Paris Pastry Club by Fanny Zanotti (ISBN 9781742704715)

PA R I S PA S T RY C L U B

PA R I S PA S T RY C L U B

by Fanny Za d no ve tt er i 150 g (5 oz) kneading S 100 g (3½ oz) piping 120 g (4 oz) whipping 100 g (3½ oz) drinking 2 teaspoons talking a fat pinch of laughter a pinch of crushed delight

A C O L L E C T I O N O F C A K E S , TA RT S , PA S T R I E S A N D O T H E R I N D U LG E N T R E C I P E S

Throughout the book, Fanny offers cheat’s tips on

sweet (and a few savoury) recipes – a combination of

how to make the perfect sugar syrup, prove dough,

family classics as well as her own creations, perfected in

use a piping bag, whisk egg whites like a pro and

between blogging and working as a successful pastry chef.

more. Whimsical and charming, with beautiful photography throughout, Paris Pastry Club will give

Indulge in Fanny’s wonderful food memories from her

you the confidence to release your inner pastry chef,

childhood in France by recreating her grandma’s Spicy

and is a must for anyone who loves to bake.

almond nougatine, her mama’s melt-in-the-mouth Orange & yoghurt cakes, and Friday-night Crêpes straight from

www.likeastrawberrymilk.com

her papa’s crêperie. Fanny’s own recipes feature a range of sweets, like the Earl Grey tea weekend loaf – essential for rainy Saturdays, to a comforting One-bowl tiramisu, and the Almost-instant chocolate fondant cake, ready in a flash. For more extravagant celebrations there’s an impressive Pistachio and cherry cake, a decadent Salted caramel & milk chocolate flan pâtissier, and a delightfully pink and fruity Peach Melba Charlotte.

Cover design: Charlotte Heal Design Photography: Helen Cathcart

S E R V E D BY FA N N Y Z A N OT T I

In Paris Pastry Club Fanny Zanotti shares her favourite

£20.00

BAKING

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paris pastry CLUB

4

introduction

6

notes on ...

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1: Classics ( E veryt hin g a girl nee ds to know)

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2: Some things are bound to happen ( lik e cho co late ca ke on a rainy day)

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3: Break-up menders ( treats f o r o n e)

4: breakfasts of kings ( o r an yo n e yo u want to wake up next to)

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5: lazy summer sweets ( f o r glittery d ays and balmy nights)

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6: Dinner party desserts ( the perf ect end to a perfect evening)

150

how to ...

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Acknowledgements & About the author

157

Index

contents

72

1 L e m o n & blueberry Ma d elei n es Va n illa ice - crea m w it h o li v e o il

Classics

SPICY NO U G AT I N E O R A NG E & Y OGH U R T C A K E s BABAS AU G I N & T ON I C C r ĂŞ pes au beurre n o isette m y f av o urite C h o c o late m o usse

( everything a girl needs to know )

PARIS PASTRY CLUB

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13

There are only so many things I know.

Getting lost, of the make-believe kind, in the Marais; the beauty of sunsets pretending to be rainbows.

Watching – and, more importantly, hearing – waves crash into the sand. And then see them disappear with the low tide, the sun sparkling in cloudy puddles the water has left behind. The flavour of vanilla icecream when our fingers still tasted of the ocean. The miniature merry-go-round of sand fleas jumping from one sandcastle to another. My grand-mère making madeleines and cakes, and clafoutis too. And me, sat on the kitchen counter.

Yes, I learnt how to bake during the summers I spent with my grandmother. On the weekends, she would knead butter into flour and add water. And tarts would be made throughout the week. Apricots and plums, golden and plump with sun. And on Wednesdays she would teach me how to make waffles. With beer in Nowadays her words still sound like music to me.

We discuss what we’re going to bake over a breakfast of French coffee and thick slices of baguette toasted until barely warm and spread with salted butter and honey. For lunch, she cracks open a few almonds (the ones in the green shells) with a hammer.

And then the oven gets turned on and we laugh and we try to make the cakes we dreamed about.

Yes, there are only so many things I know. For the unknown, I rely on magic and wishful thinking.

And my grand-mère. She’s the most beautiful person in my world. And when we bake together magic happens. Or perhaps it’s the boxed rosé wine we sip as soon as the clock hits five o’clock.

chapter 1

the batter.

