Making Escargot

[Jean Blanchard]

I've just returned from Paris and everytime we go, my husband can't get enough of these. In all of my cookbooks, I can't find a specific recipe and I could try to fake it but I'm wondering if anyone has a recipe they like.

[chefpeon]

What kind of pastry are you talking about?

I found a recipe here, for snails in choux puffs. Are you talking about a pie dough type pastry or puff pastry? Or is this it?

[Jean Blanchard]

Sorry. I wasn't very clear. I'm talking about the pastry rolled into a spiral with raisins and a glaze. More like a croissant type breakfast pastry.

[fooey]

They're called Escargot aux Raisins or Pain aux Raisins.

Dorie Greenspan has a recipe in "Baking, From My Home to Yours" on p. 56. She calls them Brioche Raisin Snails.

I've seen them made with danish, brioche, and even puff pastry, but I think danish is the most common dough. You could probably get away with a simple cinnamon roll dough.

The distinguishing characteristic of Escargot aux Raisins is the use of pastry creme (and raisins, of course) as filling.

I especially like them filled with (rum-soaked) currants, (chopped, roasted) walnuts, pecans or pistachios, shredded coconut, and pastry creme.

Here's an online recipe and tutorial (in French, but easy enough to translate).

Rose Levy Beranbaum has a recipe that's similar, but uses Remonce (almond cream filling) instead of the usual pastry creme. It uses danish dough. It's in the Pie & Pastry Bible, p. 502, "Danish Snail Buns".

Edited September 15, 2009 by fooey (log)

[rickster]

There's a book called "Baking Artisan Bread" by Ciril Hitz which has a croissant formula I made last weekend. One of the variations he suggests is a hazelnut or almond snail, in which the croissant dough is spread with a ground nut/sugar/corn syrup paste, rolled up, sliced and baked. Would be pretty easy to add raisins to this, although he doesn't suggest the traditional pastry cream filling.

[Jean Blanchard]

Thanks! I'm going to give it a try this weekend and surprise my husband!

[cmflick]

When I was in pastry class we made these and called them brioche royale. It was brioche dough rolled out, spread with pastry cream and sprinkled with raisins, then rolled up, sliced and baked.

There is a recipe for snail rolls in Raymond Calvel's Taste of Bread that uses croissant dough to make something similar. He also calls them "schneckes". Calvel also has a recipe for brioche royale which is similar to what I described, but he uses candied fruit in place of raisins.

The brioche royale that I have made is indeed very tasty.

[LucyInAust]

I make them using Nigella's food processor danish dough (easist dough for homemade croissants, pan au chocolat etc).

I think they's be even better with a proper laminated croissant dough ... but that usually takes much longer and more effort!!

[RichardJones]

The standard French way to make a pain aux raisins is with a classic pâte levée feueilletée (croissant dough) but as mentioned there are some lovely variations with brioche. Then you just need bog standard crème pâtissière and raisins.

Here is a snap taken before rolling:

(Photo taken from a post on pains aux raisins here on my old blog.)

I haven not made these since I was at school but a few tips I can remember:

- Don't roll the sausage too tightly. This would prevent the yeast from rising as wanted.

- Make sure the sausage is well chilled before slicing to avoid sealing the leaves of pastry.

- Try macerating the raisins before use. Rum, tea or similar.

- You can see in the photo the bottom inch or so has not been spread with cream. This is to help seal the sausage. The sausage is rolled from the furthest point towards the body so this uncreamed patch of pastry is what will make the joint.

- You can seal by dampening this uncreamed margin. Another way is to flatten this section with a small palette knife, working it into the work surface. The fat which emerges helps fix the seal.

- When chilling the sausage before slicing, ensure the seam is lowermost. This helps reinforce the joint.

I hope that might be of use to somebody.

R