a whisk and a spoon

Daring Bakers in September: Vols-au-Vent with Michel Richard’s Puff Pastry Dough

After more than two years as a Daring Baker (it all started with a mirror cake…), I’m so excited that Liz and Ivonne have asked me to host a challenge!  Woo-hoo!  But oh no–what to pick??  Looking over past challenges, I realized that we’ve covered a lot of territory!  One thing we haven’t made since I’ve been in the group, though, is our own puff pastry (aka pâte feuilletée).  Puff is something most of us usually buy at the grocery store, but in order to be really daring, we should try to make our own at least once, right?

Puff pastry is in the “laminated dough” family, along with Danish dough and croissant dough.  (In fact, if you participated in the Danish Braid challenge back in June 2008, then you already know the general procedure for working with laminated dough.)  A laminated dough consists of a large block of butter (called the beurrage) that is enclosed in dough (called the détrempe).  This dough/butter packet is called a paton, and is rolled and folded repeatedly (a process known as “turning”) to create the crisp, flaky, parallel layers you see when baked.  Unlike Danish or croissant however, puff pastry dough contains no yeast in the détrempe, and relies solely aeration to achieve its high rise.  The turning process creates hundreds of layers of butter and dough, with air trapped between each one. In the hot oven, water in the dough and the melting butter creates steam, which expands in the trapped air pockets, forcing the pastry to rise.

I picked a recipe for homemade puff pastry from Michel Richard, as it appears in the book Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. In order to showcase off the hundreds of flaky, golden, buttery layers in the homemade puff, we formed a portion of it into vols-au-vent– little puff pastry cases designed to hold a filling.  They can be made large enough for a full meal, or made small for little one-bite canapés.  Vols-au-vent are typically served hot and filled with a creamy savory filling (often poultry or seafood-based), but cold fillings, such as chicken or tuna salad, work, too.  Whipped cream or pastry cream with fresh or stewed fruit often goes into sweet versions.

Sizes of and fillings for the vols-au-vent were left up to the individual baker.  I made three types: a smoked salmon mousse canapé, a larger main course-size filled with tuna salad and a sweet version with vanilla whipped cream and bright red tristar strawberries.

As it’s a little long, here’s a printable link to the recipe for puff pastry, as well as instructions for forming vol-au-vents and some extra tips.  Also, there is a wonderful on-line video from the PBS show “Baking with Julia” that accompanies the book.  In it, Michel Richard and Julia Child demonstrate making puff pastry dough (although they go on to use it in other applications).  Dont’ be put off by the length of time it takes to make your own puff pastry (most of it is inactive, while waiting for the dough to chill between turns)…it really isn’t that hard to do!  I encourage anyone who has never made puff before to take a look at the video, get some good butter, and give it a try!

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in this month’s challenge– I know it required a lot of time and a lot of butter, both of which are precious commodities.  I appreciate your feedback and advice in the forums…not to mention your fabulous results!!  Also, of course, great big hugs go to Liz and Ivonne, not only for starting this group, but for keeping it alive and fun and so well-organized!  Check out the Daring Bakers’ Blogroll for more adventures in puff!

The September 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.