Paris Brest

Paris Brest

I first got introduced with a Paris Brest through the Japanese bakery chain, Beard Papa.  It was really delicious that I sort of became addicted to having a least one everyday. But because I didn't have a lot of money, I could not continue buying Paris Brest everyday.  so I wanted to try making them at least once. So I pinned a recipe from cake duchess , which had a lot of nice pictures to follow along with. 

Her recipe also had raspberry filling which I like.  

Recipe:

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup water

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 large eggs, room temperature

Raspberry Whipped Cream

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 1/4 cup whipped cream

1 cup fresh raspberries

Raspberry Whipped Cream Directions:

Puree the raspberries in a mixer. Strain the raspberries through a fine sieve and set aside (you need to remove the seeds from raspberries).

If you like your cream sweeter, add a little more powdered sugar. In the bowl of a mixer, beat the cream with the powdered sugar until soft peaks form. Slowly add in the raspberry coulis and beat on low speed until combined. Set in refrigerator to chill while you prepare the dough.

To make the Pâte a Choux-Cream Puff Dough:

In a heavy sauce pan, combine the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to a boil. Add the flour and stir until smooth with a heavy wooden spoon.

Turn the heat up to high and cook the flour mixture stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. The flour will be cooked when a thin film forms on on the bottom. You are essentially drying out the dough and the process should take about 4-5 minutes.

Transfer the dough to the bowl of a mixer (I used a stand mixer) and let the dough rest a minute or two. Add the eggs to the dough one at at time on medium speed until the dough is thick and smooth.

The dough needs to be used as soon as it’s made. It can’t be put in the refrigerator to use later, so make sure you are ready to go when it’s done.)

*You could draw with a  pencil 8 circles on your parchment paper lining your baking pans to help you follow the design and make them evenly shaped. Place the dough in a pastry bag using a star tip (or plain round) 1/2 –inch tip and pipe onto parchment lined baking sheets forming 8 circles.

Bake at 375 F for about 22-26 minutes (omit the almonds if you need to. still will be wonderful!). If you open the door, the puffs may deflate. The dough should be golden colored. Allow the puffs to rest on the baking sheet.

Assembling the Paris Brest:

After the dough has cooled, carefully slice in half the pastry rings. Pipe the chilled whipped cream on the bottom layer of the rings. Top with the other halves and dust with powdered sugar.

My Paris Brest turned out well, though somewhat misshapen and thin due to the pastry tip I used. Also I still need to practice my technique with the pastry bag.

Because of the size I needed up eating 3 Paris Brest each time.