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WHEN YOU CAN'T BE IN PARIS...

3/7/2009

15 Comments

 

  So what do I do when I dream of being in Paris and can't?  I bake French pastry and try to trick my mind into thinking I am actually there.  Sad, but true, I doubt I will be visiting Paris anytime soon.  Never say never, but I just don't think this is the year.  After my trip last summer, I came home to stories of my dog Pipi acting suicidal while I was gone.  That's when I said, as long as I have Pipi I cannot travel anywhere without her.  (But, give me a convincing argument why I should go, and who knows... )

  A pastry that you will see in many of the pâtisseries in Paris is Brioches aux Gouttes de Chocolat (chocolate chip brioches).  I found Patisserie Gérard Mulot's recipe for this in the book, Paris Boulangerie Pâtisserie, by Linda Dannenberg.  It takes some time, but is worth every minute.  This brioches recipe is my favorite.  I've always had fantastic results.  After the second rise, in the refrigerator, it is rolled rather thin into a large rectangle and spread with vanilla pastry cream then sprinkled with chocolate chips before folding and cutting into thin strips.  Any brioche dough that is left, I form into a ball and bake. 

                                   Brioches aux Gouttes de Chocolat
                     from Paris Boulangerie Pâtisserie by Linda Dannenberg

Brioche Dough:
• 2 tablespoons lukewarm water
• 2 teaspoons dry yeast
• 4 cups (500 G sifted all-purpose flour)
• 1/4 cup (50 G sugar)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 5 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
Pastry Cream:
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Assembly:
• 4 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 large egg, well beaten, for glaze

Brioche Dough:  Place the lukewarm water in a small bowl and sprinkle with the yeast.  Let stand for 10 minutes, then transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook or a large mixing bowl.  Add the sifted flour, sugar, salt and 3 eggs.  Mix at low speed until blended, using the dough hook or by hand with a wooden spoon.  Gradually add the remaining 2 eggs and raise the speed to medium.  Mix until the dough is smooth, elastic, and fairly soft, about 10 minutes.  When it is ready, it should stick to the sides and bottom of the bowl. * My dough was extremely dry and I had to add additional water until I got the texture of dough described above *  Gradually add the butter 2 tablespoons at a time, mixing just until it has been absorbed, then quickly adding more.  Don't overmix, or the dough will become warm.  Transfer the dough to a buttered large mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm, draft-free place until the dough has doubled in volume, 1 1/2 to 2 hours (my house is always cold and took quite a while to double, probably more like 4 hours).  Punch down or fold the dough over onto itself.  Cover again with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight

Pastry Cream:  Bring the milk and vanilla bean to a boil over medium-high heat in a heavy saucepan.  In a large nonaluminum mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar, then add the cornstarch and whisk until well blended.  Gradually pour the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, then return the mixure to the saucepan and bring to a boil.  Boil over medium-high heat, whisking vigorously, for 2 minutes.  Strain the cream into a clean mixing bowl; if you are using vanilla extract, add it now.  Place a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the custard.  Cool, then chill at least 1 hour, and up to 3 days. 

Assembly:  Roll out the cold dough on a lightly floured work surface to a 12 x 18-inch rectangle, about 1/8-inch thick.  Stir the cold pastry cream once or twice to smooth it.  With a spatula, spread 1 cup of the pastry cream over the surface in a thin layer.  Scatter the chocolate pieces  over the top.  Fold the short ends of the rectangle toward the middle, so one short end meets the other in the center.  With a very sharp knife, cut the dough in half along the center seam.  Cut each half crosswise in 12 strips, cutting decisively all the way through so the dough doesn't pull.  Place the strips on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spacing about 3/4-inch apart.  Cover loosly with plastic wrap and let rise until the dough is puffy-- about 1 1/2 hours.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Lightly brush the tops of the dough strips with the beaten egg.  Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.  Cool the brioches in the pan on a wire rack.  * Cutting the strips of brioches as described in the recipe will give you 24 pastries.  I have previously cut the dough to give me 18 pastries, which I think had better results.  The top dough tends to slide on the pastry cream and chocolate during the last rise and again in the baking, and I found this to be less of a problem when the strips were cut a little wider. 

15 Comments
la marquise des anges link
3/8/2009 08:54:01 am

they look awesome. this is one [ so hard to just have one favorite] pastry !!
in my area (south of france) we call this patisserie *pepito* ... probably because it has chocolate "pepites" in it .

yours seriously look even better than my favorite patissier's one !!! great pic !

Reply
Virginie link
3/8/2009 10:14:00 am

Oh! Those are my favorite petit pain! I can't believe you made them at home...incredible.

Reply
Julie at Strongrrl link
3/8/2009 01:08:47 pm

Wow! Very impressive. They look beautiful and your photos are great. What kind of lighting do you use?

I personally wouldn't dare bake these as I would be completely unable to resist the temptation to eat.them.all. I can almost hear them calling to me from here!

Reply
Zoe Francois link
3/8/2009 01:18:45 pm

Good God these look so good! Fabulous!!!

Reply
Susan link
3/8/2009 11:41:34 pm

I purchased my first brioche pan and I have been afraid to use it. This recipe will be my inspiration ;) Your chocolate pastries look absolutely wonderful!

Reply
Eileen
3/9/2009 01:26:43 am

Julie,
I try to photograph in natural light at all times. I am also very fortunate to have a daughter that tweaks my photos and submits them for me to TasteSpotting. I run to her many times for help. I still have a lot to learn as far as technology is concerned ;)

Reply
Treehouse Chef link
3/9/2009 02:41:30 pm

You have so many wonderful recipes on your blog. I can't wait to try them, especially these blueberry muffins. Great photos. I will be back!

Reply
michelle link
3/10/2009 12:46:01 am

Would you consider the pastry cream very much like a vanilla custard? There is this wonderful french bakery in Saratoga, NY that sells these addictive vanilla custard with chocolate brioche. I have been trying to find a recipe ever since.

Reply
Miri link
1/16/2010 11:14:30 pm

I made these yesterday and we have really enjoyed them (our guests and us). Thanks a lot for sharing this great recipe!

Reply
Tenina link
1/19/2010 06:39:49 pm

Oh these look amazing...I am going to try these on the weekend. Stunning pics!

Reply
Chloe
7/27/2014 08:53:45 am

I loving buying a pepito from my local French patisserie on the mornings of my days off work. A lovely treat.
These look delicious.
Do you think you could freeze them after assembly but before baking? I'm moving soon and I'm not sure how I'll cope without my morning treat. Do you think I could stock pile in the freezer?

Reply
Eileen
7/27/2014 09:23:02 am

Hi Chloe -- I am going to advise against freezing before baking. I don't know how the pastry cream would hold up unbaked in the freezer.

Reply
Jessy Duke
6/15/2015 02:43:00 am

Thank you so much!!! I have been searching for this recipe! My hubby and I were in Paris 10 years ago and he had pepito everyday. This is going to be part of his Father's Day gift, and I know he'll love it!

Reply
Marisa Huffman
8/13/2022 04:13:06 pm

I made these from the book. They were so good. I know I didn't knead them enough because my dough never looked smooth. But they still looked like the pictures so I guess I did it. I made half of these with no chocolate. I used the zest of two oranges and put it in half the dough and then used cranberries as my chocolate chips in the orange dough. Sooooo good

Reply
Eileen
8/13/2022 04:27:59 pm

❤️

Reply



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