Apple & Almond Puff Pastry Tart
TIER 1
Apple & Almond Puff Pastry Tart
In Tier 1 we’re mastering the essential technique of laminating inverse puff pastry. This is trickier as the dough is wrapped in a butter block which means it can get a little sticky, but the resulting pastry melts in the mouth. We’ve covered laminating a few times so if you’ve tried those classes, you will be really confident heading into this. Once the dough has rested, we cut it into discs, fill it with an almond cream and finally add some sliced apples. After your first bite, you’ll want to eat the whole tray!
6
TARTS
Ingredients
Makes 6 Individual Tarts
Inverse Puff Pastry
Butter Block
100g Plain/All-Purpose Flour
300g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
Dough
200g Plain/All-Purpose Flour
4g Fine Sea Salt
120g Double/Heavy Cream
20g Cold Water
5g White Vinegar
Almond Cream
55g Unsalted Butter, Soft
55g Icing Sugar
130g Ground Almonds
10g Cornstarch/Cornflour
45g Whole Eggs, Room Temperature
2-3 Pink Lady Apples
Egg Wash
35g Egg Yolk
30g Double/Heavy Cream
Icing/Powdered Sugar To Decorate
Special equipment
Stand mixer
Digital thermometer
12cm cookie cutter
Piping bag
Method
Inverse Puff Pastry
Butter Block
1. Add the soft butter and flour into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat for 1-2 minutes on a medium speed until smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- 100g Plain/All-Purpose Flour
- 300g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
2. Trace a rectangle 35 x 20 cm/14 x 8 inches in the centre of a large sheet of parchment paper or acetate, then flip it over. Place the butter mixture into the centre, folding over the edges of the paper and taping them in place if needed.
3. Use a rolling pin to roll it into a rectangle with even thickness. Chill for 3 hours in the fridge or overnight.
Dough
1. For the dough, add all the ingredients to a large bowl and stir together until there are no more dry ingredients. It can help to squeeze it together with your hands.
- 200g Plain/All-Purpose Flour
- 4g Fine Sea Salt
- 120g Double Cream
- 20g Cold Water
- 5g White Vinegar
2. Tip the mixture onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it for 1–2 minutes. Initially, it will be quite dry, but as you continue to work it, it will become smooth and gain some very slight elasticity.
3. Trace a rectangle 17.5 x 20cm into the centre of a large sheet of baking parchment or acetate and flip it over. Place the dough in the centre and fold over the edges of the parchment, taping it in place if needed. Roll the dough to the edges until you have an even block. Refrigerate for 3 hours, or ideally overnight. A longer chill is preferable to relax the gluten.
4. Once both have chilled, remove the butter block from the fridge, it needs to be 9–10°C (48–50°F) before using. Once it is close to temperature, remove the dough from the fridge; this needs to be at 6–7°C (43–45°F).
5. Place the dough block in the centre of the butter and fold the butter over, sealing the seam with your fingers. Be quite generous with flouring the work surface and the dough here, or the butter will stick.
6. Rotate the dough 90 degrees so the seam is facing you horizontally, and use a sharp knife to score the edges of the dough where it is folded over the butter. This will release tension and make it easier to roll.
7. Lightly roll the dough to give it some slight width, then rotate the dough 90 degrees again so the seam is now vertically in line with your body.
8. Roll the dough lengthways into a long rectangle, being liberal with the flour so that it doesn’t stick, until it reaches a thickness of about 5–7mm. Use a sharp knife to trim off any wonky ends and dust off any excess flour.
9. Perform a double fold, folding one side of the dough up about 1/5th of the way, bringing the opposite side over to meet it, and then folding the whole piece in half. Wrap the dough tightly in cling film, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then into the fridge for 10 minutes.
10. Remove the dough from the fridge, and with the open seam facing you (i.e if you were looking at the dough straight on, you would be able to see where it has been folded over itself), use a sharp knife again, to score the edges of the dough where it is folded.
11. Turn the dough 90 degrees so the open seam is now horizontal to you and give the dough a quick roll, to give it a little bit of width.
12. Turn the dough 90 degrees again so the open seam is facing you again and begin to roll the dough. Roll the dough into a long even rectangle, very very lightly flouring it, just as we did in step 8.
13. Perform another double fold, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then into the fridge for 10 minutes.
14. Repeat this process one more time, but finishing with a single fold rather than a double fold. To do this, take one-third of the dough and fold it up, then take the other third of dough and fold this over the top.
15. Wrap the dough tightly in clingfilm and refrigerate, ideally overnight. Again, a longer chill helps to relax the gluten.
Almond Cream
1. Into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and icing sugar on a medium-low speed until smooth, 1-2 minutes.
- 55g Unsalted Butter, Soft
- 55g Icing Sugar
2. Scrape down the sides and add the ground almonds and cornstarch, then mix again just until combined.
- 130g Ground Almonds
- 10g Cornstarch/Cornflour
3. Finally pour in the eggs and beat until it is evenly combined.
- 45g Whole Eggs, Room Temperature
4. Cover this and set it to one side at room temperature.
Assembly
1. Preheat the oven to180C/355F Non-Fan assisted (165C/330 Fan).
2. Remove the puff pastry from the fridge and lightly flouring it, roll it into a rough square shape, around 3-4mm thick.
3. Using a 12cm/4.5” cookie cutter, cut 6 discs of pastry and lift these onto a baking tray lined with a silicon baking mat (or a perforated tray lined with a perforated baking mat). Cut more discs if you have enough dough.
4. Add the pistachio cream into a piping bag, and pipe and even layer into the centre of the puff pastry, leaving about a 1.5cm/0.6” border around the outside.
5. Take the apples and core them, then cut them in half. Next, thinly slice them with a knife or a mandolin.
6. Stack the apple slices together, fanning them apart just slightly and place enough into the tart to cover the pistachio cream, but avoid going over the border of puff pastry.
7. Whisk the egg wash ingredients together and with a pastry brush, very lightly brush the border of puff pastry. You can sprinkle some coarse brown/demerara sugar over the top too for some added crunch, or even toasted flaked almonds.
- 35g Egg Yolks
- 30g Double/Heavy Cream
8. Place these into the centre of the oven and bake for around 35-40 minutes, or until a golden brown colour.
9. Remove them from the oven and lift them onto a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes, then serve. They can be eaten warm or you can allow them to cool completely. Before serving, add a dusting of icing/powdered sugar to finish.
Shop the Equipment
Pistachio Galette Des Rois
TIER 2
Pistachio Galette Des Rois
For Tier 2 I was determined to use our inverse puff pastry to make a Galette Des Rois. After all my fails, I realised I wasn’t resting the dough enough and that I needed to adjust my filling slightly to add more nuts. The resulting galette has the most amazing puff, that stays even, holds its shape and has a soft, pistachio filling. Although we’re at the end of galette season, I think it’s something you should make all year round it’s that good! Take your time with this recipe, especially paying attention to the scoring pattern. There’s lots of helpful tips in the PDF recipe so much sure to download that.
8-10
SERVINGS
Ingredients
Makes 8-10 Servings
Inverse Puff Pastry (x2)
Butter Block
100g Plain/All-Purpose Flour
300g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
Dough
200g Plain/All-Purpose Flour
4g Fine Sea Salt
120g Double/Heavy Cream
20g Cold Water
5g White Vinegar
Pistachio Cream
85g Unsalted Butter, Soft
85g Icing Sugar
130g Ground Pistachios
70g Ground Almonds
15g Cornstarch/Cornflour
70g Whole Eggs, Room Temperature
Egg Wash
35g Egg Yolk
30g Double/Heavy Cream
Hot Syrup
50g Caster Sugar
35g Water
Special equipment
Stand mixer
Digital thermometer
Silicon mat
18cm ring mold (optional)
Piping bag
23cm disc (for measuring)
Method
Inverse Puff Pastry
Note that you will need two batches of pastry (one for the top of the galette, and one for the bottom). As we are laminating by hand, I prefer to do this in two separate batches to ensure not too much gluten is developed. So you will need to create this recipe twice.
Butter Block
1. Add the soft butter and flour into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat for 1-2 minutes on a medium speed until smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- 100g Plain/All-Purpose Flour
- 300g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
2. Trace a rectangle 35 x 20 cm/14 x 8 inches in the centre of a large sheet of parchment paper or acetate, then flip it over. Place the butter mixture into the centre, folding over the edges of the paper and taping them in place if needed.
3. Use a rolling pin to roll it into a rectangle with even thickness. Chill for 3 hours in the fridge or overnight.
Dough
1. For the dough, add all the ingredients to a large bowl and stir together until there are no more dry ingredients. It can help to squeeze it together with your hands.
- 200g Plain/All-Purpose Flour
- 4g Fine Sea Salt
- 120g Double Cream
- 20g Cold Water
- 5g White Vinegar
2. Tip the mixture onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it for 1–2 minutes. Initially, it will be quite dry, but as you continue to work it, it will become smooth and gain some very slight elasticity.
3. Trace a rectangle 17.5 x 20cm into the centre of a large sheet of baking parchment or acetate and flip it over. Place the dough in the centre and fold over the edges of the parchment, taping it in place if needed. Roll the dough to the edges until you have an even block. Refrigerate for 3 hours, or ideally overnight. A longer chill is preferable to relax the gluten.
4. Once both have chilled, remove the butter block from the fridge, it needs to be 9–10°C (48–50°F) before using. Once it is close to temperature, remove the dough from the fridge; this needs to be at 6–7°C (43–45°F).
5. Place the dough block in the centre of the butter and fold the butter over, sealing the seam with your fingers. Be quite generous with flouring the work surface and the dough here, or the butter will stick.
6. Rotate the dough 90 degrees so the seam is facing you horizontally, and use a sharp knife to score the edges of the dough where it is folded over the butter. This will release tension and make it easier to roll.
7. Lightly roll the dough to give it some slight width, then rotate the dough 90 degrees again so the seam is now vertically in line with your body.
8. Roll the dough lengthways into a long rectangle, being liberal with the flour so that it doesn’t stick, until it reaches a thickness of about 5–7mm. Use a sharp knife to trim off any wonky ends and dust off any excess flour.
9. Perform a double fold, folding one side of the dough up about 1/5th of the way, bringing the opposite side over to meet it, and then folding the whole piece in half. Wrap the dough tightly in cling film, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then into the fridge for 10 minutes.
10. Remove the dough from the fridge, and with the open seam facing you (i.e if you were looking at the dough straight on, you would be able to see where it has been folded over itself), use a sharp knife again, to score the edges of the dough where it is folded.
11. Turn the dough 90 degrees so the open seam is now horizontal to you and give the dough a quick roll, to give it a little bit of width.
12. Turn the dough 90 degrees again so the open seam is facing you again and begin to roll the dough. Roll the dough into a long even rectangle, very very lightly flouring it, just as we did in step 8.
13. Perform another double fold, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then into the fridge for 10 minutes.
14. Repeat this process one more time, but finishing with a single fold rather than a double fold. To do this, take one-third of the dough and fold it up, then take the other third of dough and fold this over the top.
15. Wrap the dough tightly in cling film and refrigerate, ideally overnight. Again, a longer chill helps to relax the gluten.
Pistachio Cream
1. Into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and icing sugar on a medium-low speed until smooth, 1-2 minutes.
- 85g Unsalted Butter, Soft
- 85g Icing Sugar
2. Scrape down the sides and add in the ground pistachios, ground almonds and cornstarch, then mix again just until combined.
- 130g Ground Pistachios
- 70g Ground Almonds
- 15g Cornstarch/Cornflour
3. Finally pour in the eggs and beat until it is evenly combined.
- 70g Whole Eggs, Room Temperature
4. You will need 320g of mixture so pour the batter into a bowl and weigh the required amount.
5. To make the mixture neat, place an 18cm ring mold onto a baking tray lined with a silicon mat. Scoop the mixture in, and level it so it is smooth with a palette knife. Place this into the freezer for 1-2 hours. You can also place a fève into the mixture (or a whole pistachio) which is very traditional.
6. If you do not have a ring mold, the mixture can just be piped fresh onto the puff pastry. In this case, add it into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip nozzle and refrigerate until your pastry has been rolled out. (Once you have rolled out one portion of the pastry, pipe and even disc, 18 cm wide)
Assembly
1. Remove one batch of inverse puff pastry from the fridge and lightly flouring it, roll it into a rough square shape, around 3-4mm thick. Carefully lift this onto a lined baking tray and place it into the fridge.
2. Roll out the second piece of pastry to the same thickness.
3. Remove the first batch of pastry from the fridge and with it still on the tray, lift the frozen pistachio cream and place the disc into the centre of the pastry.
