Pie and Pastry Bible (114 page)

STORE

Room temperature, up to 1 day; refrigerated, up to 2 days. (This is best eaten the day of baking, still warm.)

CABBAGE AND BACON STRUDEL

T
he smokiness of bacon combined with the buttery sweet/savory flavors of sautéed cabbage and onion makes for a fantastic strudel filling. The filling can be made up to three days ahead and the flavors only benefit from the prolonged intermingling. When you cut into the golden crisp strudel roll, the savory aromas make your nostrils tingle with anticipation.

EQUIPMENT

A 36- to 48-inch-wide table, preferably round, covered with a clean sheet or tablecloth rubbed with a little flour; a 12-inch frying pan or Dutch oven; and a 17- by 12-inch cookie sheet or half-size sheet pan, buttered

Make the dough (page 387).

MAKE THE BRUSEL

In a small frying pan, over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the bread crumbs, sprinkle with the sugar, and sauté until golden, stirring constantly. Empty the crumbs into a small bowl and set it aside.

MAKE THE FILLING

Quarter the cabbage vertically and remove and discard any tough outer leaves and the center core. Slice the cabbage into thin vertical strips. Set it aside. Slice the bacon into ¼-inch strips. In the large frying pan, on low heat, fry the bacon for about 10 minutes or until crisp and golden. With a slotted skimmer, remove it to paper towels to drain. Pour off and discard all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat. Add the cabbage, onion, sugar, salt, and pepper to the pan. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is tender but not browned. Stir in the dill, parsley, and bacon and taste to adjust the seasoning. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Roll and stretch the dough (see page 389).

Preheat the oven to 400°F. at least 20 minutes before baking. Set an oven rack at the top level and place a baking stone or cookie sheet on it before preheating.

FILL AND ROLL THE STRUDEL

Starting about 6 inches from the bottom edge of the dough, sprinkle the brusel across the dough in a 4- by 14-inch rectangle. Spread the cabbage mixture on top. Use the sheet or cloth or your fingers to lift the bottom edge of the dough and flip it over the filling. Use the sides of the cloth to flip the sides of the dough over the filing, leaving a 3-inch border on either side of the filling to tuck under the roll at the end. (The dough will be about 20 inches wide at this point.) Brush the top of the dough and the side borders with some of the butter and use the cloth to roll it,
brushing it with butter every other turn. If necessary, brush off any flour clinging to the dough before brushing it with butter. Use the cloth to flip the roll onto the prepared sheet, seam side down. Tuck under the ends. The strudel will be about 16 inches long. Brush the top with the remaining butter and use a sharp knife to cut a few horizontal steam vents into the dough. (At this point, the strudel can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight, if desired.)

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the strudel is golden brown. (A thermometer inserted in the middle will read 175°F.) After the first 15 minutes of baking, cover the edges of the strudel loosely with aluminum foil. Remove the pan to a wire rack and allow the strudel to cool until warm, about 20 minutes.

Cut into 1¾- to 2-inch pieces on the bias. Discard the end pieces or cut up and serve in pieces for those who enjoy extra pastry without the filling. If desired, garnish each plate with a dollop of cræme fraîche or sour cream and a few sprigs of dill.

STORE

Refrigerated, up to 3 days.

^*
The Fillo Factory (see page 675) has 38-inch sheets of fillo available for food service (it comes by the case).

^*
The pan can be slightly larger without affecting the recipe. The fillo sheets are 12 inches by 16 inches, so when folded in half they are 12 inches by 8 inches and fit perfectly into the pan. A little room around the sheets, however, will not be a detriment.

^*
If desired, the syrup can be refrigerated for several weeks or frozen for months and used to brush on sponge cakes.

^*
Any leftover almond cream can be frozen for up to a month.

^*
Small bubbles will form around the perimeter.

^*
The dough can also be made by hand (see the procedure for Basic Flaky Pie Crust, page 22).

PUFF PASTRY AND CROISSANT

P
uff pastry is the king of pastries—crisp, buttery, flaky, and incomparably light. In French it is called
pâte feuilletée,
or leafed pastry, because of its many layers, or leaves. These layers of dough and fat are created by folding the dough, a technique referred to as giving the dough “turns.” Classic puff pastry is given a minimum of 6 turns, which form 729 layers. Gluten-forming protein, found in greater quantities in unbleached hard wheat than bleached or softer flour, plays an important role in the pastry’s ability to puff. Gluten is made up of one part protein and two parts water. On heating, the water turns to steam, thus creating a great deal of pressure within the gluten structure, causing it to rise. Puff pastry, when baked, rises to about eight times its original height.