14

p m ad el ei ne s M ak in g plu m in es is plu mp ma de le Th e se cr et to fo r er tt ba ch ill my he at sh oc k. I o, so to h -is ok e ur s (2 ar at le as t 3 ho d an es ey my cl os e go ah ea d, I’ll or ) ed en pp ha in g ev er pr et en d no th en ov my t ea eh d I pr up to 3 days . An mi nu te s fo r a go od 30 F) 0° (43 C to 22 0° in g to 18 0° C be fo re re duc th em .

(35 0° F) to ba ke

15

Lemon & blueberry m a d elei n es M

a

s ke

24 madele

in

es

80 g (2¾ oz) butter, really soft 100 g (3½ oz) caster (superfine) sugar 2 eggs zest from 2 lemons a pinch of sea salt 100 g (3½ oz) plain (all-purpose) flour ½ teaspoon baking powder (baking soda) a punnet of blueberries

Taking a tray of madeleines from the oven feels like pressing the shutter of a Polaroid camera. Boom, instant gratification.

The batter is made in advance – up to 3 days – because it makes for plump little cakes with the fat domes we’ve all come to love. And by the time you

Cream the butter with a tablespoon of the sugar. Whisk the remaining

bake them, you’ve forgotten the effort

sugar with the eggs, lemon zest and the pinch of salt in a separate bowl

you put into making the batter. Effort is

until light and fluffy.

somewhat misleading though. Eggs and sugar get whisked together until fluffy.

And flour gets folded. The only tricky step is to incorporate the butter without deflating the batter. But I’ve come up

Gently fold in the flour and baking powder until just combined.

Scoop out a third of the batter into the butter and mix vigorously.

Transfer into the remaining batter and fold in very gently.

Scrape the batter into a plastic piping bag and chill for at least 3 hours (or up to 3 days).

with a little trick to make that stage

Preheat the oven to 220°C (430°F). Butter and flour a madeleine pan.

easier after the commis-of-my-life tried

Snip a small 8 mm (1∕3 in) hole from the tip of the piping bag and pipe

to turn madeleines into pancakes: the

the batter three-quarters of the way up the prepared moulds. Stick two

butter is creamed with a tablespoon of

blueberries in each madeleine. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C

sugar until very soft and light. It’s then

(350°F) and bake for 14 minutes or until the edges are a deep-golden

mixed with a part of the batter before

brown and the domes are just beginning to brown.

getting folded back into the rest. Ever so gently.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack.

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17

Va n illa ice - crea m w it h o li v e o il ke Ma

s 2 litr

es

For the ice-cream 850 g (1 pint/ 12¾ fl oz) whole milk 175 g (6 oz) whipping cream 80 g (2¾ oz) skimmed milk powder 3 Tahitian vanilla pods 3 Madagascan vanilla pods 120 g (4 oz) caster (superfine) sugar 80 g (2¾ oz) dehydrated glucose 6 g (1∕₅ oz) ice-cream stabiliser To serve extra-virgin olive oil a sprinkle of sea salt Spicy Nougatine (page 19)

Pour the milk, cream and milk powder into a large saucepan. Slice open the vanilla pods and scrape the seeds into the milk, then roughly chop the pods into 5 mm (¼ in) long segments and add to these milk as well.

Set the pan over a medium heat and stir with a whisk every now and then until the temperature reaches 50°C (120°F) – use a probe to measure it.

In the meantime, place all of the remaining ingredients in a bowl and whisk really well to combine.

When the milk reaches temperature, slowly add the powders, whisking as you go, and bring to a rolling boil.

Remove from the heat and blitz using a stick-blender for 3 minutes.

Not unlike the memory of licking melted

Pour into a plastic container, lay clingfilm over the top so it touches the

ice-cream off my fingers made salty with

surface (to prevent a skin forming) and chill for at least 5 hours or, even

the ocean, this has become a summer

better, overnight.

favourite over the years.

It is more of an idea, rather than a recipe. In fact, you could use store-

Once chilled, strain the ice-cream mixture through a fine-mesh sieve and churn according to the instructions of your ice-cream maker.

Scrape the ice-cream into a 1 litre (34 fl oz) plastic container and cover

bought ice-cream or make your own.

with a piece of baking parchment the size of your container and freeze for

However I would strongly advise you

a couple of hours before serving.

to try this one which is so loaded with vanilla seeds it’s almost grey.

Scoop into small bowls or serving glasses and drizzle with olive oil. Top with a pinch of sea salt and a sprinkle of crushed nougatine.

