 g 75 g 50 g 100 g 561 g |
| Method: Bloom the gelatin and water. Cook the purees, eggs and sucrose to 185°F (85°C). Strain, and add the melted gelatin. When cooled to 95°F (35°C), add the butter and homogenize. Pipe into dome-shaped moulds, and freeze until ready for use. Before placing on Danish, glaze with a neutral nappage (apricot glaze). Yields enough for 24 exotic cream Danish | |
Danish | |
| INGREDIENTS | METRIC |
StarterWhole milk Dry yeast Bread flour DoughBread flour Whole egg Butter (82% fat) Sea salt Sucrose Fold-inButter (82% fat) Total appr. wt. | 250 g 10 g 165 g 495 g 120 g 60 g 8 g 40 g 400 g 1.548 kg |
| Method: Mix the milk with the yeast to create a starter. Cover with bread flour (165 g), and let ferment until cracks form on the surface of the flour. Shape 400 g of butter into a rectangle, and place it in the cooler. Mix the whole eggs, salt, sugar and remaining soft butter together, and add to the starter. Add 495 g of bread flour, and mix with a dough hook in first speed for one to two minutes until the dough is homogenized. Do not over mix. Place the dough in a bowl, dust it with flour and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm area (75°F/24°C) for about 30 minutes. Press out the first gasses, and roll the dough out into a rectangle. Place the cooled rectangle of butter on the dough. Fold the dough down over the butter and place in the cooler for one hour. Roll out the dough, and give it two single book folds. It is important that the dough and the butter are cold, yet still pliable. Butter that is too cold will crack and break in small lumps, and butter that is too soft will ooze out from the dough. Place the dough in the cooler overnight wrapped in plastic wrap. The next day, give the dough a double book fold. Sheet the dough into a rectangle that is 1/8 in. thick. Cut and shape the dough as desired. Egg wash the Danish, and place them in a proofer at 82.4°F (28°C/) and 90 percent humidity until they double in volume. Take them out of the proofer, let them rest for 15 minutes, and egg wash again. Bake at 356°F (180°C) for six to seven minutes in a convection oven with the vent closed, and for six to seven minutes with the vent open. Yields 24 Danish | |
Chef John Kraus, pastry chef and instructor at The French Pastry School at City Colleges of Chicago, teaches his students the art of pastry that includes advanced bread techniques. In 2005 and 2006, Chef Kraus was named one of the Top Ten Pastry Chefs in the United States by a national pastry magazine. For more information on The French Pastry School, visit www.frenchpastryschool.com.
