KBB #1–Paris Brest
This is the first event for Klub Berani Baking which is organized by Arfi. Almost all of the members are Indonesian food bloggers who love to bake and are willing to bake a certain challenge once every two months. Paris Brest is the challenge for the month of September and October.
Paris Brest is made from choux pastry that is formed into a ring because the story had it when there’s an old French bicycle race starting at Paris and ending in Brittany, Paris Brest was created to commemorate the event annually. That is why the shape is round like a bicycle wheel. Arfi has a recipe from Australian Women’s Weekly that is slightly different than a regular Paris Brest. This recipe asked the readers to make 8 small rings instead of a big one and it is adorned with toffee.
Honestly, I’ve never made a choux pastry before and funny that I never have a time to try it. The first time I made a try of this recipe was a week ago. I was confident that I’d succeed the first time I tried it. I read the instruction carefully and followed them methodically. Lo and behold, I failed. Again, I tried and still I failed. I was perplexed at what I did wrong. I read the recipe two, three times, they’re still the same as I’ve read before. I started to talk to my mom, who used to make choux pastry, and also consulted Arfi about my failure. I also looked up at a few baking books in a meantime. There’s one thing that my mom said that stuck in my head; that was to cool down the first stage of the dough before adding the egg (s). I came across another posting by Regina who participates in the club too. Her failed Paris Brest picture is exactly the same as what I had a week ago! I started to exchange messages with her and another friend, Irma, joined the conversation and told me that she also cooled down the dough before adding the egg. Bingo! I’m pretty sure that’s what made mine completely failed. I guess when I added the egg to a still hot dough, the egg seized/curdled and the result was a stiff paste. The recipe didn’t specify the cooling down period and me, an inexperienced choux pastry maker, didn’t know it in the beginning. Most of the book I read also specified that you needed to cool down for a few minutes before adding egg (s).
So with that knowledge I made it again this week and a huge relief flooded me when I saw that the pastry rose beautifully. Here’s a list of what I did differently with mine:
1. Added a pinch salt to the roux mixture.
2. I let the roux mixture cool down for 3 minutes before adding the egg. Then I beat with wooden spoon just until combined and the color of the mixture was glossy.
3. My oven temperature was set to 400°F. The timer was set to 15 minutes for the first half of the baking time.
4. I reduced the oven temperature to 350°F for 13 minutes for the second half of the baking time.
5. I pricked the sides of the rings with sharp knife, turned off the oven and left them for 10 minutes with the half of the oven door open.
6. When making pastry cream, I used wire whisk to mix egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch. I poured about 2 tablespoons of the hot milk into the mixture, whisked it and return the whole mixture to the remaining milk in the pan.
7. Instead of almonds, I used what I had on hand which was kenari nuts. I chopped and toasted them and scattered them around the finished Paris Brest rings.
In my excitement of getting these rings decorated with hot toffee, I was kind of sloppy now that I looked at the photos. What a mess of toffee indeed but still delicious since they add crunch to the pastry 
Here is the original recipe in case anyone is interested making these…
(italics are mine)
Toffee Paris Brest
Yields 8 4-cm rings
Choux Pastry:
20g butter—unsalted butter
1/4 cup (60ml) water
1/4 cup (35g) plain flour—all purpose flour
1 egg (the book is using 60g egg)—large egg
Pinch of salt
1. Preheat the oven to hot. Lightly grease two oven trays. Line with baking paper. Draw eight 4cm circles on each tray.
2. Combine butter (and a pinch of salt) with the water in small saucepan; bring to boil. Add flour; beat with wooden spoon over heat until mixture comes away from base and side of saucepan and forms a smooth ball.
3. Let mixture cool down for 3 minutes. Transfer mixture to small bowl; beat in egg with electric mixer (wooden spoon) until mixture becomes glossy.
4. Pipe choux pastry mixture around edge of each circle; bake in hot (400°F) oven for 7 minutes (15 minutes). Reduce heat to moderate (350°F); bake further 10 minutes (13 minutes) or until pastry rings are browned lightly and crisp. Cut each in half horizontally; bake further 5 minutes or until rings are dried out (Prick sideds of rings with sharp knife, turn off oven, leave the rings inside for 10 minutes with half of the oven door open). Cool to room temperature.