PARIS PASTRY CLUB

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chapter 1

2 t h e per f ect PA N C A K E M I X COULANTS A U C HO C O L AT

Some things are bound to happen

t h e o n ly B R I OcH E recipe y o u ’ ll e v er n ee d B E E T R OO T C A K E EARL GREY tea w ee k e n d L O A F cara m el C i d er - p o ac h e d pears ulti m ate m il k C h o c o late c h ip c o o k ies S tic k y T o f f ee pu d d i n g spicy C h o c o late P o ts - d e - cr È m e

( like chocolate cake on a rainy day )

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E arl Grey tea w ee k e n d loaf

M

rge loa 1 la f c s e ak k a For the cake

e

1 tablespoon Early Grey tea leaves 250 g (9 oz) caster (superfine) sugar 4 eggs 200 g (7 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour zest from 1 bergamot orange (optional) 1 teaspoon baking powder (baking soda) 150 g (5 oz) crème fraiche 50 g (1¾ oz) butter, melted softened butter, extra for piping For the confit 350 g (12 oz) clémentines, around 3–4 fruit 200 g (7 oz) caster (superfine) sugar ½ vanilla pod, with its seeds 150 g (5 oz) water 20 g (¾ oz) cornflour (cornstarch), diluted in 40 g (1½ oz) cold water to serve extra crème fraiche

If there ever was to be a tale about this

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Butter and flour a 1 litre (34 fl oz)

cake it would involve a countryside

loaf tin.

cottage where you’d be locked inside,

Finely blend the loose Earl Grey tea leaves with around 50 g (2 oz) of

escaping a storm. Winds would blow,

the caster sugar until powdery. Place in a bowl along with the eggs and

trees would block roads, candles would

the remaining caster sugar and whisk for around 4 minutes, until light

bring the only light. Of course there’d

in colour. Mix the flour, bergamot zest (if using) and baking powder in

be a wood-fired oven. And cake would

another bowl.

be made. A simple loaf cake. Light and

Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, then pour a little of this

deeply perfumed with lemons. And with

into the crème fraiche and melted butter in a separate bowl and mix

a generous amount of crème fraiche to

well. Transfer back to the main batter mix and fold in gently using a

keep it moist for days.

spatula. Pour into the prepared tin.

In France, we simply call loaf cakes

Put the extra softened butter into a piping bag and cut a very small

cakes, pronounced ‘kek’. But whenever

hole, around 4 mm (¼ in) wide, then pipe a line of the butter across the

cream is added to the batter it becomes

cake. Bake for 5 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 170°C (340°F)

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a ‘weekend cake’, with the underlying

for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature again to 160°C (320°F) and

meaning being that it’ll last over the

bake for a further 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre of

weekend, making it the perfect getaway

the cake comes out clean.

food. Sometimes I’ve even found it

Cool on a wire rack for 10–20 minutes, then turn out and set aside.

labelled in shops as ‘cake de voyages’.

If you’re not planning to eat it right away, wrap tightly in clingfilm and

Who knew a loaf cake could be so

store in the fridge for up to 4 days.

poetic?

If you don’t have any crème fraiche

While the cake is cooling make the clémentine confit. Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Plunge in the clémentines and simmer for

you can use double cream instead. But,

3 minutes. Remove the fruit with a slotted spoon and pop them into

of course (and this is said with a heavy

a bowl of ice-cold water. Repeat, using fresh water, then chill the

French accent), I can only advise you

clémentines until they are cold enough to handle.

to have a constant stock of the stuff in

Slice very finely and add to a saucepan with the sugar, vanilla pod and

your fridge. I love to serve this cake

seeds and water. Simmer for 30 minutes or until reduced and almost

with a clémentine confit and a thick

candied. Then vigourously fold in the cornflour mixture. Allow to boil for

dollop of crème fraiche. If you can’t

a couple of minutes, then transfer to a bowl. Chill until needed.

find clémentines, small mandarines, tangerines or even seedless oranges will do.

cr ac k Ge tt in g a ne at on th e lo af e s my favo ur it Th is is pe rh ap y au ti full ti p: to ge t a be sie st way is to ea e th , cr ac ke d lo af mm (¼ in) – ne – ar ou nd 4 pi pe a th in li tt er ac ro ss of so ft en ed bu e batt er lo af. wh en th th e un ba ke d , th e bu tt er star ts to ri se at cr ac k cr eati ng a ne wi ll sin k in , a! th e ca ke . vo il in th e cr us t of

Serve slices of the cake topped with a spoonful of clémentine confit and a dollop of crème fraiche.