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Pete Fred

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  1. Pete Fred
    I often see on the internet the inside of a cannelé described as custardy, or like crème brûlée, and it's a little misleading. It's really just soft and yielding, a contrast to the crisp shell. I wouldn't describe it as creamy; there's a definite texture to it, but it's difficult to put into words. You'll only know when you make (or buy) a good one, and most of the ones you see online (and in shops!) are not very good, I'm afraid. The Hermé recipe uses French T45 flour, I think, which has a protein content of 9-10%, so American cake flour might be the equivalent.
  2. Pete Fred
    I suggest you bin the Wolfert recipe; it's bobbins. Try the Pierre Hermé one instead (500g milk, 50g butter, 250g icing sugar, 100g flour, 100g egg, 40g egg yolk, 60g rum). I get decent results with it... Traditionally, I think cannelés used just egg yolks. Dominique Ansel makes his this way, and the recipe produces a cannelé with a slightly different texture inside... Process is important at all stages (making the batter, lining the moulds, baking). For some tips, have a listen to Kriss Harvery talking about his obsession with making the perfect cannelé -- short version or very loooooong version.
  3. Pete Fred
    Powder Puffs from Ottolenghi 'Sweet'. These are cookies that are baked crisp (a bit like Savoiardi biscuits/Ladyfingers), sandwiched with rose cream and raspberry jam, then refrigerated for several hours where they become soft and delicate (he recommends at least five hours, but I thought them best at 24 hours). I found them delightful. Recommended.
  4. Pete Fred
    Eager to to use up some Valrhona Taïnori (64%) that was beyond its best before, I made a small (15 cm/6") chocolate tart from a Marco Pierre White recipe. (Although I think it's lifted straight from the one Joël Robuchon served at Jamin, back in the day.) I find ganache-type tarts too dense and rich, and this is much lighter, essentially being just a barely set chocolate custard.
  5. Pete Fred
    You probably can't get much more classic than Riz à l'impératrice (Empress rice pudding). It's a mid-19th Century moulded rice pudding with candied fruits - here, raisins, glacé cherries and stem ginger - that's lightened with bavarois (Bavarian cream) and whipped cream. I had no idea how to decorate it so went full retro and plonked a few tinned peaches on top. The old 'uns are still good 'uns. 😀
  6. Pete Fred
    Three pages and no hot cross buns?!? 😲 I made a couple of batches this year. The first, from Lyle's, seem to garner plenty of Insta-hype so I thought I'd give them a try. They were fine, without rocking my world... So I made Thomas Keller's, which uses quite an enriched dough... I should have proofed them closer together for a bit more height and less spread. Oops. Bizarrely, he doesn't spice the dough, so I rectified that error (sorry Mr Keller). He's also a bit stingy with the dried fruit, so more of that went in plus some stem ginger (candied ginger)... And I don't usually bother with the icing, but decided to dress one for the good folks at eGullet. 😀 Happy Easter.
  7. Pete Fred
    Another kouign with a couple of changes: swapped 20% of the flour for buckwheat flour; retarded the dough (détrempe) overnight in the fridge; a bit more sugar; and flipped the kouign during baking for a more even distribution of butter (and caramelization). Not sure the changes to the dough made much difference, but the flipping worked well, producing a flatter, more evenly textured and better tasting cake.
  8. Pete Fred
    My mad Gallic tear continues with a Kouign Amann (Breton Butter Cake). I prefer the traditional large type rather than individual kouignettes, which seems to put me at odds with the current fashion, especially on Instagram. For me, the slices taste more buttery and have a better texture.
  9. Pete Fred
    There were some leftovers from the the last couple of bakes so, continuing the French theme, I made pailles (puff pastry "straws")... filled them with either raspberry confiture or crème pâtissière... and turned the last few pastry scraps into almond and ginger arlettes...
  10. Pete Fred
    Gateau Basque. It's kind of a cake-tart hybrid, filled with either cherry jam or pastry cream (or sometimes both). The recipe is by Bruce Poole via "a good pastry chef" he employed from a three Michelin star restaurant. Perhaps that pastry chef got it from Pierre Herme because the recipes are very similar. The texture of the cake is a little shortbread-y, especially at the edge, and the pastry cream is made with semolina and flavoured with citrus, rum and vanilla. Most enjoyable.
  11. Pete Fred
    Thanks for the tips. Much appreciated. I'll do the docking next time and will try your patterning. 👍 It did get a light glaze - perhaps too light - but no return to the oven. Will be sure to do that next time. (Although next time will probably be next year, so don't hold your breath for an update. ☺️)
  12. Pete Fred
    Perhaps a little late for Epiphany, but here's this year's Galette des Rois. Those vertical indentations are due to a technique I saw where a rack is positioned above the galette to stop the puff rising too much and doming. Not sure I'll bother in future. And next time I'll be little bolder with the scoring so the design is more apparent. The pastry was an inverted puff. Highly recommended if you've never tried it; incomparably delicate and melting, and not as difficult to make as you might imagine (the butter is on the outside when laminating 😲).
  13. Pete Fred
    Dorie Greenspan's Moroccan Semolina and Almond Cookies. They look quite pretty but I don't think I'll be bothering again. Couldn't taste the citrus (lemon zest, orange blossom) and the texture was quite dry and cakey. I have no idea how the NYT could describe them as "moist and rich". Each to their own, I guess. I asked myself what would a Moroccan do in this instance, and ended up dunking them in a cup of tea, which improved matters no end.