4. Lightly brush around the disc of pistachio cream with water – do not go to heavy on the water, just enough to moisten is to the pastry sticks together,
5. Lift the second piece of pastry on top, and using your hands, lightly cup around the outside of the cream layer, tucking it so it hugs the filling. This pushes out any trapped air. Ensure the two layers of pastry are firmly sealed together,
6. Finally, take a disc (like the bottom of a tart ring) that is 23cm in diameter, and place this on top. Use a sharp knife/box cutter, cut around this, to create a neat 23cm galette. Use a skewer to prick a few small holes all over it.
7. At this point we want to rest it again, to relax the gluten in the dough and prevent it from shrinking. Ideally this should be refrigerated overnight (covered with cling film) or 1-2 hours.
8. Once it has chilled, prepare the egg wash, whisking together the ingredients.
9. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/355F Non-Fan assisted (165C/330 Fan).
10. Remove the galette from the fridge and flip it over, onto a baking tray with a silicon baking mat (or ideally a perforated tray with a perforated mat if you have one) so the smooth side is on top. Brush the egg wash evenly over the surface of the dough. Note – for a deeper, darker finish to your galette, you can apply one layer of egg wash, then refrigerate it for 45m, then add another layer, before proceeding with the scoring.
- 35g Egg Yolk
- 30g Double/Heavy Cream
11. Use a sharp knife to gently score the dough, ensuring you don’t cut through the dough, in a decorative pattern. I use the design below. Once you have completed the scoring, use a skewer, to create 5-8 holes, piercing through the top layer of puff pastry (indicated by the green dots). This will allow the steam to escape.
12. Place the galette into the centre of the oven and bake for 45 minutes, then lower the temperature to 170C/340F non-fan assisted (155/310F fan assisted) and bake for a further 20-30 minutes, or until the galette is a deep golden brown colour.
13. Just before it has finished baking, prepare the hot syrup, by adding the ingredients to a small saucepan, and bringing them to the boil until the sugar has dissolved. Set this to one side.
- 50g Caster Sugar
- 35g Water
14. Once the galette is a deep golden brown colour, remove it from the oven and lift it onto a wire cooling rack. Brush a thin layer of sugar syrup over the top and then allow it to cool for 30 minutes before serving.
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Vanilla Danish Twist
TIER 1
Vanilla Danish Twist
This recipe is all about the dough. We walk through hand lamination step-by-step, so make sure to watch the video before diving in. Once the dough is ready, we use a simple shaping technique to twist the dough, then finish the flakey pastry with a simple vanilla glaze. I think these are the perfect breakfast pastry, so I suggest wrapping them up once baked and leaving them at room temperature, then glazing them the next morning!
8-10
TWISTS
Ingredients
Makes 8-10 Twists
Danish Pastry Détrempe (Dough)
565g Strong White Bread Flour
30g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
14g Instant Dry Yeast
230g Whole Milk
65g Whole Eggs
38g Caster Sugar
12g Sea Salt
Buerrage (Butter Block)
250g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
25g Plain/All Purpose Flour
Vanilla Icing
400g Icing Sugar
Whole Milk
1 Vanilla Pod
Pinch of Fine Sea Salt
Special equipment
Stand mixer
Rolling pin
Digital thermometer
Ruler
Method
Danish Dough
1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add all of the ingredients for the dough. Start with the wet ingredients on the bottom and the dry on top as it makes it easier for everything to incorporate.
2. Knead the mixture on a medium speed, for 6-8 minutes, until the dough feels smooth and elastic, passing the window pane test when you stretch a small piece of the dough. The dough is quite low hydration so initially may look quite dry but should pull together. If it does appear too dry, add up to 20g more milk to help pull it together.
3. Remove the dough from the mixer and briefly knead it on the work surface. Shape it into a rough rectangle, then wrap it in clingfilm, but not too tightly as it will need some room to proof. Place it onto a baking tray and refrigerate overnight. Alternatively if you want to do this whole process in one day, you can chill it for 3 hours.
Buerrage (Butter Block)
1. For the butter block, start by preparing your parchment paper. Take a large sheet, and with a marker, draw a 17.5x20cm square. Flip the paper over so the pen is facing the work surface.
2. Add the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the flour on top, and beat briefly, to combine them and there are no streaks of flour.
3. Scoop the mixture into the centre of the parchment. Wrap the excess parchment around the butter, folding the edges in to match the guides of the neat square you drew. It can help to tape the edges together to stop the parchment paper from moving around or opening up as you roll.
4. Flip it back over and use a rolling pin to roll the butter, pushing it to the edges and creating an even layer of butter across the rectangle of parchment. Place this in the fridge to chill for at least an hour or again, ideally overnight.
Lamination
1. When you are ready to laminate, remove the butter from the fridge, it needs to be 13-14C (55-57F) when you insert a digital thermometer. If it is too cold it will shatter when you start to laminate.
2. Just before it is at temperature, remove the dough from the fridge. Lightly flour it and roll it to just over double the length of the butter, 44cm, but the same width, 17.5cm.
3. The dough will be slightly curved at the top when you roll it out, so I like to trim the dough down, so that it is 40cm in total length. This then gives you a really neat rectangle to fold over your butter.
4. When the butter is at temperature, place it into the centre of the dough and then fold the edges of the dough so they meet in the centre of the butter.
5. Pinch the dough together to form a seam. Using a sharp knife, score the folded edges of the dough.
6. With this seam facing towards you, turn the dough 90 degrees so the seam is now horizontal to your body and give the dough a quick roll, to give it a little bit of width.
7. Turn the dough 90 degrees again so the seam is vertical in line with your body and begin to roll the dough. Working relatively quickly. Apply even pressure and roll the dough into a long even rectangle, flouring very lightly if needed.
8. Don’t focus too much on the length of the rectangle, but more on getting it into an even rectangle that ends up around 5mm thick (0.2”).
9. Once you are happy with the thickness and shape, dust off any excess flour with a brush, and if the ends of the dough have gone a bit wonky, cut them off so you have straight edges on either side.
10. Perform a single fold of the dough, where you take one-third of the dough and fold it up, then take the other third of dough and fold this over the top. This is called a ‘single fold or ‘single turn’.
11. Wrap the dough tightly in cling film, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then into the fridge for 10 minutes.
12. Remove the dough from the fridge, and with the open seam facing you (i.e if you were looking at the dough straight on, you would be able to see where it has been folded over itself), use a sharp knife again, to score the edges of the dough where it is folded.
13. Turn the dough 90 degrees so the open seam is now horizontal to you and give the dough a quick roll, to give it a little bit of width.
14. Turn the dough 90 degrees again so the open seam is facing you again and begin to roll the dough. Roll the dough into a long even rectangle, very very lightly flouring it, just as we did in step 7.
15. Wrap the dough tightly in cling film, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then into the fridge for 10 minutes.
16. Repeat steps 12-14 one more time, completing 3 single folds in total. Chill the dough in the fridge for 1 hour.
17. Lightly flour the chilled dough, and use a sharp knife to score the folded edges of the dough to release the tension.
18. Roll the dough out, so that it is roughly 25cm tall, and 8-10mm thick. Don’t worry about the length.
19. Once you are at the correct thickness, trim the edges of the dough so you are left with a rectangle that is 20cm tall.
20. Then cut the rectangle into 4cm wide strips.
21. Use a sharp knife to cut a slit down the centre of each rectangle.
22. Lift up each piece of dough and take one edge, and fold it over and through the slit to the other side, then feed the opposite edge under and through the slit. Pull both ends gently to tighten, which will form the twist.
23. Line two trays with baking paper and place the twists on, evenly spaced out, 4 per tray.
24. Place the trays into the oven, switched off, and place a small cup of boiling water in the bottom. Change this every 30-45 minutes, proofing the twists until they have puffed up and the layers appear to be separating slightly. It can take 3-4 hours, but don’t worry too much about overproofing them as the dough is resilient.
25. Remove them from the oven and preheat it to 185C/365F fan assisted. Once the oven is hot, load the trays into the oven, and immediately drop the oven temperature to 170C/340F. Bake the danishes for 15-20 minutes, or until they are an even golden brown colour.
26. Once baked, remove them from the oven and carefully lift them onto a wire rack to cool slightly. Keep the oven on.
Vanilla Icing
1. Into a large bowl, add the icing/powdered sugar, salt, beans from a fresh vanilla pod and then slowly start adding milk. Whisk the mixture, adding enough milk until you have a runny, glue-like consistency.
2. Keep the danishes on a wire rack, but place a tray underneath.
3. Pour the glaze over the top of each danish, coating them completely. If you need, scoop up the excess glaze from the tray underneath, and re-use it to glaze any remaining danishes.
4. Place them back into the oven, just for 1-2 minutes, until the glaze goes slightly transparent.
5. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for a few minutes then serve.
Note – the process can be quite long, that you end up finishing the danishes quite late which is not the ideal time to eat them (!). What I like to do is to bake the danishes, then wrap the tray tightly once they are cool and leave them at room temperature overnight. The next morning, I heat the oven to 175C/345F and just place them back in for 3-5 minutes, until they feel hot to the touch, then glaze them.
Alternatively you can freeze them once baked, and then just reheat them for longer in the oven (8-15 minutes).
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Danish Cinnamon Roll
TIER 2
Danish Cinnamon Roll
In Tier 2 we take the same dough from Tier 1 and fill it with a cinnamon crème pâtissière instead of a traditional cinnamon butter. Then we bake the rolls with a tray on top for the perfect ‘puck’ shape. The cinnamon glaze to finish gives it an extra cinnamon kick and a crackly texture. Make sure to watch the hand lamination technique from the Tier 1 video, as I don’t cover it again in this video.
8-10
ROLLS
Ingredients
Makes 8-10 Rolls
Danish Pastry Détrempe (Dough)
565g Strong White Bread Flour
30g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
14g Instant Dry Yeast
230g Whole Milk
55g Whole Eggs
38g Caster Sugar
12g Sea Salt
Buerrage (Butter Block)
250g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
25g Plain/All Purpose Flour
Cinnamon Pastry Cream
45g Dark Brown Sugar
10g Ground Cinnamon
70g Egg Yolks
25g Cornflour/Cornstarch
Pinch of Sea Salt
300g Whole Milk
1 Vanilla Pod
25g Unsalted Butter
Cinnamon Icing
400g Icing Sugar
Whole Milk
1 Vanilla Pod
½ Tsp Cinnamon
Pinch of Fine Sea Salt
Special equipment
10 9cmx4cm ring molds
Stand mixer
Thermometer
Rolling pin
Piping bag
Metre ruler
Method
Danish Dough
1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add all of the ingredients for the dough. Start with the wet ingredients on the bottom and the dry on top as it makes it easier for everything to incorporate.
2. Knead the mixture on a medium speed, for 6-8 minutes, until the dough feels smooth and elastic, passing the window pane test when you stretch a small piece of the dough. The dough is quite low hydration so initially may look quite dry but should pull together. If it does appear too dry, add up to 20g more milk to help pull it together.
3. Remove the dough from the mixer and briefly knead it on the work surface. Shape it into a rough rectangle, then wrap it in clingfilm, but not too tightly as it will need some room to proof. Place it onto a baking tray and refrigerate overnight. Alternatively if you want to do this whole process in one day, you can chill it for 3 hours.
Buerrage (Butter Block)
1. For the butter block, start by preparing your parchment paper. Take a large sheet, and with a marker, draw a 17.5x20cm square. Flip the paper over so the pen is facing the work surface.
2. Add the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the flour on top, and beat briefly, to combine them and there are no streaks of flour.
3. Scoop the mixture into the centre of the parchment. Wrap the excess parchment around the butter, folding the edges in to match the guides of the neat square you drew. It can help to tape the edges together to stop the parchment paper from moving around or opening up as you roll.
4. Flip it back over and use a rolling pin to roll the butter, pushing it to the edges and creating an even layer of butter across the rectangle of parchment. Place this in the fridge to chill for at least an hour or again, ideally overnight.
Lamination
1. When you are ready to laminate, remove the butter from the fridge, it needs to be 13-14C (55-57F) when you insert a digital thermometer. If it is too cold it will shatter when you start to laminate.
2. Just before it is at temperature, remove the dough from the fridge. Lightly flour it and roll it to just over double the length of the butter, 44cm, but the same width, 17.5cm.
3. The dough will be slightly curved at the top when you roll it out, so I like to trim the dough down, so that it is 40cm in total length. This then gives you a really neat rectangle to fold over your butter.
4. When the butter is at temperature, place it into the centre of the dough and then fold the edges of the dough so they meet in the centre of the butter.
5. Pinch the dough together to form a seam. Using a sharp knife, score the folded edges of the dough.
6. With this seam facing towards you, turn the dough 90 degrees so the seam is now horizontal to your body and give the dough a quick roll, to give it a little bit of width.
7. Turn the dough 90 degrees again so the seam is vertical in line with your body and begin to roll the dough. Working relatively quickly. Apply even pressure and roll the dough into a long even rectangle, flouring very lightly if needed.
8. Don’t focus too much on the length of the rectangle, but more on getting it into an even rectangle that ends up around 5mm thick (0.2”).
