Breton

Breton

Fillings: Pecan, Walnut or Cooked Apple

Adapted by Blue Heron Kitchen from Nick Malgieri

It’s been almost 15 years since I went to pastry school.  Peter Kump’s was this tiny, vertical cooking school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, filled with extraordinary teachers.  Nick was one, and he moved from Kump’s, when it closed (Peter passed away), to the Flatiron District, and he’s now directing the pastry program at ICE, the Institute for Culinary Education.  I don’t know him personally, but my former partners at Maurice Pastry do.

Thank you, Nick, for your fantastic recipes and expertise throughout the years. My ‘formal’ training was mostly from your program, and I learned a great deal in a short span of time.

Bretons are butter cakes that are most of the time, filled. I’ve seen recipes for them that are yeasted, but this recipe is not. The Breton originated in Brittany, France.  (Use good quality, fresh, high fat content – 83% - butter, and you’re most of the way there.)  They’re fun to make, hold well, and they feed a crowd.

This recipe requires a kitchen scale.  I have a gorgeous stainless steel one that tares back to zero whenever I tell it to that’s made by Salter.  They’re about $30 now at places like Bed Bath and Beyond or Amazon.    

Breton Dough

1pound unsalted butter, room temperature

1 pound sugar

8 yolks (room temperature eggs, size large)

1 lemon, zested

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

28 oz. all purpose flour

Combine butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.  Beat the paddle attachment on the second speed until very light.  Add yolks, one at a time (the mixture should look like buttercream), then the lemon zest and vanilla.  Sift flour; add to the bowl with the paddle on first speed.  Scrape dough out of bowl.  Use immediately.  The dough will be very soft. This will make 2 Bretons, so you can freeze this, halve it or make the apple filling for another one (below).

Set the dough aside, covered, while you make the filling(s).

Pecan or Walnut Filling (enough for two bretons):

½ pound light brown sugar

4 ounces butter

4 ounces honey

1 pound pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped

Bring brown sugar, butter and honey to a boil in heavy saucepan over medium heat: boil 3 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in nuts.  Let cool before filling the Breton.

Cooked Apple Filling:

2 ½ pounds Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored and halved

4 oz. sugar

2 oz. butter

¼ - 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
or
1/2 tsp. allspice (optional)
2 Tbsp. rum or Calvados (optional)

Slice each apple half into 4-5 pieces. Combine apple slices with remaining ingredients in a heavy sauté or saucepan over medium heat.  Cover, cook 5-10 minutes.  Uncover; lower heat, cook until water evaporates.  Cool completely before filling the Breton.

Assembling the Breton:

Preheat oven to 350º F. and put the rack low.

Split the batter in half and reserve half for the second Breton, or pat it into a flattened disc, wrap well and freeze for another time. 

With floured hands, pat 1/2 the dough evenly onto the bottom of a buttered and parchment lined 10” x 2” round cake pan (or ring).  Bring the dough up about an inch up the side of the pan.

Spread the cooled filling(s) on the dough.

Flour a 10” cardboard round or a tart pan bottom.  Flour the remaining dough and press it against the bottom of the round or tart pan bottom.  Slide a thin sharp knife or spatula between the dough and cardboard or pan bottom to loosen it and press it into place, on top of the filling, making sure that the edge of the top crust meets the side of the bottom crust.  Smooth the top crust with the back of a spoon so that it is very smooth, especially around the edge. 

Make an egg wash with an egg yolk and some milk or heavy cream and brush the top with the egg wash.

With the tines facing away from you, draw once down the center, and then two more on either side to make fine ‘tine line’ lattice strokes.  Then, turn on a 45º angle and repeat, to draw a tined lattice, with five more strokes of the fork. 

Brush again with the egg wash.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes on the lowest rack until well colored.  Cool on rack.

Unmolding:  Invert a plate on the Breton and invert the Breton onto it. Carefully lift off the pan and peel off the paper.  Invert another plate on the Breton (now, the Breton is upside down between the two plates), reinvert the Breton and remove the top plate.

Store the Breton, loosely covered, at room temperature up to 2 days.

Yield:  About 10 to 12 portions

Pumpkin Bread Blue Heron Kitchen

If you're thinking that I've run out of recipes and all that's left is pumpkin bread, you're wrong. Listen, it's almost Thanksgiving, and after Thanksgiving, not many of us want to look at another thing made with pumpkin.  I know I won't.  It'll be up there with singing "Over the river and through the wood, to grandmother's house we go..." 


The new kitchen is off to a pretty good start. I think I need a used fridge for the basement (anyone selling one?)  But photos aren't looking great - these halogen floods cast terrible shadows on my food.  I need to work out the photography thing.  