5. Spoon pastry cream into piping bag fitted with 1cm plain tube (I used star tube); pipe cream into 8 ring halves; top with remaining halves. Place paris-brest on foil-covered tray. Drizzle with toffee; top with 1/4 cup (20g) flaked almonds (I used chopped, toasted kenari).
Pastry Cream
1 cup (250ml) milk—preferably whole milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar—granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons cornflour—cornstarch
1. Bring milk, with vanilla bean added, to a boil in a small saucepan.
Discard vanilla bean.
2. Meanwhile, beat egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in small bowl with electric mixer until thick. With motor operating, gradually beat in milk mixture (I only used wire whisk, and pour about 2 tablespoons of hot milk, whisked it and return it to the milk in the pan). Return custard mixture to saucepan; stir over heat until mixture boils and thickens.
Toffee
1 cup (220g) caster sugar—granulated sugar
1/2 cup (125ml) water
1. Combine sugar with the water in medium heavy-saucepan frying pan.
Stir over heat, without boiling, until sugar dissolves; bring to boil.
2. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, without stirring, until mixture is golden-brown in colour. Remove from heat; stand until bubbles subside and toffee runs evenly from back of spoon.
Source: adapted from Australian Women’s Weekly
Lovely to hear you’ve finally overcome the difficulties. I didn’t cool my paste down as in the recipe asks us to transfer the paste into another bowl, and I think by transfering to another bowl can make the paste is cooling down automatically. I just add the egg afterwards and mixed it. However, the duration of removing the saucepan from the stove, keep stirring until the dough is forming a ball, to the time of transferring the paste dough into a bowl will cool down the paste. Good job, Liz!
whatever works ya Fi…this method worked for me the best!
Comment by arfi — October 7, 2007 @ 7:34 pm
Whoa, fabulous pictures. Love the lighting, Liz. Kudos!
thanks Ri…I was very lucky, the sun was setting so soon nowadays
Comment by Riana — October 8, 2007 @ 2:26 am
This reminded me of Gateau St. Honore I made before
this looks super delicious and your pictures are really stunning!
yeah…makes me want to make more fun with caramel/toffee
Comment by Anne — October 8, 2007 @ 3:16 am
these really do look very delicious and worth all the hard work u put in. i’ve choux only once before really long back and have almost forgotten what came out of it . Very thoughtful of you to add the tips.
glad to offer tips whenever I can Kate…
Comment by Kate — October 8, 2007 @ 5:17 am
I agree. Fabulous photo. I can almost taste it. I have to forward this recipe to my good friend. She is a fan of cream puffs.
thanks Lee Ping…though, I don’t know if this is a really great recipe. I have to try some other different ones first before casting my vote
Comment by Lee Ping Chong — October 9, 2007 @ 7:24 pm
duh cakep banget fotonya, presentasinya juga… jadi gak tahan nih pengen nyomot _
makasih ya Rit…sayang udah abis
Comment by rita bellnad — October 9, 2007 @ 10:05 pm
This reminds me of custard puff. But of course, Toffee Paris Brest is a more sophisticated name.
basically the same recipe, different appearance, tigerfish
Comment by tigerfish — October 10, 2007 @ 7:02 pm
Wow, these are lovely!! I have never tried makin choux pastry, will love to try it out. Thanks for sharing the recipe
you’re welcome…so you haven’t tried making choux pastry too, you’ll be amazed that it’s actually pretty easy.
Comment by Happy Homebaker — October 11, 2007 @ 4:27 pm
Liz, bener2 berani baking yah…. sukses nih say. hasilnya enak dilihat kalau dikasih lebih baik lagi kali yah:)
makanan apapun kalo dikasih sih enak aja Dwi heheh…
Comment by dwiana — October 12, 2007 @ 1:50 pm
Dear Liz,
I am back and what a delicious post I see here! I love the toffee decorations and would gladly have some of these – ok, I’ll be honest, I would have MANY of these!
Hi Patricia! good to hear you’re back…I have to go see your blog if there’s any story about your vacation.
Comment by Patricia Scarpin — October 13, 2007 @ 6:20 am
Messy toffee looks so pretty and yummy
hi Ellen…thanks for looking-looking
Comment by Ellen Antheunis — October 15, 2007 @ 3:02 am