Puff pastry works best in cool, dry weather, because if the fat becomes too warm, it melts and breaks through the dough layers. The best-
tasting
puff pastry is made with butter. However, the best-
textured
puff pastry is achieved with vegetable shortening. Butter with a low water content, such as Plugrá, is highly desirable, because too much water will toughen the gluten. (An excess of water may appear as spots on the surface of the final pastry.)

Unbleached
all-purpose flour (use a national brand, as some Southern flours are much lower in protein), which has more gluten-forming proteins than bleached, is necessary to provide the extra support for the thin, fragile layers of butter and dough. Bread flour is too high in protein and results in tough pastry. The acidity of the added lemon juice relaxes the dough by breaking down the proteins just enough to make rolling easier.

I am indebted to Bernard Clayton (
The Complete Book of Breads
) for coming up with the most significant secret to making successful puff pastry: that is, the ideal temperature, 60°F., for the butter. It is quite easy to achieve because when the butter, direct from the refrigerator, is pounded and flattened into a square, provided
one works fairly quickly, the temperature will be exactly correct. If I want to hold the butter at that temperature, my wine cellar, which is 58°F., is ideal. If the butter is too hard, it will break through the dough; if too soft, it will be absorbed into the dough. Either way, the layers will be destroyed.

Puff pastry has innumerable uses. It can be sprinkled with cheese and paprika and twisted into straws. It can be baked in rectangular sheets and layered with pastry cream to make a Napoleon, baked as a round disc to serve as the base for a Gâteau St.-Honoré, or baked in a tart pan to serve as crust for fruit or cream pies and tarts. One of its most appealing forms is the small patty shell known as
bouchée,
in which a tiny cap of pastry is perched atop a filling of chilled pastry cream and fresh fruit. Any leftover pastry scraps can be made into savory pastries, hors d’oeuvres, or cheese straws. Traditionally, puff pastry is served hot only in its savory forms.

ROLLING OUT THE DOUGH

Marble is the preferred surface for working with puff pastry, because it maintains a cool temperature, but oilcloth, Formica, or wood is fine. If the pastry starts to soften, quickly slide it onto a flat baking sheet, cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for about 30 minutes or until it is firm and cool again.

The work surface should be lightly dusted with flour to prevent sticking, and a small amount of flour rubbed lightly into the surface of the pastry. Always roll puff pastry into a square or rectangular shape, regardless of the final shape desired. Decrease the pressure as you roll toward the edges to avoid flattening the edges and compressing the layers. Evenness of rolling is essential for even rising. A heavy rolling pin is an asset.

A
tutove
rolling pin is specially designed for rolling puff pastry. Its surface is covered with rounded ridges, which help to distribute the butter evenly without breaking through the dough. A long heavy rolling pin is also a great help, because it alleviates the need to press too hard when rolling out the pastry.

During the final turns, the dough becomes more difficult to roll, as more gluten is developed through repeated rolling. If the dough is very elastic and hard to roll, a method that my friend Shirley Corriher swears by in her book
Cook Wise
to relax the gluten in the dough is to roll it out as large as possible and then to brush it heavily with ice water before continuing to roll.

For most purposes, the pastry is rolled
inch thick. For tartlets, I prefer 1/16 inch thick, and for larger pastries, such as the Gâteau St.-Honoré, 3/16 inch thick.

With puff pastry there will always be some degree of shrinkage, except when it is baked blind in a tart pan. Before cutting, lift it slightly and allow it to fall back on the counter so that it will shrink
before
cutting, and cut a circle ½ to 1 inch larger than the desired baked size or transfer it to the baking sheet before cutting.

RESTING AND RELAXATION (OF PASTRY!)

The gluten in pastry causes it to shrink or spring back when rolled. It is therefore important to rest puff pastry after shaping it. The ideal is to refrigerate it (covered
to avoid drying, because moisture is important to its rise) 6 hours to overnight, and up to 2 days, before baking. Next best would be to bake it from a thoroughly frozen state, or partially frozen for 30 minutes to 1 hour in the freezer (wrapped airtight), but be sure to let it relax before freezing. At the very least, it should be refrigerated for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

SHAPING

When cutting the pastry, the object is to create edges that leave the layers of pastry open and able to rise freely, as opposed to edges that are stuck together or sealed. To accomplish this, always use a sharp knife and an up-and-down motion as opposed to a dragging motion, or use an unfloured biscuit cutter pressed firmly down, straight through the pastry. Do not twist the cutter, and be sure to wipe it clean after each cut. Never use puff pastry with an uncut edge, because the layers will be sealed.