This recipe is dedicated with love and appreciation to the hard-working people of the Long Beach, NY's Kennedy Plaza Farmers Market.  Have a warm and healthy winter, and thank you for a great season!  I'm already counting the days until the market opens again in the spring.  A special thanks to Bernadette Martin for making it all happen.  Think about this:  if it were not for Bern, there would bern ner merket.  Bring her some flowers.

Pumpkin Bread

Blue Heron Kitchen

This recipe has been worked through several times and altered enough to call it ‘my own’.  Its origins are from Bernard Clayton Jr.’s great book, Complete Book of Breads.  I like it for one important reason:  it has butter. It doesn’t have that slippery, oily quick-bread texture, and it tastes better. It’s not too sweet. (You could put a confectioner’s sugar glaze on it when it comes out of the oven!) Subsequently, it has more depth and body, and the butter allows for subtler spicing.  It’s a perfect balance of taste, texture and color. The golden raisins are gorgeous.  I’ve used both my own cooked organic cheese pumpkin as well as regular canned pumpkin.  They’re both great.  But never skimp on butter. Use good quality, fresh butter.  If you can find 83% fat European style butter, use it.  Plugra and Cabot are two American-made brands that are great.  Land-O-Lakes is a good conventional option. You can find the higher fat content butters in good supermarkets.  Cabot 83% is my favorite, and Fairway carries it.

Ingredients:

1 ¾ c. (15 oz. can) cooked pumpkin, fresh or canned

1 c. dark brown sugar, firmly packed (make sure it’s fresh and moist)

½ c. granulated white sugar

4 oz. (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter (European style is best), room temperature

3 eggs, size large, room temperature

4 ½ c. all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. ground cardamom

½ tsp. ground nutmeg (freshly ground, please)

½ tsp. kosher salt

1 ½ c. walnuts, toasted, cooled and chopped

½ c. golden raisins, hot water poured over them, soaked for 15 minutes, and then drained

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350º F. 

Butter or spray pans with release: two medium loaf pans, several smaller loaf pans of the same capacity, or a dozen financier molds and one small loaf pan (you’ll work it out)

In a large bowl, measure flour, baking powder, spices and salt and mix thoroughly with a whisk. Set aside.

Prepare nuts and raisins and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars.  When light and fluffy, add eggs and mix until blended well.  Add pumpkin (it’s ok if it looks curdled). 

Add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly, but don’t over mix. 

Add nuts and raisins.

Spoon batter into prepared pans and be sure to ‘push’ the batter into the corners with a spoon, a spatula, or your clean fingers. 

Bake until a metal tester comes out clean and dry, depending upon the size of the loaves, anywhere from 20 minutes to 1 hour! Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes before turning the breads out of their pans. 

This will develop a better flavor if you wrap it well and allow it to age a day or so before devouring it.  It will keep for at least two weeks, wrapped in plastic or foil in the fridge.  Or, you can freeze it ... for months.  

Thank You

Thank you Long Beach.
Thank you farmers.
Thank you Bernadette.
Happy Thanksgiving.
peace and love,
jane

Brussels Sprouts with Apples and Almonds

Brussels Sprouts with Apples and Almonds

Adapted from American Masala by Suvir Saran

Brussels sprouts and apples, both, are abundant at the market now. This is an easy and festive recipe that comes from my friend, Suvir’s cookbook, American Masala. 

These Brussels sprouts will be a hit at your Thanksgiving dinner! Not only that, you’ll make this whenever Brussels sprouts are in season.  My friend, Regina told me she’ll never cook b.s.'s any other way.

peace, love and may you be at ease in and out of the kitchen,
xojane

Ingredients:

3 lbs. Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and outer leaves removed

1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

3 Granny Smith or other tart apples, cored and thinly sliced

1 cup sliced almonds

1 Tbsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. ground black peppercorns

4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 small red onions, thinly sliced

1/3 cup raisins or currants [Use organic raisins, it makes a difference – they taste like raisins]

½ tsp. red pepper flakes [reduce or omit if you can't take the heat]

½ cup (4 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Procedure:

Set one oven rack to the center position and one to the upper-middle position and preheat the oven to 350º.

With a paring knife, cut an “x” in the bottom of each Brussels sprout and place all in a large bowl. 

Add the vinegar, apples, almonds, salt, ground peppercorns, oil, onions, raisins, and pepper flakes. 

Toss together and transfer to a gratin or baking dish.  Dot the top with half the butter.

Bake on lower rack for 30 minutes.  Sprinkle the remaining butter over the top and bake for another 30 minutes. 

Turn on the broiler.  Place the baking dish on the upper-middle rack and broil for 2 minutes, or until the top of the casserole is browned.  Watch this carefully, because unattended, you'll risk losing the casserole to the flame.

Serves 8