One of my favorite passions in the culinary world is French pastries. The crispy buttery layers, gooey fillings, and delicate designs are both delicious and so beautiful. I always feel a great sense of accomplishment when completing a beautiful Napoleon, canelé, or croissant. The amount of steps, patience, and physical labor is well worth it to bite into one of these flaky delights. As an artist, the colors, shapes and textures make these treats so much fun to conceptualize and create!
Some of you may remember the brunch boards from Capital Vine/Prime over the years. They have been my creations and were the favorite part of my week when it all came to fruition for service. Before working at Capital Prime, I had done very little baking. I was often very intimidated by the precise recipes and the millions of things that can go wrong when you’re baking.
Nothing can duplicate a delicious scratch made puff pastry. Puff pastry, if you aren’t familiar, is a flaky light pastry that is laminated and composed of dough and butter. You create a series of specific folds that create the beautiful layers of lamination and flakiness. Puff pastry is my absolute favorite, and very impressive for your guests. It has endless possibilities for use from pot pies to Napoleons, to asparagus tarts and turnovers. Whether you’re going savory or sweet, the delicious pastry makes a great base for all of it. The freezer aisle at the grocery store works, but the texture and color cannot be matched from scratch-made.
The first pastry that I mastered was the orange mimosa bread, if any of you recall way back to the original breakfast boards, back when they were in a basket. Starting with a basic pound cake recipe is a great way to start your journey into baking if you also feel intimidated but would love to dive in somewhere. There are so many pretty pans out there that will create the design for you. Don’t forget a tasty glaze for on top!
I like to take as purist a route as I can to stick with the authentic French traditions. I hand-roll everything, no sheeter involved. It is important to find the right weighted rolling pin that works for you. I like a heavy duty pin to help take some of the weight off of my hands and onto the tools. I recall going through about 6 rolling pins before I found the one that worked the best for me, don’t get discouraged.
Some tricks of the trade that I have learned over the years, do not skip out on quality butter. Good butter is everything and where the whole process begins. I highly recommend a higher fat (80% or above) European butter. Not only will the flavor be richer, but your pastry will be softer and have a better color to it. Another trick of the trade, keep all of your ingredients and surfaces as cold as you can. This will keep your butter from leaking out of your pastries when they are in the oven.
If you are interested in taking a class to help walk through puff pastry or croissants, I highly recommend Zimmerman’s in Ann Arbor. They host an assortment of classes for different levels of difficulty items, and you leave with a lot of tasty treats when you’re done.
This August, I will be dusting off my rolling pin for a pastry and coffee event featuring hand-rolled pastries paired with delicious drinks. I am absolutely thrilled to be back at the drawing board creating fun new pastry ideas for you all to try. We hope to see you there!
Cheers and Bonsoir!
Executive Chef Jennifer Miller
