Feuille de Brick

[chefpeon]

So I had an opportunity to purchase some Feuille de Brick at a huge discount from my supplier, so I figured, "Hey, why not?" It's time for me to play with something new.

I've never worked with it, and not quite sure what it's applications are. My salesman did tell me

it's used to make "purses", both sweet and savory.

My questions to you all are:

What do you use Feuille de Brick for?

If you have a favorite recipe that you use it in, could you share ideas with me?

What is it, exactly? A very thin puff pastry?

Are there special handling tips? Use cold? Is it delicate, and/or hard to work with?

Baking temps? Anything else?

Any input is great appreciated!!!!

[Abra]

Annie, if you google on feuille de brik, or bric, you'll find lots of ideas. One little discussion and recipe that looks like what I've read about is here.

[chefpeon]

Annie, if you google on feuille de brik, or bric, you'll find lots of ideas.  One little discussion and recipe that looks like what I've read about is here.

←

You mean Google couldn't read my mind this time? Shoot, I DID Google it first (always do!) but spelled it "brick" and all I came up with was a bunch of non-English gobbledygook. Oh sure, you can have Google translate, but have you ever read a translated page? Yipes. Translation software still has a ways to go!

Funny too, is that Google usually will suggest an alternative if it detects a spelling error.....it will say "Did you mean......feuille de bric?" It didn't do that.

So.

I took your suggestion and Googled "feuille de bric" and came up with more results. Got more info than I did with my prior search, for sure. Much better.

But I still wanna know about feuille de bric brik brick from all the horse's mouths.......those who've worked with it, and tips and tricks, and maybe some tried and true recipes. I want

someone else's experience to benefit me, 'cause, well.......I'm lazy. Well, not really lazy......

just......well, I'm too impatient to f*&k up much these days. I wanna get it right....right away!

[chiantiglace]

Well Annie,

feuille is french for puff pastry or more common feuilletage or pate feuilletee.

brik is tunisian for a pastry of very thin sheets normally of phyllo dough filled with savory or sweet fillings and deep fried.

Braewat is a Moroccan form of brik in which is prepped the same way but usually used with french pastry dough (puff pastry) and is baked rather than fried.

So, use it for whatever you want basically and fry it or bake it. I suggest using the appropriate name for whatever you do.

[Wolfert]

I totally understand why you couldn't google and get what you wanted.

The spellings are always a problem because when you transliterate from the Arabic to French it is written one way and into English another. For example, ouarka is the French spelling; warka is the English.

Feuille de brik is malsouqua in Tunisia which means to adhere, dioul in Algeria which means to layer, and warka in Morocco which means leaf. And all of these Arabic sounding words have other spellings as well.

Back to the brick, briq, brique, etc It isn't phyllo, but phyllo can be substituted IN MANY RECIPES..

In North Africa, more often than not, this pastry is stuffed and fried. I have found that eggless spring roll skins are a good substitute because they are closer in texture to the b,b and b, and are made more or less in the same way in Asia using fine wheat flour..

Here is how b,b and b's are made in north africa: a woman kneads very fine semolina flour with water until enormous elasticity develops and then systematically taps pieces of this dough onto a heated pan, leaving slighty overlapping disks to cook on only one side.

To fill, use the cooked side up, cover, and shape and fry.

Edited March 11, 2005 by Wolfert (log)

[chefzadi]

I've probably used brik from the same supplier that you have. I don't think that there are too many in States. It's been trendy for a while for French restaurants in LA to have North African dishes or to use North African ingredients. I've seen brik used more for pastries as a subsitution for French pastry dough, also savory cigars seem to be popular.

I have some cheffy preparations and some traditional Algerian recipes. If you're interested I can post a few here.

[nightscotsman]

The packages of stuff we use say "Feuille de Brick" and the product is very much like a stiff crepe. Certainly nothing like puff pastry. We mostly use it for crispy garnishes and tuiles. We brush it with honey butter or sweetened fruit puree, sprinkle with sugar, and bake until it starts to brown. Like other tuiles it will still be soft when hot at this stage, but will crisp as it cools. Great stuff.

[Abra]

Chefzadi, please do post some Algerian recipes. I love ME food!

[edm]

as simple as brushing them with butter and demerara sugar. Then baked. Beautiful with ice creams, mousses...

Or fill them up with almond cream and soaked cherries! Then baked. So goood!

In Morocco, they make "Pastilla", for instance. Usually braised pigeon with spices, veg and dried fruit. Fill a feuille and fry. Served with a nice tabbouleh, or any salad (minty and fresh). Really nice!

[chefpeon]

Ok, so I finally got around to playing with my "brick". Decided to do the basic thing first, and make beggars purses. I made savory ones, because I also needed to cook dinner.

The filling is sort of a doctored up duxelles (mushrooms, garlic, thyme, pepper, salt, butter....also threw some spinach in there), then topped with salmon lox and brie. I blanched some green onion stems and tied the purses up with that. Brushed them with melted butter and baked at 350 til golden. Then I plated them up with a tomato rose and dijon mustard spread with my trusty cake comb. Oh yeah, then I stuck a sprig of fresh thyme in the purse.

My observations about the brick:

*Mine came in rounds, about 9 inches in diameter, separated by tissues. They do look like very thin, Kleenex-y, porous crepes. The really great thing? You don't really have to worry about tearing them like you would fillo dough. I could be fairly rough with them with no worries.

*I wasn't sure how many layers of brick to use per purse, so I experimented. First, I tried three.

Brushed each one with butter, like you would with fillo. After my three layers were together, I plopped the filling in the middle, gathered up the sides, and tied it into the purse shape with the green onion. Interesting note: The brick won't stick to itself very well. When I gathered up the sides and crimped it at the top, it wouldn't stay together. I definitely had to tie it with something. If I didn't have the blanched green onion, I would have had to use string.

*I soon found three layers per purse was a bit too much, because it made for a lot of pastry at the top. I then tried two. Much better. Then I tried one, and that seemed the best. But after I baked them, I think two is best. The brick is rather porous, and my filling really made the bottom

kind of soggy, since it leaked through it a bit. After they cooled, the purses made with one layer practically came apart when I lifted up on them, the ones made with two stayed together better, but I still had to lift them off the baking sheet with a spatula.

*At work, I baked a few of them flat, brushed with butter and cinnamon sugar. As soon as they came out of the oven I cut them into wedges and we ate them. Yum! I can see great dessert

garnishing possibilities there!

*Next, I'm going to try some kind of dessert filling in them. Not sure what yet. I definitely know that when my fig tree gives me fruit this year, I'll be doing something with that and mascarpone cheese. Or goat cheese. Hmmmmm..

*The package of brick had some great (I think) recipes on it. But it's all in French!

I may have the local French teacher here translate it for me. Si vous plait.

[chiantiglace]

Hey annie, next time try salmon in an orange sauce with dill mandarin oranges and almonds. If you want a recipe for orange sauce just let me know.

By the way, looks very pleasant and appetizing.

[Abra]

Annie, beautiful! That cake comb trick is way cool. I'll be happy to translate the package for you, if you can't get a more local person to do it.

[chefette]

bric makes great little cones.

You can combine corn syrup with just a little water to thin it out

brush onto the bric round

cut into quarters

roll around those metal cone forms brushed side OUT - make sure you spray with oil

bake until golden

ease off the cones

store like tuiles

Normally just use a single sheet or leaf of bric, it's much sturdier and less fragile than phyllo

Michael Laiskonis did a nice dessert with them at the Javits Center demo two years ago. Rolled the bric around a filling like a thai spring roll and pan browned them.