9. Once you are happy with the thickness and shape, dust off any excess flour with a brush, and if the ends of the dough have gone a bit wonky, cut them off so you have straight edges on either side.
10. Perform a single fold of the dough, where you take one-third of the dough and fold it up, then take the other third of dough and fold this over the top. This is called a ‘single fold or ‘single turn’.
11. Wrap the dough tightly in cling film, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then into the fridge for 10 minutes.
12. Remove the dough from the fridge, and with the open seam facing you (i.e if you were looking at the dough straight on, you would be able to see where it has been folded over itself), use a sharp knife again, to score the edges of the dough where it is folded.
13. Turn the dough 90 degrees so the open seam is now horizontal to you and give the dough a quick roll, to give it a little bit of width.
14. Turn the dough 90 degrees again so the open seam is facing you again and begin to roll the dough. Roll the dough into a long even rectangle, very very lightly flouring it, just as we did in step 7.
15. Wrap the dough tightly in cling film, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then into the fridge for 10 minutes.
16. Repeat steps 12-14 one more time, completing 3 single folds in total. Chill the dough in the fridge for 1 hour.
Cinnamon Pastry Cream
1. Into a medium bowl add the sugar, salt, cornflour/cornstarch and egg yolks. Whisk together for about 30 seconds, then set this to one side.
2. Meanwhile in a medium saucepan, add the milk and beans scraped from a vanilla pod. Place it over a medium heat and whisk occasionally until it is steaming.
3. Slowly pour the hot milk mixture over the egg yolks and whisk to combine.
4. Pour the mixture back into the pan and cook it over a medium heat, whisking constantly. Once it thickens and begins to bubble, keep cooking it for a further minute.
5. Remove it from the heat and pass it through a sieve into a clean bowl. Add in the butter and whisk to combine. Cover the surface with cling film and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Danish Dough (Continued)
1. Remove the pastry cream from the fridge and whisk it for 1-2 minutes until it is smooth. Add it into a piping bag and set it to one side.
2. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place 8-10 lightly greased ring molds (9x4cm)
3. Lightly flour the chilled dough, and use a sharp knife to score the folded edges of the dough to release the tension.
4. Roll the dough out, so that it is roughly 27-30cm tall, and 8-10mm thick. Don’t worry about the length.
5. Once you are at the correct thickness, trim the edges of the dough so you are left with a rectangle that is 25cm tall.
6. Then cut the rectangle into 3cm wide strips.
7. Cut quite a large hole in the end of the piping bag, and pipe a thick line of the pastry cream down the entire length of each strip of dough.
8. Roll the dough on itself but not too tightly, then carefully place them into the ring molds.
9. Place the tray into the oven, switched off, and place a small cup of boiling water in the bottom. Change this every 30-45 minutes, proofing the twists until they have puffed up and the layers appear to be separating slightly. It can take 3-4 hours, but don’t worry too much about overproofing them as the dough is resilient. Once it is ready, it should have risen to the edges of the ring molds, with the layers looking like they are separating slightly.
10. Remove them from the oven and pre-heat it to 185C/365F fan assisted.
11. Place a silicon mat or piece of parchment paper on top and then 2-3 heavy trays on top. This will prevent the dough from rising out of the ring molds.
12. Once the oven is hot, load the trays into the oven, and immediately drop the oven temperature to 170C/340F. Bake the danishes for 35-40 minutes. Try to avoid removing the trays on top too soon, so try and look in the oven and see what colour the dough looks like. It should be a deep golden brown colour once they are baked.
13. Remove them from the oven, and remove the ring molds. Flip them over and place them onto a wire rack to cool slightly.
Cinnamon Icing
1. Into a large bowl, add the icing/powdered sugar, salt, beans from a fresh vanilla pod and cinnamon. Slowly start adding milk and whisk the mixture, adding enough milk until you have a runny, glue-like consistency.
2. Keep the danishes on a wire rack, but place a tray underneath.
3. Pour the glaze over the top of each danish, coating them completely. If you need, scoop up the excess glaze from the tray underneath, and re-use it to glaze any remaining danishes.
4. Place them back into the oven, just for 1-2 minutes, until the glaze goes slightly transparent.
5. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for a few minutes then serve.
Note – the process can be quite long, that you end up finishing the danishes quite late which is not the ideal time to eat them (!). What I like to do is to bake the danishes, then wrap the tray tightly once they are cool and leave them at room temperature overnight. The next morning, I heat the oven to 175C/345F and just place them back in for 3-5 minutes, until they feel hot to the touch, then glaze them.
Alternatively you can freeze them once baked, and then just reheat them for longer in the oven (8-15 minutes).
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Ingredients
140g unsalted butter
185g egg whites
90g ground almonds
185g powdered/icing sugar
90g self-rising/self-raising flour
2g lemon zest
1⁄2 fresh vanilla bean pod or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
125g blueberries
lightly toasted flaked almonds, for topping
Special equipment
Oval silicone/metal mold pan
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 320°F/160°C.
2. In a small saucepan on the stovetop over low heat, melt the butter. Remove the
saucepan from the heat and allow the butter to cool for 5 minutes.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg whites for 30 seconds or until frothy.
4. Add the ground almonds, powdered/icing sugar and lemon zest. Cut the vanilla bean
lengthways and using the knife to scrape out half of the beans, add these into the
bowl. Whisk until combined.
5. Place a sieve over the medium bowl and sift in the flour. Whisk until the flour has just
been absorbed, about 30 seconds.
6. Add the melted butter and whisk until there are no more streaks of butter.
7. Gently fold the blueberries into the batter.
8. Pour the batter into the cups of an oval silicone/metal mold pan (or the cups of a
cupcake pan/tin) and fill the cups about three-fourths full. Sprinkle a few flaked
almonds over the top of each cup.
9. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 25 or 30 minutes or until the financiers have a
nice golden colour.
10. Remove the pan from the oven and allow the financiers to cool for 5 minutes before
removing them from the pan. Serve while still warm or allow them to cool completely
and then serve later.
Swedish Semlor Buns
TIER 1
Swedish Semlor Buns
I will admit I’m a bit early to be sharing a semla recipe with you – typically this Swedish treat starts popping up just after Christmas in bakeries. But after a trip to Sweden a few years ago and a bakery tour of eating different Semla, it felt like the perfect month to share my version! It is a soft bun, with an almond filling and topped with a simple mascarpone cream. The bun is spiced with cardamom and vanilla which gives makes it a really fragrant bake. So if you’re a purist, save this one until December, but I won’t tell anyone if you make it early!
12-14
BUNS
Ingredients
Makes 12-14 buns
Tangzhong
80g Whole Milk
20g White Bread Flour
Dough
500g White Bread Flour
9g Fine Sea Salt
12g Fresh Yeast/6g Instant Dry Yeast
255g Whole Milk
50g Double/Heavy Cream
55g Sweetened Condensed Milk
50g Whole Egg
75g Unsalted Butter
7 cardamom pods
½ Fresh Vanilla Pod
Egg Wash
1 Whole Egg
Splash of cream
Almond Filling
400g Almond Paste
40g Ground Almonds
40g Flaked Almonds
3g Ground Cardamom
15g Caster/White Sugar
70g Icing/Powdered Sugar
125g Whole Milk
Mascarpone Cream
600g Double/Heavy Cream
200g Mascarpone
20g Icing/Powdered Sugar
Special equipment
Stand mixer
Digital thermometer
Oil spray (optional)
Piping bags
Star tip nozzle
Method
Tangzhong
1. Into a small saucepan, add the whole milk and bread flour and cook it over a medium heat, whisking until it reaches a thick paste like consistency.
2. Scoop the mixture into a pan and set it aside to cool for 15 minutes.
Dough
1. Take the fresh cardamom pods and crack them open. Pour the seeds into a pestle and mortar and crush them to a fine powder.
2. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the cardamom, bread flour, salt and yeast. Split half a vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape the beans into the dry mixture.
3. Add the cooled tangzhong paste and crumble this through with your fingertips. Set the bowl to one side.
4. Add the milk, cream, egg and sweetened condensed milk to a small saucepan. Over a low heat, stir it until it reaches 46-48C/114F-188F and then immediately take it off the heat and pour it over the dry ingredients.
5. Stir the mixture together with a spatula and a plastic dough scraper, until there are no more dry ingredients at the bottom. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.
6. Add in the cold cubed butter and with the dough hook, knead for 5-7 minutes, scraping down the sides if needed, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
7. Remove it from the bowl and shape it into a tight ball on the work surface, before lifting it into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film and proof for 1 hour.
8. Remove the proofed dough from the bowl and lift it onto your work surface – no need to flour it.
9. Cut the dough into 75g portions, you should get 12-14.
10. Cup your hand around the dough in a ‘C’ shape and rotate it underneath your fingers and palm, to create a smooth, round ball.
11. Lift each ball onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. You will fit 6 balls per tray. If you have it, spray the balls with an oil spray and cover them with cling film. If not, cover them loosely with a clingfilm. Proof them for 45 minutes – 1 hour or until doubled in size.
12. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 175C/345F non-fan assisted (160C fan assisted).
13. Whisk together the egg wash ingredients and use a pastry brush, to cover the whole bun. Place them into the centre oven (you will likely need to swap the trays halfway through baking). Bake them for around 25 minutes or until golden brown all over.
14. Remove them from the oven and lift them off the tray, straight onto a wire cooling rack. Cool for at least 30 minutes.
Almond Filling
1. Add all of the ingredients except the milk into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on a medium-low speed for 1-2 minutes, until slightly smoother (there will be some chunks of flaked almond).
2. Slowly add the milk until you have a smooth mixture. Add it into a piping bag and set it to one side.
Mascarpone Cream
Note: You’ll want to split this into two batches as the cream isn’t stabilised so if you try and pipe it all in one go, it will go quite grainy by the last few buns.
1. Add all of the ingredients into a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and whisk until you have a medium peak, being very careful not to over whip it.
2. Add the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star tip nozzle.
Assembly
1. Using a knife, cut a triangle out of the top of each bun and set the lids to one side.
2. Pipe the almond cream into the gap, filling it to the top.
3. Pipe the cream in an anti-clockwise spiral motion on top of 6 of the buns.
4. Place the lid on top, pressing down slightly to press the cream outwards.
5. Finish with a dusting of icing/powdered sugar and serve. Whisk the remaining cream ingredients and repeat the process for the final 6 buns.
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Apple Pie
TIER 2
Apple Pie
A pastry chef once recommended adding cream cheese to a pie dough for extra tenderness and I have to say, I really love this dough! It is slightly technical as we are ‘laminating’ the pie dough to get it extra flakey, but it’s nothing like laminating a croissant so don’t panic! We use the same apple filling as Tier 1 and use it for a classic double crust apple pie. Serve with custard (and ice cream!).
1
9 inch pie
Ingredients
Makes 1 9-inch Pie
Pie Dough
500g Plain/all-Purpose Flour
6g Fine Sea Salt
25g Caster/White Sugar
325g Unsalted Butter, Cold
80g Full-Fat Cream Cheese, Cold
100–150g Ice-cold water
Apple Filling
75g Unsalted Butter
1200g Pink Lady Apples (About 12 Apples)
110g Dark Muscovado Sugar
20g Caster/White Sugar
27g Cornstarch/Corn flour
¾ Tsp Ground Cinnamon
½ Tsp Ground Ginger
1 Tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
Freshly Grated Nutmeg
150–225g water (adjust based on desired consistency)
Lemon Juice
Flakey Sea Salt
To Finish
1 Egg, Whisked
Demerara Sugar
Special equipment
9-inch pie dish
Rolling pin
Method
Pie Dough
1. Add the flour, sugar & salt into a large bowl.
2. Add in the butter (cut into small cubes), and toss it in the flour to coat the pieces.
3. Using your hands, work the butter into the flour, squeezing each piece between your fingers to flatten them.
4. Add in the cream cheese, and stir it through with your hands again to dissolve it into the flour mixture.
5. Now, mix in the ice-cold water, starting with about half, and swirl your hands to mix the water into the dry ingredients. Keep adding water just until there are no more dry ingredients in the bowl. The amount of water you need will depend on the type of flour you use.
6. Lift the dough onto your work surface and pull it together with your hands into a rough square shape.
7. Flour your work surface and the top of the dough, and using a rolling pin, roll it into a long rectangle. The dough might want to stick, so use a bench scraper to get underneath the dough to loosen it.
8. Fold one-third of the dough up, then fold the other third of the dough over the top of this. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
9. Repeat this laminating process two more times, rolling the dough into a rectangle and folding it on itself. Once you have performed the final fold, cut the dough in half, then wrap and chill the dough for at least 1.5 hours, or leave it overnight.