  14. Pete Fred
    Another bite-size treat from Dana Cree... Coconut Haystack Cookies. I have no idea if I made them correctly. The method is a new one on me: make a butter/sugar emulsion, incorporate whole egg and (dessicated) coconut, cook the mixture on the hob, chill the dough, roll into balls (10g for me), bake. There was plenty of guesswork on my part as to how each step should look or feel. Anyway, I really liked them. Best served warm, I think. Initially very buttery, with caramel notes from the bottoms, then finishing strongly with coconut. Quite different from your regular macaroon. Once cooled, they're more dense and chewy, the butteriness somewhat lessened.
  15. Pete Fred
    A slab of Dana Cree's Nutterbutters (although I think they're now known as Nutterbuddys). The base is peanut butter and chocolate, with cocoa nibs and feuilletine for texture. The top is white chocolate caramel ganache (oh the bubbles! 😭). Very moreish. Highly recommended. Recipe here. (And a bit more backstory here, if you like that sort of thing).
  16. Pete Fred
    The Nutella, Sesame and Hazelnut Rolls from Ottolenghi 'Simple'. Quite tasty. I liked the orange note. Not sure the sesame seeds added much; I'll probably skip them next time. Warm out of the oven (or after a quick blast in the microwave) they're soft with a little crispness on top; once cooled, they're chewier (no bad thing).
  17. Pete Fred
    I could only find three people online who'd made it, commenting on the "natural gooey chocolate sauce", the "thin, shiny glaze" and a texture "half cake, half mousse". Either we're all doing it wrong or that's how it's supposed to be. When cooled (L) it went quite fudgy (and definitely needed cream or custard), but a quick nuking in the microwave brought the moussey-ness back (R, not that you can tell).
  18. Pete Fred
    One for us nostalgia freaks... Barbara Kafka's Microwave Chocolate Pudding. I think this came on my radar when reading her obituary in the New York Times back in the summer. I'm curious.... is it meant to be "self-saucing", or is mine just undercooked? The recipe makes no mention of this film of batter. The crumb might look a little dense in the picture but it was actually really light, and even if the "sauce" is technically incorrect it worked well. This was a pleasant surprise. Beautifully simple and just half an hour from opening the cupboard to doing the washing up. A good recipe to have tucked away in case of dessert related emergencies!
  19. Pete Fred
    Idly browsing the discount shelf at the supermarket last night, I was shocked and delighted to see them clearing out their stock of maple sugar. So I picked up ten 100g bags at 90% off! 😲 I made Pierre Herme's Financier Carré Blanc which are little maple and cranberry almond cakes. The traditionally shaped ones (L) were made in metal, the others (R) in silicone. I prefer traditional because the edges crisp up a touch more for a nice textural contrast. After getting all excited about the maple sugar, it wasn't a particularly forward flavour and was somewhat lost behind the brown butter. I like financiers, and these were good, but not worth the premium for speciality sugar. Just gotta find a way now to use up the remaining 934g of Canada's finest!
  20. Pete Fred
    It's not hollow. It's made just like a Swiss roll. 👍 Bake a flat sheet of meringue on a tray lined with parchment. Once cooled, place a tea towel on top, flip and remove parchment. Spread with a layer of whipped cream and cover with fruit. Then roll into a log using the tea towel to assist. As you roll, the meringue cracks into that crazy-paving effect. Place seam side down on a serving tray or plate. It's from this recipe by Ottolenghi. I thought the oven temperature was way too high so did my meringue at 130C/260F until pale beige and suitably cooked (crusty on top, marshmallowy inside).
  21. Pete Fred
    A batch of Thomas Keller's bouchons. These are excellent little cakes. I make them in Ø 45 mm (1¾") dariole moulds. Quite dinky and gone in two or three bites... They're a tiny bit crispy on top, and are like a cakey brownie. I find them best warm, when the chocolate chips are still gooey. Once cooled, they're a touch more dense (not that that's a bad thing!). Mr Keller certainly knows a thing or two about cookin'. 😀
  22. Pete Fred
    I know, I'm always complaining about lack of flavour and blaming it on the fruit. I didn't want to waste any rum or wine on what was just a test run so didn't do myself any favours. Come July, when I make another one, I'll no doubt be moaning about the strawberries or cherries. 😁😉
  23. Pete Fred
    A surfeit of egg whites was all the excuse I needed to have a go at pavlova for the first time. This was 'winter fruits'. A baked meringue, spread with vanilla whipped cream and poached, spiced apple and pear segments, a sprinkiing of blackberries, then rolled. Finally, more cream piped on top and a faintly ridiculous 'artful' placement of more fruit. It was a bit 'meh' in terms of flavour. But this was mainly an opportunity to practise technique and construction ahead of (hopefully) better fruit in the summer, and I was happy with the process and texture of it.
  24. Pete Fred
    Dunno if Bruno Albouze was one of your fails or not. Recipe and video here. I tried 55, 60, 70 and 85% cocoa solids, and all worked well... but I can't remember which I preferred. 🙄
  25. Pete Fred
    Thanks. Worth a lot more than two cents. I'll file these tips in my culinary mind palace. ☺️
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