Pie and Pastry Bible (146 page)

UNDERSTANDING

This dough is exceptionally wet. Just enough extra flour is added to handle it for shaping, resulting in a very light, tender roll.

SNAIL BUNS

T
his recipe, dedicated to much-beloved chef André Soltner, formerly of Lutæce, in New York City, is the savory version of sticky buns. Instead of caramel and pecans, it is spiraled with snails and herbed garlic butter. The buns not only look like coiled snails in their shells, they are also far more convenient than eating escargots, where the tradition is to dip the bread in the snail butter. Here the butter is already in the bread! Chef Soltner once offered me a little brioche timbale with snails nestled in it as an appetizer for my birthday dinner. He said it was a specialty of Alsace. I found the combination of succulent garlicky snails and buttery soft brioche to be so memorable I longed to taste it again. So I created this version in his honor. Snail buns make a great brunch dish. These are rich, so offer one per person and serve with a mixed green salad.

OVEN TEMPERATURE: 425°F., THEN 375°F. • INTERNAL TEMPERATURE: 180°F. • BAKING TIME: 25 MINUTES	MAKES: 6 BUNS
INGREDIENTS	MEASURE	WEIGHT
	VOLUME	OUNCES	GRAMS
½ recipe Brioche Dough (page 516)		9.5 ounces	269 grams
Garlic Butter Filling unsalted butter, softened	3 tablespoons	1.5 ounces	43 grams
1 clove garlic, minced	1½ teaspoons	•	5 grams
1 small shallot, minced	1½ teaspoons	•	5.5 grams
salt	teaspoon	•	•
optional: Pernod	1 teaspoon	•	•

EQUIPMENT

An 8- by 2-inch square pan or a 10-inch round pan
^*

Make the dough (page 516) at least 1 day ahead.

MAKE THE GARLIC BUTTER FILLING

In a small bowl, with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir together all the ingredients for the garlic butter filling until evenly mixed.

On a well-floured surface, roll out the dough into a 14- by 6-inch rectangle. Place dabs of the garlic butter evenly over the surface. Fold the dough in thirds (as
you would a business letter), brushing off excess flour from the bottom of the dough before overlapping it. Wrap well and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 8 hours.

MAKE THE SNAIL FILLING

Drain the snails and rinse them under cold running water.

In a small saucepan, combine the snails, stock, wine, herbs, salt, and peppercorns and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the snails to cool in the broth. Strain the broth, reserving the liquid, and cut each snail crosswise in half.

With a piece of plastic wrap, coat the bottom and sides of the pan with the softened butter.

FILL THE DOUGH

On a well-floured surface, roll out the dough again into a 14- by 6-inch rectangle. Brush with the lightly beaten egg and sprinkle evenly with the parsley. Roll it up from a short end, brushing off excess flour as you go.

Using a sharp knife, cut the roll into 3 pieces, then cut each piece in half. Place cut side down in the prepared pan. Press the tops down so that the sides touch. Use a greased wooden spoon handle or small knife to make holes and insert 4 pieces of snail into the top of each bun, pressing them in deeply. (Place 1 in the center and the other 3 evenly around it.) Cover the buns with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with nonstick vegetable shortening or buttered. Let the buns rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours or until they reach the top of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 425;°F. at least 30 minutes before baking. Set a baking sheet lined with foil (to catch any juices) on the lowest oven rack before preheating.

MAKE THE SNAIL BUN GLAZE

In a small saucepan over high heat, or in a 1-cup heatproof measuring cup in a microwave oven on high power, reduce the strained snail poaching broth to 2 tablespoons. The glaze should be lukewarm when brushed onto the buns.

Brush the buns with the glaze. Place the pan on the hot baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 375°F. and bake for 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. To keep the buns from becoming too brown, cover them loosely with foil after the first 7 minutes.

Let the buns cool in the pan for 3 minutes before unmolding them onto a serving plate or foil-lined counter. They can be eaten at once, or reheated later in a 350°F. oven for 15 minutes, loosely wrapped in foil, or in a microwave oven on high power for 30 seconds, wrapped in a damp paper towel.

STORE

Airtight, room temperature, up to 2 days; frozen, up to 3 months.

POINTERS FOR SUCCESS

See page 518.

UNDERSTANDING

The hot baking sheet will boost the “oven spring” (the amount it rises from the oven heat) of the brioche.

CREAM PUFF PASTRY

(Pâte àChoux)

I
n French,
choux
means cabbage. The French name for this pastry (pronounced pat ah shoe) derives from its shape when the dough is piped and baked into cream puffs.

If ever there was a foolproof pastry, this is it. Crisp, light, and eggy, this versatile pastry dough can be used to make a host of recipes, sweet and savory, simple and complex. They include cream puffs (profiteroles), gougære, éclairs, and the most glamorous of all pastries, Gâteau St.-Honoré.

Years ago, before the Cuisinart became my first official kitchen assistant, Carl Sontheimer (its producer) telephoned just as I was in the middle of making a batch of cream puff pastry with the wooden-spoon-and-elbow-grease technique. Beating the eggs into the thickened flour/water/butter mixture was always tiring, but I had never realized there was an alternative. I could hear the astonishment in Carl’s voice when I told him I wasn’t using a food processor. He assured me that not only did it make blending in the eggs effortless, it also produced the lightest cream puffs imaginable. Although I am offering the “by hand” version in addition to the food processor one, I have never gone back to it.

Although my cream puffs were vastly improved, I still wasn’t totally satisfied. The goal in making perfect cream puff pastry is to have the finest crisp crust, the lightest interior, and the roundest and/or most attractive shape. I increased the eggs to the maximum possible but still felt the puffs weren’t as light as they could be. I discussed this with my friend and colleague Shirley Corriher, complaining that increasing the liquid is what makes the puffs puffier, but it also makes them
lose their shape. Her immediate response was, “Add egg whites; and while you’re at it, why don’t you try bread flour as well? They both will increase the strength of the dough and the egg white will make it more crisp when baked, the way it does in a meringue.” The result was the Cordon Rose Cream Puff Pastry (page 534). It is excellent for cream puffs and éclairs, but for larger shapes, such as the spiral used for Gâteau St.-Honoré, or delicate shapes such as the heads and necks of pastry swans, the less delicate Classic Cream Puff Pastry recipe (page 530) is preferable.

POINTERS FOR SUCCESS FOR CREAM PUFF PASTRY

Though it is not absolutely necessary, if you sift the flour after measuring or weighing it, it will be incorporated more easily into the liquid mixture.

Water makes a lighter puff than milk because milk causes the eggs to coagulate sooner.

The proper amount of liquid in the dough is maintained by not allowing the water to boil off and by using a liquid measure or scale to ensure using the full quantity of eggs.