Apple Filling
1. Peel and core the apples, then cut them into cubes – 2x2cm as a guide.
2. Toss them in a bowl with a squeeze of lemon juice once chopped, to prevent them from browning.
3. Into a large saucepan, add the butter and place it over a medium heat.
4. Stir it until the butter begins to brown slightly and smells nutty.
5. Add in the apples, and stir, cooking over a medium heat for 2 minutes.
6. Add in the sugars, and continue to cook for 5 minutes, to release some of the moisture from the apples.
7. Reduce the heat to medium low, and add in the spices, cook for 30 seconds, then add in the cornflour and cook for a minute.
8. Stir in the water, starting with about half, until you have a sauce that is thick and glossy – the consistency of a runny caramel. If you prefer a pie with a saucier consistency, then you can add more water.
9. Finally, stir through a pinch of flaky sea salt.
10. Pour the mixture onto a baking tray, and cover the surface with clingfilm. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Assembly
1. Remove one half of the pie dough from the fridge, and on a lightly floured surface, roll it out into a rough circle, around 3-5mm thick.
2. Lift it into a 9” pie dish – you should have a 1” overhang of dough over the edge of the tin.
3. Scoop the cooled apple filling into the dough, pressing it down with a spatula to remove any air pockets.
4. Place the pie in the fridge.
5. Remove the second piece of dough from the fridge, and on a lightly floured surface, roll it into a rough circle.
6. Remove the pie from the fridge and apply a light egg wash around the edge.
7. Lift the second piece of dough on top, and using your fingers, firmly crimp the edges to seal the two pieces of dough together.
8. Using scissors, cut the excess dough away, leaving about a ¼” of dough around the edge.
9. Fold this excess dough underneath itself to create a thick rim.
10. Use your thumb and index finger on one hand to gently pinch the edge of the dough. With the index finger of your other hand, press into the pinched section to push the dough outward, creating a fluted edge. Continue this motion, crimping the entire crust of the pie.
11. Place the pie into the fridge for 30 minutes.
12. Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 225C/435F non-fan assisted, and place a baking tray on the lower third rack of the oven.
13. Once the pie is chilled, remove it from the fridge and brush an egg wash over the dough.
14. Sprinkle a light dusting of demerara sugar on top, and then use a knife to cut 3 air vents in the centre of the pie.
15. Place it onto the pre-heated tray, and bake for 25 minutes.
16. Then, move the pie up to the middle shelf of the oven and lower the temperature to 180C/355F. Bake for a further 60-70 minutes.
17. The pie will darken quite quickly, so you will most likely need to cover the top of the pie with a sheet of foil for the final 30-45 minutes to prevent it from burning.
18. Once baked, the pie should be a deep golden colour, and the filling should be bubbling up slightly.
19. Remove the pie from the oven and allow it to cool. Let the pie cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. It will still be warm, with a soft, and runny center. But for cleaner slices, allow it to cool completely or even chill it in the fridge—then reheat individual slices as needed.
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Sesame Bloomer
TIER 1
Sesame Bloomer
The Tier 1 dough is relatively low hydration so simple to work with – by hand or in your mixer. The great technique here is lightly soaking the dough and then coating it in sesame seeds. It is a technique I use to get perfect coverage of seeds over the loaf, rather than spilling seeds everywhere! This is a slightly softer loaf than Tier 2 so great for sandwiches. Feel free to swap out sesame seeds for poppy seeds too.
1
LOAF
Ingredients
Makes 1 Loaf
12g Fresh Yeast/6g Instant Dry Yeast
12g Fine Salt
400g Strong White Bread Flour
100g Wholemeal Bread flour
325g Tepid Water
15g Sesame Seeds + Extra To Coat
20g Unsalted Butter, Soft
5g White Sugar
Special equipment
Stand mixer
Bread scorer
Digital thermometer (optional)
Method
1. Add all of the ingredients for the dough into the bowl of a stand mixer.
2. Attach the dough hook and knead on a medium speed for around 6-7 minutes until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and appears smooth. It should pass the windowpane test, which is when you stretch a small piece of dough out and it forms a windowpane without tearing.
3. Lift the dough onto your work surface, and perform a few slap and folds with the dough, then use your hands to shape it into a smooth ball shape.
4. Lift the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover it with clingfilm – the dough needs to proof for about an hour at room temperature or until doubled in size. This may take longer if your room is cold.
5. Just before it is ready, soak a tea towel and ring out any excess water. Set this next to a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
6. Lightly toast a tray of sesame seeds for about 10 minutes at 180C/355F. They just need to be a light golden brown – not too dark!
7. Lightly flour your work surface, and scoop the dough, smooth side down, onto the flour.
8. Gently flatten the dough with lightly floured hands into a large circle. Stretch the left side out slightly and fold it toward the center. Then stretch the right side and fold it in to overlap the first fold.
9. Reshape the dough into a tidy rectangle. Starting from the top edge, roll the dough tightly towards you, using your thumbs to press the dough firmly inward with each turn to create a taut log.
10. Once fully rolled, pinch the seam closed by using your fingers to stitch it together.
11. Working quickly, tilt the dough side to side on the wet tea towel, then transfer it to the toasted sesame seeds, tilting it to cover the entire loaf.
12. Flip the dough over and place it seam side down onto your baking tray.
13. Cover the dough with a tea towel to proof for about an hour at room temperature. The dough should almost double in size.
14. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 230C/445F non-fan assisted and place a small tray on the bottom shelf.
15. Once the dough is proofed, take a razor blade and slash the dough. I used multiple diagonal slashes across the top of the dough, but you can slash it any way you prefer.
16. Splash a cup of boiling water onto the preheated tray and immediately place the bread on the middle shelf of the oven.
17. Immediately drop the oven temperature to 190C/375F non-fan assisted and bake for around 50 minutes – the dough should be a golden colour, and a digital thermometer inserted into the centre should reach 90C/195F or just above it.
18. Lift the baked loaf onto a wire rack and cool for at least an hour before slicing.
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Multigrain Bloomer
TIER 2
Multigrain Bloomer
In Tier 2 we are looking at the importance of soaking seeds in dough. Seeds suck up a lot of moisture so it’s important to pre-soak them before they go into the dough to ensure they don’t draw out moisture from the bread itself, making it dry. The final loaf is proofed in a banneton basket, and then baked in a cast iron dutch oven which gives a really rustic, bakery style finish. This bread is heartier and is great for toast and eggs!
1
LOAF
Ingredients
Makes 1 Loaf
Poolish
150g Strong White Bread Flour
150g Water
1.5g Fresh Yeast / 0.75g Instant Dry Yeast
Soaker
10g Rolled Oats
5g Poppy Seeds
35g Mixed Seeds (Pumpkin, Linseed, Sunflower)
60g Boiling Water
Dough
120g Wholemeal Flour
230g Strong White Bread Flour
1g Fresh Yeast/0.5g Instant Dry Yeast
12g Salt
15g Unsalted Butter. Room Temperature
120g Water
Special equipment
Stand mixer
500g Wood Pulp Banneton Basket
Bread scorer
Cast Iron Dutch Oven
Digital thermometer (optional)
Method
Poolish
1. Into a small bowl, add the water and yeast. Stir this until the yeast has completely dissolved.
2. Tip in the flour and mix to form a smooth paste. Cover the bowl and leave it at room temperature for 12 hours, by which point it should be very bubbly on top.
Soaker
1. Add all the seeds into a bowl and pour the boiling water over the top. Set it aside at room temperature for 12 hours.
Dough
1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the poolish, soaked seeds, and remaining dough ingredients.
2. Attach the dough hook and knead on a medium speed for around 6-7 minutes until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and appears smooth. It should pass the windowpane test, which is when you stretch a small piece of dough out and it forms a windowpane without tearing.
3. Lift the dough onto your work surface, and perform a few slap and folds with the dough, then use your hands to shape it into a smooth ball shape.
4. Lift the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover it with clingfilm – the dough doesn’t have a lot of yeast, so it will need 2.5-3 hours to rise at room temperature, until doubled in size.
5. Once proofed, lightly flour your work surface, and scoop the dough, smooth side down, onto the flour.
6. Gently flatten the dough with lightly floured hands into a large circle. Stretch the left side out slightly and fold it toward the center. Then stretch the right side and fold it in to overlap the first fold.
7. Reshape the dough into a tidy rectangle. Starting from the top edge, roll the dough tightly towards you, using your thumbs to press the dough firmly inward with each turn to create a taut log.
8. Roll the sealed dough lightly in some flour, then lift it into your floured banneton basket. Pinch the seam together when it is in the basket if needed.
9. Lightly flour the top of the dough and cover the basket with a tea towel. Proof for another 2.5-3 hours. It should puff up above the rim of the basket – see the video as a visual cue!
10. 45 minutes before the dough is ready, pre-heat the oven to 230C/445F non-fan assisted, with a cast iron pan (with the lid on) in the centre.
11. When the dough is proofed, carefully flip it out onto a circle of parchment paper, and then use a razor blade to score the dough lengthways.
12. Remove the cast iron pan from the oven and being very careful, lift the dough into the pan. Drop a few small ice cubes at the side of the pan, place the lid back on top, and get it straight into the oven.
13. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the lid of the cast iron pot and lower the oven temperature to 190C/375F and bake for a further 15 minutes. It should be a golden brown colour, and a digital thermometer inserted into the centre will read 90C/195F or just above.
14. Remove it from the cast iron pan and lift it onto a wire rack to cool completely, at least an hour before slicing it.
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Pandoro
TIER 2
Pandoro
In Tier 2 we are really stepping things up with a Pandoro – the iconic 8 pointed star Italian bread. This is a challenging dough that requires a high protein flour to handle the high levels of fat and sugar in the dough. Similarly to the Kugelhopf , this dough is flavoured with lemon and orange zest, with a beautiful enriched yellow crumb once baked. There is a lot of fermentation and proofing in this recipe, so really set aside some time to tackle this!
2
750G LOAVES
Ingredients
Makes 2 750g Loaves
1st Dough
615g Manitoba Flour (or Pannetone Flour)
0.8g Fresh Yeast/0.4g Instant Dry Yeast
340g Whole Eggs
125g Unsalted Butter, Cubed & Slightly Soft
Butter Mixture
150g Unsalted Butter, Soft
105g Caster Sugar
10g Honey
Zest ½ Lemon
Zest 1 Orange
Beans from 1 Vanilla Pod
2nd Dough
170g Manitoba Flour (or Pannetone Flour)
125g Caster/White Sugar
45g Whole Milk
8.5g Fine Sea Salt
85g Egg Yolks
19g Fresh Yeast/9.5g Instant Dry Yeast
Butter Mixture (Above)
Special equipment
Stand mixer
Dough scraper
Pandoro tins
Digital thermometer
Method
1st Dough
Note – this dough needs a long proof so it is best to do it at night so that it can proof overnight, then you’ll be ready to make the 2nd dough the next day.
1. Into a stand mixer, add the eggs and yeast, and whisk to combine.
2. Add in the flour and attach the dough hook. Mix on a medium low speed, until the flour has completely absorbed the wet ingredients. Once it has absorbed them, continue to knead for a minute on a low speed.
3. While mixing on a medium low speed, add the cubed butter a few pieces at a time. Allow the butter to incorporate before adding the next few pieces.
4. As soon as the butter has all been incorporated, continue to knead for 1 minute. We are not looking to develop the dough too much so remove it from the mixer and gently work it on your work surface, shaping it into a rough ball.
5. Lift the dough into a large container or bowl, ideally with measurements on the side so that you can see how much the dough has risen.
6. Cover the bowl tightly and proof at room temperature for 12 hours or until the dough has tripled in volume.
Butter Mixture
1. The next day, add all the ingredients for the butter mixture into a stand mixer, and attach the paddle attachment. Beat on a medium speed until it is smooth and homogenous. Set this to one side at room temperature.
2nd Dough
1. Now that the 1st dough has tripled in size, it is ready to use.
2. Into a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and flour. Add the milk into a small jug too.
3. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add half of the 1st dough, along with the yeast.
4. Add ¼ of the sugar/flour mixture and mix on a low speed. Drizzle in ¼ of the milk. Knead on a low speed until all the dry ingredients are completely absorbed.
5. Repeat this process, adding the sugar/flour mixture in increments along with the milk. Ensure that all the dry ingredients are incorporated each time.
6. Once you have a homogenous dough, add the remaining half of the first dough and knead on a low speed for a minute.
7. Add in the salt and knead for a minute.
8. With the mixer still on low, alternate adding the egg yolks and butter mixture (above) in about 4 additions per ingredient. You need to ensure that the egg yolks are completely incorporated before adding the butter, and the butter is incorporated before adding the next part of egg yolks. Be patient here, waiting about 45 seconds in between each addition.
9. Once these have been incorporated and there are no streaks of egg yolks or butter, increase the speed to medium, and knead for around 10 minutes or until the dough is completely smooth and passes the windowpane test (where you stretch a small piece of dough between your fingers and it creates a windowpane without tearing).
10. Lift the dough out of the mixer, shape it into a tight ball, and lift it into a lightly oiled bowl. Allow it to proof at room temperature for 30 minutes.
11. After 30 minutes, using a dough scraper, split the dough into two equal 750g portions (you might have a little extra dough).
12. Use a dough scrape to shape each piece of dough into a tight ball.
13. Ensure your 750g Pandoro tins are lightly buttered and floured, and carefully lift the dough balls into the tins, smooth side down (so the smooth, top side of the dough should be against the bottom of the tin).
14. Loosely cover the top of the tins with clingfilm, and proof them for 4-6 hours at room temperature or until the dough has risen to just below the lip of the tin.
15. Before they are ready, pre-heat the oven to 170C/340F Non-Fan Assisted.
16. When the dough has proofed, place the tins into the oven, and bake for 50-60 minutes. The dough needs to register a temperature of at least 95C/203F on a digital thermometer. After about 25 minutes of baking, cover the top with a sheet of foil to stop it from darkening too much.
17. Once at temperature, remove the tins from the oven and allow the Pandoro to cool for 30 minutes in the tin, before flipping them onto a wire rack to cool completely.
18. Dust with icing sugar to serve.
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Kugelhopf
TIER 1
Kugelhopf
This bread has ties to Germany, Austria and France and is a popular bread served around the holidays. Think of it like giant hot cross bun in a bundt tin! The dough is a soft, buttery brioche flavoured with soaked raisins that have been steeped in orange, lemon and vanilla. When the cake is finished it is soaked in melted butter and then coated in sugar. I have to say, this is one of the most delicious recipes I’ve made ALL year! I’ve used a Kugelhopf tin, but the dough can also be made in a classic bundt tin.
2
400G LOAVES
Ingredients
Makes 2 400g Loaves
Soaked Raisins
100g Sultanas
20g Sugar
150g Water
Peels of 1/2 Lemon
Peels of 1 Medium Orange
Brioche Dough
425g Strong White Bread Flour (13-14% Protein)
10g Salt
50g Sugar
17g Fresh Yeast or 8.5g Instant Dry Yeast
190g Eggs
65g Whole Milk
Zest of 1 Lemon
Zest of 1 Orange
210g Unsalted Butter, Slightly Cold & Cubed
To Finish
Melted Butter
Caster/White Sugar
Special equipment
Stand mixer
Dough scraper
Kugelhopf tin/Bundt tin
Digital thermometer
Method
Soaked Raisins
1. Into a small saucepan, add all the ingredients for the soaked raisins. Bring it to a boil and then pour the mixture into a tupperware. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours, ideally overnight.
Brioche Dough
1. For the brioche dough, add all the ingredients, except the butter, to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.
2. Mix for 10 minutes on a medium speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.
3. After 10 minutes, add the butter slowly, a few cubes at a time. It helps to squeeze the cold butter in between your fingers gently just before you add it into the mixer.
4. Once all the butter has been added, continue to mix the dough until it is pulling away from the sides of the mixer and the dough passes the windowpane test.
5. Right at the end, drain the soaked raisins and briefly mix these in. We don’t want to knead them for too long or it will discolour the dough.
6. Scoop the dough out of the bowl, and shape it into a round ball using a dough scraper before lifting it into a lightly oiled bowl.
7. Allow the dough to proof for 2 hours at room temperature. It should double in size.
8. While it is proofing, lightly butter your Kugelhopf tin and coat the inside with flour, before tipping out the excess.
9. Once the dough has proofed, remove it from the bowl, knocking out the air.
10. Cut it into two equal 400g pieces of dough.
11. Carefully shape each piece into a ball, then with one of the dough balls, use your fingers to press a hole in the middle, creating a donut shape.
12. Confidently lift it into the greased tin and cover the tin with cling film.
13. With the other piece of dough, simply shape it into a ball and place it back into the bowl. Cover the surface of the dough and the bowl with cling film. Place both the tin and the bowl in the fridge overnight.
14. The next day, leave the tin at room temperature and proof for 2-3 hours, while leaving the other dough in the fridge.
15. Before baking, preheat the oven to 170C/355F Non-Fan Assisted.
16. Once proofed, the dough should have doubled, to just below the top edge of the tin. Bake the dough for around 35 minutes, it should be a golden colour and register 95C/203F when a digital thermometer is inserted in the middle.
17. Allow it to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then flip it out and use a pastry brush to cover the entire dough in melted butter, before rolling in sugar.
18. Allow to cool before serving.
19. You can now remove the second dough from the fridge, and re-use the tin. Shape it into a donut again by piercing a hole in the centre and lift it into a the lightly greased tin.
20. Cover the tin with a tea towel and allow it to rise again until doubled – about 2-3 hours at room temperature. Bake as per step 16/17.
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Gâteaux Basque
TIER 2
Gâteaux Basque
Using the same idea of working with a high fat, high butter dough, in Tier 2 we work with a pastry that is very similar to a Sablé Breton. The dough is rolled, almost like a deep dish cookie pie, and filled with cherry jam and pastry cream. It’s traditionally finished by decorating it with the stripes of a fork and baked until golden. Most recipes say to cool it completely, but I really prefer it slightly warm as I think it has a much better texture!
1TART (SERVES 8-10)
Ingredients
Makes 8-10 Servings
For the Pastry
125g Egg Yolks
250g Caster/White Sugar
1g Salt
375g Plain/All-Purpose Flour
2.5g Baking Powder
20g Ground Almonds/Almond Flour
2g Lemon Zest
250g Unsalted Butter, Very Soft & Cubed
Egg Wash
1 Egg Yolk
For the Pastry Cream
500g Whole Milk
1 Fresh Vanilla Pod
70g Caster/White Sugar
120g Egg Yolks
40g Cornstarch/Cornflour
Pinch of Fine Sea Salt
45g Unsalted Butter, Cold & Cubed
Black Cherry Jam To Fill (or your favourite jam)
Special equipment
20 x 3.2 cm Tart Ring
Stand Mixer
Silicon Baking Mat
Rolling Pin
Method
Pastry
1. Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl and set this to one side.
2. Into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add the egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest and salt. Whisk on a medium speed for 2 minutes until the mixture is thick and light in colour.
3. Add in the sifted dry ingredients, along with the soft butter (in small cubes). Mix with a paddle attachment just until it pulls together into a smooth dough. This won’t take long.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it briefly until smooth, then shape it into 2 equal discs and wrap it in clingfilm. Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.
Vanilla Pastry Cream
1. In a medium saucepan on the stovetop over medium heat, add the milk and the scraped vanilla pod just until it is steaming.
2. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg yolks, cornstarch, and salt until smooth and thickened.
3. Slowly pour the hot milk mixture over the sugar and eggs mixture, whisking constantly.
4. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Whisk constantly over medium heat until it begins to bubble, then cook for 1 minute.
5. Remove the saucepan from the heat and pass the mixture through a sieve placed over a large bowl.
6. Whisk in the butter until the mixture is smooth. Pour the mixture onto a baking tray, spread it out and cover the surface directly with clingfilm. Spreading it thin will help it to chill faster.
Assembly
1. Line a baking tray with a silicon mat, and lightly butter the inside of your tart ring. Place this into the centre.
2. Once the pastry discs have chilled, remove one from the fridge. Briefly massage the dough in your hand to soften it slightly. Place it onto a lightly floured work surface.
3. Roll the dough out into a rough circle, until it is around 5mm/0.19” thick. Cut a disc around 23cm/9” and quickly but carefully lift the disc into your tart ring.
4. Lightly flour your fingers and gently press the dough into all edges of the tart ring. There should be a slight overhang of dough over the edge of the tart ring. Use a sharp knife to trim off the excess so that the dough is now flush with the edge of the ring. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
5. Once the dough is chilled, remove it from the fridge and spread 3-4 tbsp of your desired jam over the bottom of the pastry so that you have a thin, even layer.
6. Remove the pastry cream from the fridge and add it into a bowl. Whisk it by hand until it is smooth and homogenous
7. Pour the pastry cream directly into the tart shell and use the back of a spoon to spread this out evenly across the tart. Place this back in the fridge briefly.
8. Remove the second disc of pastry from the fridge and again use your hands to lightly massage it so that it softens slightly.
9. Place this onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out into a rough disc, until it is around 5mm/0.19” thick.
10. Remove the tart ring from the fridge and lift the circle of dough directly on top. Then use a rolling pin to roll over the top of the pastry, pressing it against the edges of the tin, to very neatly trim off the excess pastry. Refrigerate it for 1-2 hours.
11. Just before it is chilled. Preheat the oven to 160C/320F fan assisted, or 175C/345F non-fan assisted.
12. Whisk an egg yolk, then brush this evenly over the top of the pastry using a pastry brush.
13. Using a fork, trace 4 sets of parallel lines with a fork, then turn the mould 1/4 turn and trace 4 more sets of parallel lines perpendicular to the first sets of lines. This will result in a diamond-shaped crosshatch pattern. Prick a few small holes in the pastry too, to help any steam escape as it bakes.
14. Place the tart directly into the oven, and bake for 40 minutes, then lower the heat to 150C/300F Fan assisted (165/330F Non-fan assisted) and bake for a further 15-20 minutes or until a deep golden colour.
15. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. I prefer to eat it slightly warm, so I allow it to cool for around 75-90 minutes but it can also be eaten once it has completely cooled to room temperature too.
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Sablé Viennois
TIER 1
Sablé Viennois
In Tier 1 we tackle a simple Sablé biscuit, and learn the foundations of a Sablé dough. A spin on the recipe I share in my book, the biscuits are elevated by piping the dough into a zigzag pattern! Although the piping can be a little bit tricky, it’s worth the effort as it holds its shape really well, resulting in a stunning biscuit. To finish, I’ve dipped mine in a little dark chocolate, but you can get creative here with the toppings.
12-14COOKIES
Ingredients
Makes 12-14 Biscuits
140g Unsalted Butter, Soft
80g Icing/Powdered Sugar
2g Fine Sea Salt
20g Egg White
120g Plain Flour
40g White Bread Flour
20g Cornflour (Cornstarch)
Chocolate Variation:
140g Unsalted Butter, Soft
80g Icing/Powdered Sugar
2g Fine Sea Salt
20g Egg White
115g Plain Flour
30g Bread Flour
20g Cornflour (Cornstarch)
15g Cocoa Powder
To decorate:
200g Dark Chocolate (50-60% Cocoa Solids), Melted
Special equipment
Basket Weave Piping Nozzle
Stand Mixer
Piping Bags
Silicon Baking Mat
Method
1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or a large bowl), add the soft butter, sugar and salt.
2. Beat this on a medium-low speed for 2 minutes until lighter and fluffier in consistency. If doing this by hand, simply use a rubber spatula to beat the ingredients together.
3. Add in the egg white and beat again to combine. The egg white, won’t fully incorporate so don’t worry if the butter is slightly lumpy/separated.
4. Finally, sift in the flours & cornflour. Mix this until the dough is soft and slightly sticky. We need the dough to be quite soft otherwise it will be very difficult to pipe. Add this mixture into a piping bag fitted with a basket weave piping nozzle (or any other nozzle you prefer!). Massage the dough in the bag to soften it further.
Note: If you want to make chocolate cookies, simply follow the same steps, but add the cocoa powder in with the flours.
5. If you want to be accurate, draw a stencil on some parchment paper, with pairs of lines, about an inch apart, and place this under your silicone mat.
6. With firm pressure, pipe tight zig zags, roughly 3-4” long. Then, use a bench scraper or sharp knife, neaten the top and bottoms of the biscuits by trimming off the shaggy ends.
7. Place the tray of cookies into the freezer, while you preheat your oven to 175C/350F Non-Fan Assisted.
8. After the cookies have chilled for 20 minutes, place the tray into the middle shelf of the oven and bake the cookies for 15 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges.
9. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool on the tray for 5 minutes.
10. To decorate, melt some dark chocolate, and dip the edges of the biscuits before placing them carefully on a silicon mat. Let the chocolate set before serving.
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Lemon Meringue 'Longboys'
TIER 2
Lemon Meringue ‘Longboys’
In TIer 2 we make the same dough as Tier 1, we just add a touch of lemon zest to give them a bit of extra flavour. Then, inspired by Longboys Doughnuts in the UK, we use an oblong mould to create a different shape, coat them in lemon sugar, then top them with a lemon crème pâtissière, Italian meringue and candied lemon peel. Don’t fancy lemon? Try the chocolate crème pâtissière and crumble from my eclair recipe!
8
'LONGBOYS'
Ingredients
Makes 8-9 ‘Longboys’
Donut Dough
550g Strong White Bread Flour
125g Whole Milk
7g Instant Yeast
200g Whole Eggs
12g Fine Sea Salt
125g Unsalted Butter, Cold + Small Cubes
75g Caster/Granulated Sugar
20g Powdered Milk (Full Fat)
10g Vanilla Extract
Zest 1 Lemon
Lemon Crème Pâtissière
300g Double/Heavy Cream
200g Whole Milk
1 Fresh Vanilla Pod
85g Caster sugar
100g Egg Yolks
40g Cornstarch/Cornflour
Zest of 2 Lemons
Candied Lemon Peel
Zest of 1 Unwaxed Lemon
50g Caster Sugar
50g Water
Lemon Sugar
150g Caster/Granulated Sugar
Zest 1 Lemon
Italian Meringue
110g Egg Whites
70g Water
300g Caster Sugar
3 Litres of Vegetable Oil For Frying
Special equipment
Stand mixer
Oil spray (optional)
Oblong cookie cutter (I used a 14.5cm x 3.5cm cutter)
Deep fat fryer
Digital thermometer
Piping bags
St Honore nozzle
Method
Donut Dough
1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the wet ingredients, followed by the dry. Attach the dough hook and mix it on a medium speed for 10 minutes, scraping down the bowl every 3-4 minutes.
2. After 10 minutes, turn the mixer off and let the dough rest for 5 minutes. This will relax the gluten and make the next part of the mixing easier!
3. Turn the mixer back on, and knead for a further 10-12 minutes. The dough should start to come away from the sides of the bowl but there will still be a few bits stuck to the side.
4. Remove it from the mixer and lift the dough onto your work surface. Give it a quick knead and shape it into a nice tight ball. The dough should feel smooth and pass the windowpane test when you stretch a small piece of the dough.
5. Lift it into a lightly oiled bowl, then lightly spray the top of the dough with an oil spray and cover the surface directly with cling film. Cover the bowl with a sheet of cling film too and refrigerate the dough overnight (12-18 hours). This will make it much easier to work with.
6. Before you are ready to work with the dough, prep a baking tray by cutting 8 rectangles of parchment paper and lightly oiling them before placing them on the tray. This will make it easier to transfer the donuts to the fryer.
7. The next day remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Very lightly flour your work surface and lift the dough on. Lightly flour the top of the dough and a rolling pin, and roll the dough out, the shape doesn’t matter, but you want it to be around 12-15mm thick (0.5”). Ensure there is a little flour underneath the dough once you’ve finished rolling otherwise when you go to remove the cut donuts they will stick to the table.
8. Take the oblong cookie cutter and dip it in a bowl of flour to make sure it doesn’t stick to the dough. Press the cookie cutter into the dough to cut the shapes, and lift them onto the sheets of parchment you cut earlier.
9. Very lightly oil the top of the donuts with an oil spray, and then cover the entire tray with a sheet of cling film and allow the donuts to rise for 2-3 hours at room temperature. In warmer weather, 2 hours should be fine, but when it is colder it will be closer to 3 hours. The donuts should look puffier and will have increased in volume when they are done.
Lemon Crème Pâtissière
1. It is best to make this ahead of rolling out your donuts so that it has enough time to chill.
2. Add the sugar into a bowl along with the lemon zest and briefly rub them together to release some of those citrus oils.
3. Add the egg yolks and cornflour and whisk the mixture together until it is thick, then set it to one side.
4. In the meantime, scrape the beans from the fresh vanilla pod and add these into a medium saucepan along with the milk & cream.
5. Place the pan over a medium heat and stir occasionally until the mixture is steaming.
6. Once hot, slowly pour the mixture over the egg yolks, and whisk until they are combined. It is important to do this slowly to avoid scrambling the eggs.
7. Add the entire mixture back into the pan and place it on a medium heat.
8. Whisk continuously until the mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Once it bubbles, cook for a further minute, then remove it from the heat and pass it through a sieve into another bowl. At this point it’s likely your mixture will have split a little, so just add a splash of water (2 tsp) and blend with a hand blender and it will pull it back together.
9. Place a sheet of cling film directly on the surface and refrigerate until ready to use (3-4 hours).
Candied Lemon Peel
1. Use a vegetable peeler to peel the lemon into strips.
2. With a sharp knife, cut the peel lengthways to create thin strips.
3. Into a small saucepan, add the lemon strips, sugar and water. Place it over a medium low heat and gently simmer for around 10 minutes. The strips of lemon should appear slightly translucent and the liquid should thicken.
4. Use some tongs to remove them from the pan and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment and allow to dry completely. About half an hour.
Lemon Sugar
1. Add the sugar into a bowl along with the lemon zest and briefly rub them together to release some of those citrus oils.
2. Set the bowl to one side.
Frying
1. When the donuts are close to being proofed, add the oil to your deep fat fryer (or a large pan) and heat it to 170C/340F. A deep-fat fryer is ideal here as it is able to regulate the temperature at a much more consistent level vs frying in a pan.
2. When the donuts are ready, drop 1 into the oil, and slowly peel off the sheet of parchment paper.
3. Fry for 90 seconds, flip, fry for 60 seconds, flip, fry for 15 seconds, flip, fry for 15 seconds. Nb. Due to the shape of these donuts they’re likely to flip over by themselves in the oil, so I’d recommend holding them in place lightly with some tongs so you can ensure an even bake on each side. I’ve also increased the fry time just slightly from the video as I found slightly longer was better!
4. Remove your donut and place it on a wire rack, allowing any excess oil to drip off. After a minute, and while the donuts are still warm, toss the donut in the bowl of lemon sugar then place back on your wire rack.
5. Repeat with the remaining donuts.
Italian Meringue
1. Into a small saucepan, add the water, then pour the sugar on top. Place it over a medium heat
2. Meanwhile, add the egg whites into a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk it on a medium low speed.
3. Once the water and sugar mixture has started to boil, cook it until it reaches a temperature of 118C/244F on a digital thermometer. By this point, the egg whites should be bubbly and frothy.
4. Immediately remove the sugar syrup from the heat, increase the stand mixer speed to medium high, and slowly drizzle the sugar syrup in, aiming to pour it in between the whisk and the bowl. Just make sure not to pour it on the whisk or it will splatter everywhere.
5. Continue to whisk for 6-7 minutes, or until the bowl is cool to the touch and stiff peaks form on the meringue.
6. Add the meringue to a piping bag fitted with a St. Honore nozzle.
Assembly
1. Remove your lemon crème pâtissière from the fridge and whisk it for 15-20 seconds to loosen it a little. Add it to a piping bag.
2. Take a donut and cut it lengthways down the middle. Pipe in some lemon creme patissiere until it reaches the top of the donut, then smooth it with a palette knife. Repeat with the rest of the donuts.
3. Next, take your meringue and in a zig zag motion, pipe it down the middle of your donut. Then, using a blow torch, lightly torch the top of your meringue until it’s slightly brown. Repeat with the rest of the donuts.
4. Garnish with your candied lemon peel.
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Vanilla Glazed Donuts
TIER 1
Vanilla Glazed Donuts
In Tier 1 we start with a classic glazed donut. I walk you through my (new) favourite donut dough, how to create the iconic donut shape, and how to fry your donuts to perfection. Then we smother them in an insane vanilla glaze for that classic Krispy Kreme finish. The end result is the lightest, fluffiest donuts – it’s a struggle just to eat one!
6-7
DONUTS
Ingredients
Makes 6-7 Donuts
Donut Dough
550g Strong White Bread Flour
125g Whole Milk
7g Instant Dry Yeast
200g Whole Eggs
12g Fine Sea Salt
125g Unsalted Butter, Cold + Small Cubes
75g Caster/Granulated Sugar
20g Powdered Milk (Full Fat)
10g Vanilla Extract
Vanilla Glaze
500g Icing/Powdered Sugar
20g Glucose (or Golden Syrup)
80g Whole Milk
25g Water
15g Double/Heavy Cream
1 Tsp Vanilla Bean Paste or 1 Fresh Vanilla Pods
Zest ¼ Lemon
Pinch of Fine Sea Salt
3 Litres of Vegetable Oil For Frying
Special equipment
Stand mixer
Oil spray (optional)
80mm cookie cutter
30mm cookie cutter
Piping bag
Deep fat fryer (optional but recommended)
Method
Donut Dough
1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the wet ingredients, followed by the dry. Attach the dough hook and mix it on a medium speed for 10 minutes, scraping down the bowl every 3-4 minutes.
2. After 10 minutes, turn the mixer off and let the dough rest for 5 minutes. This will relax the gluten and make the next part of the mixing easier!
3. Turn the mixer back on, and knead for a further 10-12 minutes. The dough should start to come away from the sides of the bowl, but there will still be a little bit stuck to the edges.
4. Remove it from the mixer and lift the dough onto your work surface. Give it a quick knead and shape it into a nice tight ball. The dough should feel smooth and pass the windowpane test when you stretch a small piece of the dough.
5. Lift it into a lightly oiled bowl, then lightly spray the top of the dough with an oil spray and cover the surface directly with cling film. Cover the bowl with a sheet of cling film too and refrigerate the dough overnight (12-18 hours). This will make it much easier to work with.
6. Before you are ready to work with the dough, prep a baking tray by cutting 6-7 squares of parchment paper and lightly oiling them before placing them on the tray. This will make it easier to transfer the donuts to the fryer.
7. The next day remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Very lightly flour your work surface and lift the dough on. Lightly flour the top of the dough and a rolling pin, and roll the dough out, the shape doesn’t matter, but you want it to be around 12-15mm thick (0.5”).
8. Take an 80mm cookie cutter and dip it in a bowl of flour to make sure it doesn’t stick to the dough. Press the cookie cutter into the dough. Then take your 30mm cookie cutter, dip it into the bowl of flour and press this into the centre of your donut to create a hole. Lift your donut onto a sheet of parchment paper, then repeat with the remaining dough.
9. Very lightly oil the top of the donuts with an oil spray, and then cover the entire tray with a sheet of cling film and allow the donuts to rise for 2-3 hours at room temperature. In warmer weather, 2 hours should be fine, but when it is colder it will be closer to 3 hours. The donuts should look puffier and will have increased in volume when they are done.
Vanilla Glaze
1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, sift in the icing sugar then add the remaining ingredients, starting with 80g of milk.
2. Beat the ingredients together with the paddle attachment. You want the consistency to resemble a runny glue, so add more milk if needed. Once you have the desired consistency, beat for a further 30 seconds on a medium-low speed, ensuring all the ingredients are combined.
3. Pour this into a piping bag, tie the end (so that the glaze doesn’t dry out) and set this to one side while you fry the donuts.
Frying
1. When the donuts are close to being proofed, add the oil to your deep fat fryer (or a large pan) and heat it to 170C/340F. A deep-fat fryer is ideal here as it is able to regulate the temperature at a much more consistent level vs frying in a pan.
2. When the donuts are ready, drop 1 at a time into the oil, and slowly peel off the sheet of parchment paper.
3. Fry for 90 seconds, flip, fry for 60 seconds, flip, fry for 15 seconds, flip, fry for 15 seconds.
4. Remove your donut and place it on a wire rack, allowing any excess oil to drip off. After a minute, coat the donut in your vanilla glaze. Repeat with the remaining donuts.
5. Best served the same day (I can’t not eat mine immediately!)
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Bagels
TIER 1
Bagels
This dough starts with a poolish, which is a type of pre-ferment – a little like a sourdough starter – that adds a real depth to the flavour of the bread. The dough is then shaped and poached to get that iconic bagel texture. You can go to town on the toppings here, my favourite is Everything Bagel seasoning, which you can either buy online or make yourself!
8
BAGELS
Ingredients
Makes 8 Bagels
Poolish
290g Water
3.5g Instant Dry Yeast/7g Fresh Yeast
185g Strong White Bread Flour
Dough
315g Strong White Bread Flour
10g Fine Sea Salt
20g Diastatic Malt Powder (Optional)
Poaching Liquid
3 Litres Water
1 ½ Tbsp Barley Malt Extract
1 Tbsp Baking Soda
Pinch of Salt
Bagel Seasoning To Finish
Special equipment
Stand mixer
Method
Poolish
1. Into a small bowl, add the yeast and water. Stir it together to dissolve, then add in the flour. Whisk this through with a hand whisk to create a wet batter with no lumps of flour.
2. Cover the bowl with a sheet of cling film and leave it at room temperature for 3 hours. After 3 hours you should see lots of bubbles on the surface and the mixture will have puffed up.
Dough
1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the poolish that has bubbled up, and the remaining ingredients. It is ideal to use diastatic malt powder here to help with the flavour and the colouring of the bagels. You can leave it out, or add a little bit of barley malt syrup instead (2 tsp) as a replacement.
2. Attach the dough hook and mix on a medium speed for 10-12 minutes, until the dough is smooth and when you take a small piece of dough and stretch it between your fingers, it passes the window pane test.
3. Shape the dough into a ball, and then place it into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl and chill the dough for 30 minutes in the fridge.
4. Once chilled, cut the dough into 100g pieces, and roll them into tight balls.
5. Place them onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper, and lightly spray the top with cooking oil. If you don’t have cooking spray you can very lightly brush them with any type of neutral oil.
6. Cover the surface with cling film and refrigerate again for 30 minutes.
7. Take the chilled dough, and use your finger to press a hold in the centre. Then place both index fingers in the hole and spin them around, to create a large hole in the centre of the bagel. The hole needs to be bigger than you think as it will shrink as it proofs and bakes.
8. Place the donuts back onto a tray, lightly oil and cover them with cling film again. Proof for 30 minutes at room temperature, before placing them in the fridge overnight or for 12 hours.
9. The next day, prepare a large baking tray with your chosen bagel toppings. Preheat the oven to 220C/430F Non-Fan assisted.
10. Take a large pot and add the water, malt extract, baking soda and salt. Bring this to a gentle simmer.
11. Working in batches, poach the bagels in the liquid, for 60 seconds on each side (I do two batches of 3 bagels, then a final batch of 2 bagels).
12. Immediately remove them from the liquid using a slotted spoon, and lift them directly onto a wire rack to drain briefly.
13. Next, working quickly, lift them into your bagel seasoning. Flip the bagels to ensure they are evenly coated in the seasoning. Lift the coated bagels onto a baking tray lined with a sheet of parchment paper.
14. Bake the bagels for 20-22 minutes, or until they are a deep golden brown colour. Note – you’ll probably only be able to fit 6 bagels on your baking tray at a time, so I bake 6 bagels first, leaving the remaining 2 bagels in the fridge, before poaching and baking them. Alternatively, you can bake all 8 at once on two separate trays, ensuring you swap the trays over halfway through the bake.
15. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool or serve slightly warm. These are best stored in an airtight container and eaten within 48 hours but may need to be heated up slightly if left for over a day.
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Vienna Bread
TIER 2
Vienna Bread
This is more of an enriched dough, which makes the bread really soft. It’s like a hybrid between a Japanese milk bread and a French brioche. The shaping technique is what makes this recipe a little more tricky, so make sure to watch the video so you can follow my step-by-step instructions. Slashing the dough gives these loaves their classic Viennese style, and I’d recommend adding some sesame seeds to the top to finish them off.
8
MINI LOAVES
Ingredients
Makes 8 Mini Loaves
500g Strong White Bread Flour
10g Fine Sea Salt
40g Caster Sugar
20g Fresh Yeast or 10g Instant Dry Yeast
75g Whole Eggs
225g Whole Milk, Cold
125g Unsalted Butter, Cold & Cubed
Toppings of choice to finish (optional)
Special equipment
Stand mixer
Razor blades
Perforated baguette mould (optional)
Method
1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add all of the ingredients, except the butter.
2. Knead the dough on a medium-low speed for 5 minutes, scraping down the sides occasionally to ensure nothing is sticking to the edges.
3. After 5 minutes, add the cold cubed butter a few pieces at a time, waiting about 10 seconds in between each addition.
4. Once you have added all the butter, knead for 5 minutes and then turn your stand mixer off for 5 minutes. This will help with the development of the gluten and make it easier to knead. After 5 minutes, knead for a further 7 minutes, or until the dough appears smooth, and a small piece of dough passes the windowpane test. This is where you take a small piece of dough and stretch it out between your fingers. The dough shouldn’t tear, and you should be able to see through the dough. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Scoop the dough onto your work surface and give it a brief knead and smooth it into a round ball.
6. Very lightly oil a large bowl and lift the dough into it. Cover the bowl with a sheet of cling film and refrigerate the dough overnight/12 hours.
7. Once chilled, remove the dough from the fridge and cut it into 80g pieces. This will give you ‘demi baguette’ size loaves. If you want large loaves, almost like a large baguette, you can do 160g pieces.
8. Shape the dough into rough balls, and cover them with a tea towel and allow to rest for 5 minutes on the work surface.
9. Once rested, flip the dough over so the seam is facing up, and use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a rough oval shape. You will need a little bit of flour to stop it sticking as you roll but avoid using too much otherwise it will be difficult to seal them.
10. Take the oval and with the long edge in line with your body, fold one third of the dough towards the centre, and firmly seal it to the dough with the heel of your hand.
11. Rotate the dough 180 degrees, and fold the top ⅓ of the dough into the centre and seal it with the heel of your hand.
12. Then fold the top edge of the dough all the way over to meet the bottom edge. Seal it again firmly with the heel of your hand.
13. Then just lightly roll the sealed dough back and forth under both hands.
14. The buns can be left plain or covered in seeds. If you want to cover them in a topping, simply brush some water over the bun, then coat it liberally with your topping.
15. The vienna bread has an iconic slashed design, so using a very sharp razor blade, make slashes at a slight angle across the entire loaf. Slash deeper than you may think.
16. These are traditionally baked in perforated baguette moulds – they create a perfect shape for the vienna bread and allow for even air flow. Alternatively you can simply place them on a tray lined with a baking sheet.
17. Lift them onto the tray, evenly spaced and proof at room temperature, covered with a tea towel, for 2 hours. They should have doubled in size.
18. Just before they have proofed, pre-heat the oven to 200C/390F Non-Fan Assisted.
19. Once proofed, splash a small amount of water into the bottom of the oven, and then place them into the centre, baking for around 18-20 minutes or until golden in colour.
20. Remove them from the oven, and allow to cool slightly before serving. These are best stored in an airtight container and eaten within 48 hours.
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Tarte Tropézienne
TIER 2
Tarte Tropézienne
This recipe uses the same style of enriched dough as Tier 1, but we add a few more elements to level it up. We make a crème diplomate for the centre of the cake, and top it with a streusel. Traditional Tarte Tropézienne also has pearl sugar on top which gives it a lovely crunch! If you want to level this up even more, try adding some of the raspberry gel from the Maritozzi Marchigiani!
2
TARTE TROPÉZIENNE
Ingredients
Makes 2 Tarte Tropeziennes
For the dough
150g Whole Milk
90g Double/Heavy Cream
180g Whole Eggs
120g Caster Sugar
12g Salt
120g Plain Flour
495g French Strong Patisserie Flour (you are looking for white patisserie flour with a protein content of around 11-12%. Alternatively you could use white bread flour)
12g Instant Dry Yeast
Zest 1 Medium Orange
120g Unsalted Butter, Cold + Cubed
For the crème pâtissière
500g Whole Milk
1 fresh vanilla bean pod/1.5 tsp vanilla bean paste
75g Caster Sugar
120g Egg Yolks
40g Cornstarch
Pinch of Sea Salt Flakes
For the crème diplomat
Crème pâtissière (Above)
Weight of crème pâtissière in Double/Heavy Cream
For the egg wash
60g Whole Egg
5g Double/Heavy Cream
For the streusel
25g Demerara Sugar (or light brown sugar)
25g Unsalted Butter, Cold
25g Plain/All Purpose Flour
25g Ground Almonds
For the sugar syrup
50g Water
50g Sugar
To bake
Pearl sugar
Special equipment
Stand mixer
7″ cake tin/7″ ring mould
Method
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the orange zest followed by the milk, eggs and cream. On top of this, add the sugar, salt, flours and yeast. Knead the dough on a medium speed for around 15 minutes, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl throughout to ensure all the mixture is combined.
2. Next, slowly add the cubed butter a few pieces at a time, leaving about 20-30 seconds between each addition. Continue kneading for 12-15 minutes, until the dough comes away cleanly from the side of the bowl.
3. Once kneaded, take your dough out of the bowl and shape into a ball. Put it in a lightly greased bowl and lightly grease the top of the dough. Cover the top of the dough directly with cling film, and then cover the bowl with cling film. Proof in the fridge overnight (minimum 12 hours)
4. The next day, once your dough has proofed, take it out of the bowl and place it on a lightly floured surface. Lightly flour the top of the dough and your rolling pin, and roll it out into an oval shape to approximately half an inch thick.
5. Cut two circles out of your dough, the same circumference as the bottom of your cake tin or ring mould. (If you’re using a ring mould, you can use the ring mould to cut the dough. If you’re using a cake tin, you can use a pizza wheel to cut around the bottom of the tin.)
6. Place the dough into your greased and lined cake tins/ring moulds. Cover with a tea towel and leave to proof for 2-2.5 hours. Whilst proofing, make your crème pâtissière.
7. Start the crème pâtissière by heating milk and vanilla in a saucepan over a medium heat. Whilst this is heating up, in a separate bowl whisk together the egg yolk, sugar, cornstarch and salt.
8. Once the milk has come to a gentle simmer, slowly pour it over the top of the egg mixture, whisking constantly.
9. Pour the combined mixture back into the saucepan and continue whisking until the mixture starts to thicken. It will take about two minutes to come to a boil. Once it reaches this point, heat and whisk for a further minute to cook out all the cornstarch. You should be left with a thick, pudding-like consistency.
10. Pass the mixture through a sieve onto a baking tray lined with cling film. Cover the surface of the mixture directly with cling film and chill in the fridge for 2 hours. Meanwhile, make the streusel.
11. In a bowl, add all your ingredients and combine them together with your hands until the butter has broken down and it’s a sand-like consistency. Then squeeze the streusel into a ball, cover it in cling film and chill it in the fridge for at least an hour.
12. Just before the dough has finished proofing, preheat your oven to 160C/320F Non- Fan Assisted.
13. Make the egg wash by whisking together the eggs and cream in a bowl. Lightly brush the top of your cakes with the egg wash, then grate the streusel over the top (you’ll have some leftover). Lastly, add a good amount of pearl sugar. Bake the cakes for 35 minutes, until the inside of the cakes are above 90C. Whilst your cakes are baking, make the sugar syrup.
14. In a saucepan, add the sugar and water and bring to a gentle simmer. Stir until all the sugar has dissolved, then leave to one side to cool.
15. Once baked, take your cakes out of their tins and leave to cool on a wire rack (approximately 45 minutes)
16. Once cooled, cut the cakes in half and brush your sugar syrup over the bottom half of the cakes. Next, make your crème diplomate.
17. Take your crème pâtissière out of the fridge and weigh it in a bowl (you should have approximately 525g). Weigh the same weight in double cream and whisk in a bowl until you have a medium stiff peak. It’s important that the cream is not under whipped as if it is too soft, it will result in a soft crème diplomate that won’t be able to support the weight of the brioche and it will ‘smoosh’ out when you place the lid on top.
18. Going back to your crème pâtissière, whisk it lightly until smooth, then fold in your whipped cream a third at a time, until it’s just combined. This is your crème diplomate. Add the mixture to a piping bag with a 15mm round tip nozzle.
19. Pipe the cream in large droplets all over the base of the cakes, then gently put the tops of the cakes back on top. Dust with icing sugar, then your cakes are ready to serve!
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Chocolate Babka
TIER 1
Chocolate Babka
I love the design of this Babka! It’s such a showstopper and so unbelievably tasty. This recipe teaches you the foundations of enriched dough, which we fill with a super easy chocolate filling. It’s just the braiding that requires a bit more brain power, but watch the video and I’ll walk you through it step by step – I promise it’s easier than it looks!
2
BABKAS
Ingredients
Makes 2 Babkas
For the dough
750g White Bread Flour
150g Caster Sugar
15g Instant Dry Yeast
225g Whole Milk
165g Whole Eggs
9g Salt
1 Tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
150g Unsalted Butter, Cold + Cubed
For the chocolate filling
240g Unsalted Butter
160g Caster Sugar
80g Cocoa Powder
Pinch of sea salt flakes
For the egg wash
2 Egg Yolks (35g)
Splash of Water
For the sugar syrup
100g Caster Sugar
100g Water
Special equipment
Stand mixer
2 x 2lb loaf tins
Method
1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk and eggs followed by the strong white bread flour, the sugar, salt and yeast. Lastly, add the vanilla bean paste. Knead together on a medium-low speed (speed 3 on a KitchenAid) for 8 minutes.
2. Next, slowly add the butter a few pieces at a time (waiting 20-30 seconds between each addition), and keep kneading until smooth. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure all the butter is incorporated. This will take about 10-12 minutes.
3. Once your dough is ready, lift it out of the bowl and shape it into a tight ball. Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl and lightly grease the top of the dough (I use an oil spray but alternatively, you can put some oil on your hands and gently rub the dough). Cover the surface of the dough directly with cling film, and the top of the bowl. Chill in the fridge overnight (minimum 12 hours).
4. Just before you’re ready to roll your dough, make the chocolate filling.
5. In a saucepan, melt the butter over a medium heat
6. In a separate bowl, add the sugar, cocoa powder and salt
7. Once your butter has melted, pour it over the dry ingredients and whisk until combined
8. Allow the mixture to cool at room temperature for about 15 minutes, stirring with a spatula occasionally until it becomes the consistency of soft butter. It may take longer if your room temperature is a little warmer. To speed it up, just pop it in the fridge and stir every few minutes.
9. Once your Babka dough has chilled, lightly flour your surface and place the dough on top. Flour the dough and roll it out to roughly 18”x24” (roughly the width of your two loaf tins placed side by side). The dough should be nice and thin.
10. Next, spread your chocolate filling all over the top of the dough, right to the edges.
11. Using your hands, starting with the edge closest to you, roll the dough into a tight log, then place it in the freezer for 10 minutes (you can bend it slightly to make sure it fits!).
12. Once your dough has chilled, cut off any rough ends and then cut the dough lengthways directly down the centre. Next, place one half of the log over the top of the other half in a cross shape. Starting with one side of the cross, braid the dough into a tight plait, then repeat with the other side.
13. Line the bottom of your loaf tins with a piece of parchment paper. Place one of your tins next to the dough, cut the dough to the same length as the tin, then place it in your tin. Repeat with the other tin. You’ll likely have a little dough remaining.
14. Cover the tins with a tea towel and leave to proof for 2 hours. If you’re in a particularly cold kitchen, you can put your tins in the oven and add a small cup of boiling water to the bottom of the oven. Replace this every 30 minutes or so to speed up the proofing process slightly.
15. Preheat the oven to 160C/320F Non- Fan Assisted just before the time is up.
16. Once your Babkas have proofed, mix together the egg wash ingredients and paint it over the Babkas.
17. Just before adding your Babkas to the oven, add some boiling water to a tray and place this on the bottom shelf of your oven. Add the Babkas to the middle shelf and bake for 60-70 minutes. To check they are cooked in the middle, probe the centre of the Babkas with a digital thermometer – they should be over 90C/195F.
18. Whilst the Babkas are baking, make your sugar syrup. Add the water and sugar to a saucepan and stir over a medium heat until it’s gently simmering and all the sugar has dissolved.
19. Once baked, remove the Babkas from the oven and lightly run a knife around the outside of the tins to loosen them. Tip them onto a wire rack and use a pastry brush to soak them in the sugar syrup. Wrap the Babkas in cling film and leave to cool for 1 hour. It’s important to leave them for an hour to allow the middle of the Babkas to completely set.
20. Once cooled, your Babka’s are ready to serve! They’re best eaten straight away (or within a few hours) as they have the tendency to dry out a little, but if you want to serve them later I’d pop them in the oven for 5-7 minutes before serving.
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Raspberry Maritozzi Marchigiani
TIER 2
Raspberry Maritozzi Marchigiani
For this recipe, we use the same dough as Tier 1 but we turn it into a more advanced shape. We make a raspberry reduction and a raspberry gel which really takes it to the next level. I’ve not added crème pâtissière to this one, but you easily can to add that extra bit of decadence. I’ve topped it with raspberry powder and edible flowers to give it that extra wow factor.
6
LONG BUNS
Ingredients
Makes 6 Long Buns
For the raspberry gel + raspberry reduction
400g Frozen Raspberries
40g Caster/Granulated Sugar
Agar Agar Powder
For the dough
315g White Bread Flour
25g Caster/Granulated Sugar
6g Instant Dry Yeast
5.5g Sea Salt
55g Whole Eggs
160g Whole Milk
Zest ½ Lemon
2g Vanilla Bean Paste (1 Tsp)
55g Unsalted Butter, Cold + Cubed
For the egg wash
50g Whole Egg
5g Whole Milk
For the vanilla cream
300g Double/Heavy Cream
5g Icing/Powdered Sugar
To Decorate
Raspberry Powder
Edible Flowers (Micro Amaranth, Wood Sorrel)
Special equipment
Stand mixer with paddle and whisk attachments
Hand blender
Piping bag
Palette knife
Method
For the Raspberry Gel and Reduction
1. Into a medium heat-proof bowl, add the frozen raspberries and pour the sugar over the top. Toss them gently to combine. Tightly wrap the surface of the bowl with cling film so that it is completely sealed.
2. Place a medium saucepan on the hob, filling it ⅓ with water. Bring this to a gentle simmer.
3. Immediately lower the heat to its lowest setting and place the bowl of raspberries on top. Let this sit on the pan for 2 hours.
4. After 2 hours, place a sieve lined with kitchen paper over a large bowl and pour the cooked raspberries into the sieve.
5. Place the bowl into the fridge for 2 hours (or ideally overnight), allowing the raspberry syrup to drip into the bowl underneath.
6. Scoop the raspberry reduction out of the sieve and scoop this into a bowl. Cover it and refrigerate until ready to use.
7. Take the raspberry liquid from the bowl, and pour it into a jug sitting on a digital scale. For every 100g of raspberry syrup, we are going to add 1g of agar agar powder. (So for example, if the liquid weighs 120g, add 1.2g of agar agar powder)
8. Add the raspberry syrup and the agar agar powder into a saucepan and bring it to a boil, whisking to combine. Once at a boil, cook for 1 minute.
9. Remove it from the heat and pour it onto a shallow baking tray and set it in the fridge to cool until firm to the touch (this should take about 30 minutes).
10. Once firm, break the gel into pieces and blend until smooth. Set this gel aside, covered in the fridge, until ready to use.
For the Dough
1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add milk, eggs and yeast. On top of that, pour the flour, sugar & finally the salt. Add in the lemon zest & vanilla.
2. Knead the dough for 10 minutes on a medium low speed, scraping down the sides half way through to make sure everything is incorporated.
3. After 10 minutes, add in the cubed cold butter a little at a time, and increase the speed to medium. Once all the butter has incorporated, knead for a further 3 minutes by which point the dough should be nice and smooth.
4. Lift the dough out of the bowl and onto your work surface. Gently shape it into a smooth round ball and lift it into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film and proof the dough for 1 hour, or until it has doubled in size.
5. Once proofed, remove the dough from the bowl and cut it into 100g pieces. You should get 6 pieces of dough in total.
6. Take each piece of dough and roughly shape it into a tight ball. Then, using your hand, flatten the dough into a rough oval shape, flip it over, so the smooth side is now facing down, and the short edge of the dough is facing towards you.
7. If the dough has started to contract, just press it out again with your fingers.
8. Use your fingers to gently blend the bottom edge of the dough into the work surface. Then, starting at the top, tightly roll the dough on itself, into a log shape. You might need a tiny bit of flour on your hands as you do this, but avoid using too much or it will prevent the dough from sticking together.
9. Once you’ve got the log shape, gently roll it back and forth on the surface, and then use your fingers to apply some pressure at the ends of the dough, pressing down and rocking the dough back and forth, to form small ‘tails’ on the end of the dough (almost like a baguette)
10. Carefully lift the dough, seams side down, onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper, and repeat with the remaining dough.
11. Cover the dough loosely with a tea towel and allow it to proof again for another 1-1.5 hours until the dough has increased in size about 1.5x.
12. Just before the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 180C/355F (non-fan assisted).
13. Prepare the egg wash by whisking together the egg and milk.
14. Use a pastry brush to paint an even coating over the dough and then place the dough into the oven and bake for around 25 minutes, or until golden brown.
15. Remove from the oven and lift them onto a wire cooling rack, to cool completely.
For the cream
1. In a stand mixer, whisk together the double cream and icing sugar until you have a medium peak.
Assembly
1. Cut your bun down the centre (like a hot dog!) and add a small amount of the raspberry pulp across the bottom of the bun. I wouldn’t recommend overloading your bun with this! If you want to take this to the next level, you can also add some crème pâtissière from Tier 1 too!
2. Fill the rest of the bun with the whipped cream. Then, using a warm palette knife, scrape across the edge of the bun to smooth the cream and create a nice clean finish. You’ll be left with a little cream around the edges, so I tend to use my (clean!) finger to remove this.
3. Next, add your raspberry gel to a piping bag and cut a small hole at the end. Pipe the gel onto your bun as you wish. I went full-on hot dog and piped mine like ketchup in a zigzag pattern over the cream.
4. Finally, dust your optional raspberry powder over the top of the bun, and add the optional edible flowers. Repeat for all buns.
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Maritozzi
TIER 1
Maritozzi
Here we learn the fundamentals of Maritozzi dough, and how to shape it into the traditional Maritozzi style. I show you how to make the dough by hand, but you can stick it in a stand mixer if you have one. After a lot of messages on Instagram I found out a traditional Maritozzi has a little bit of crème pâtissière hidden inside – this adds an extra bit of sweetness which is divine! Filled with whipped cream, they’re a mouthful to eat but absolutely delicious.
7
MARITOZZI
Ingredients
Makes 7 Maritozzi
For the dough
315g White Bread Flour
25g Caster/Granulated Sugar
6g Instant Dry Yeast
5.5g Sea Salt
55g Whole Eggs
160g Whole Milk
Zest ½ Lemon
2g Vanilla Bean Paste (1 Tsp)
55g Unsalted Butter, Cold + Cubed
For the egg wash
50g Whole Egg
5g Whole Milk
For the crème pâtissière
250ml Whole Milk
38g Caster/Granulated Sugar
20g Cornflour/Cornstarch
Pinch of Salt
60g Egg Yolk
2g Vanilla Bean Paste (1 Tsp)
20g Unsalted Butter, Cold + Cubed
For the whipped cream
450g Double/Heavy Cream
10g Icing/Powdered Sugar
Special equipment
Stand mixer with whisk attachment
Dough scraper
Piping bag
Palette knife
Method
For the Dough
1. In a bowl, mix together the milk, eggs and yeast.
2. On top of that, pour the flour, sugar & finally the salt. Add in the lemon zest & vanilla.
3. Using a dough scraper, combine all the ingredients until there is no liquid left over. You’ll be left with a rough dough.
4. On a clean surface, knead the dough together. To do this, hold the edge of the dough with your non-dominant hand, then with the heel of your dominant hand push the dough away from you, and then pull it over back towards you. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat for 10 minutes. (Alternatively knead in a stand mixer for 10 minutes on a medium low speed, scraping down the sides halfway through to make sure everything is incorporated). You should be left with a smoother dough, but not very elastic.
5. Add the cubed cold butter into the centre of your dough and continue to knead. If kneading by hand, you’ll want to move a little faster and can push with the heel of your hand a few times before rotating. If using a stand mixer, increase the speed to medium. Once all the butter has been incorporated, knead for a further 3 minutes by which point the dough should be nice and smooth.
6. Lift the dough out of the bowl and onto your work surface. Gently shape it into a smooth round ball and lift it into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film and proof the dough for 1 hour, or until it has doubled in size. *You can make the Crème Pâtissière during this time.
7. Once proofed, remove the dough from the bowl and cut it into 85g pieces. You should get 7 pieces of dough in total.
8. Take a piece of dough rough side up and pinch around the edges, bringing the dough into the centre (this creates tension to help create a more smooth ball). Then turn the dough smooth side up and, with your hand in a C shape, circle your hand repeatedly around the dough to make a nice even ball.
9. Carefully lift the dough ball onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper, and repeat with the remaining dough.
10. Cover the dough loosely with a tea towel and allow it to proof again for another 1-1.5 hours until the dough has increased in size about 1.5x.
11. Just before the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 180C/355F (non-fan assisted).
12. Prepare the egg wash by whisking together the egg and milk.
13. Use a pastry brush to paint an even coating over the dough and then place the dough into the oven and bake for around 22-25 minutes, or until golden brown.
14. Remove from the oven and lift them onto a wire cooling rack, to cool completely.
For the Crème Pâtissière
1. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolk, sugar, salt and cornflour for 30 seconds until thick.
2. To a saucepan over a medium heat, add the whole milk and vanilla bean paste. Gently whisk until the milk is steaming (but not boiling).
3. Once steaming, slowly pour the hot milk over the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the combined mixture back into the pan and cook on a medium heat. Keep whisking and then once it starts to bubble, cook for a further minute.
4. Next, pass the mixture through a sieve over a bowl with the cold butter in. Whisk to combine.
5. Cover the surface of the mixture directly with cling film, then chill until you’re ready to assemble your buns.
For the cream
1. In a stand mixer (or by hand if you wish!), whisk together the double cream and icing sugar until you have a medium peak.
Assembly
1. Whisk the crème pâtissière for about 30 seconds by hand, to loosen it, then add it to a piping bag.
2. Once your buns are cooled, starting slightly off-centre, cut through the bun with a knife at 45 degree angle. Don’t cut all the way through the bun (watch the video!).
3. Pipe some crème pâtissière into the corner of the bun, filling it about ⅕ full.
4. Fill the rest of the bun with the whipped cream. Then, using a warm palette knife, scrape across the edge of the bun to smooth the cream and create a nice clean finish. You’ll be left with a little cream across the edges, so I tend to use my (clean!) finger to remove this.
5. Repeat with all the buns, then dust with icing sugar to finish.
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French Baguette
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Pain De Mie
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Pain De Campagne
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Coffee Brioche
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Kanelbullar (Cinnamon Rolls)
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Classic Donut
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Sourdough Country Loaf
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Sourdough Focaccia
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Brioche Feuilletée
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Japanese Milk Bread
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