The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

pastry

DeeElle's picture

Sfoiatelle Italian Pastry Search

August 4, 2010 - 6:58am -- DeeElle

Hello, Everyone,

There is a wonderful Italian pastry called sfoiatelle that is not commonly available, though it is sometimes found in bakeries with Italian specialties.  Having had no success in locating a recipe in my cookbook collection, or with google, I thought I'd ask the knowledgeable folks at The Fresh Loaf if they had information on sfoaitelle. 

Thanks and Happy Baking!

DeeElle

gcook17's picture
gcook17

Every summer we're faced with the pleasant task of trying to figure out how to use all the fruit from our trees.  Most of the fruit gets ripe at the same time and it's not possible to eat it all fresh.  Right now the apricots, apriums (cross between apricot and plum), plums, and sour cherries are almost all ripe.  The fig tree, which usually has 2-3 crops per year, is also beginning to have some ripe fruit.  Carol doesn't like jams or jellies so that rules out one method of preserving them.  I like jam but I rarely eat toast, so I don't go through the jam very fast.  Besides, my brother keeps sending us his homemade blackberry jam that's better than anything I ever make.  The obvious solution then, is to make lots of pastry with fresh fruit.  Yesterday it was puff pastry tarts, today it's apricot and plum danish.  And they're just in time for lunch.

The Danish dough is the Danish with Biga from ABAP.  I left the fully laminated dough in the refrigerator an extra day because I was too busy to use it yesterday.  In addition to the fruit, they are filled with pastry cream (also from ABAP) flavored with li-hing powder (1/2 teaspoon of li-hing powder to 2 pounds of pastry cream).  This dough had a mind of its own.  They were supposed to be shaped like the one in the left front in the photo but most of them unfolded themselves while proofing.

 

 

 

pmccool's picture

Ghee, what if

May 31, 2010 - 3:26am -- pmccool
Forums: 

I've been following the discussions about croissants and butter content and moisture levels in butter.  And then I saw a container of ghee at the supermarket and said "Hmmm." 

Ghee is something that I have never used.  Since it is clarified butter, I suspect it's moisture content would be much lower than ordinary butter but have no clue what the analysis might be.  Nor do I know how the melting, followed by separation of the solids, would affect flavor or handling characteristics.

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

My wife and I have a problem with cinnamon rolls. She dislikes the gooey, too-sweet frosting found on most, and she gives me a hard time about sweet doughs with too much butter for my health. So, I'm on a new quest: A breakfast pastry we both like that is still kind to my arteries. (I'm not that concerned about the cholesterol, but my wife's persistent expressions of concern can't be good for my heart.)

Last week, I got Ciril Hitz's latest book, “Baking Artisan Pastries and Breads.” Like his previous book, “Baking Artisan Bread,” it is aimed at the home baker. While providing clear and detailed instructions that do not assume the reader has a degree in culinary arts, the formulas are in no way “dumbed down.” He teaches professional techniques and tricks for mixing doughs and making classic fillings, all adapted to home baking equipment and quantities. Also, like his previous book, he introduces a small number of basic doughs – for quick breads, sweet rolls and laminated dough pastries – then provides a number of formulas for products made with each and suggestions for additional applications.

When I … well … we saw Hitz's formula for sweet dough, we were struck by it appearing less enriched than most. His formula calls for only 10.6% butter and 10.6% sugar. I made a batch last night and retarded it in the fridge (as Hitz prescribes) until this evening. Hitz has formulas for cinnamon rolls and sticky buns, but I wanted a pastry that was less sweet. Among his recipes for pastry fillings I found one he calls “nut filling.” It looked good, since we love nuts, and looked less sweet than ones that are mostly sugar. So, I also made a batch of nut filling last night and stuck it in the fridge.

This evening, I rolled out the dough, spread it with nut filling, rolled it up and cut it into 1.5 inch rounds. (Actually, I just cut half the roll-up. I froze the other half for another day.) I put some pecan halves on the top of each, proofed, egg washed and baked them in a 1/4 sheet pan on parchment. I did not glaze them.

As expected, the dough was less sweet and less rich than most, but with the nut filling, the pastry is just sweet and rich enough for my taste. This is a nice solution for those who find most cinnamon rolls and sticky buns just too sweet. If one wanted a richer dough, another formula for sweet dough could certainly be substituted.

The nut filling (makes about 1.5 cups)

Nut flour (almond or hazelnuts)

125 gms

Granulated sugar

100 gms

Corn syrup

25 gms

Water

Up to 60 gms

Method

Use purchased nut flour or make your own by pulsing frozen nuts in a food processor. Combine all the ingredients except the water. Slowly add the water to make a nice, spreadable consistency. It should not tear the dough when spread. It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week. The consistency can be adjusted by adding water on the day of use.

I made the filling with frozen unsalted dry-roasted almonds. I processed them to a rather coarse consistency – coarser than coarse-ground flour but finer than “finely chopped.”

As I said, this is a “quest,” so stay tuned for further developments.

David

 

ques2008's picture
ques2008

Finally got myself an inexpensive digital camera and would like to show off one of my "creations" which is far from original.  I'm sure many of you have made this danish ring.  I got this recipe from www.cookscountry.com/recipe.asp?recipeids=3846&bcd=46152.  Cooks Country is a great web site, by the way, and would like to know how many of you are members and whether or not you use your membership.  They seem to have a gold mine of knowledge with truckloads of practical advice.  I'm thinking of signing up.

Anyway, I'm showing pictures of the (1) preparation for the dough where I slather it with the filling, (2) the finished product and (3) the product partially gobbled up.  I halved the recipe, and didn't quite succeed with the cutting and the turning upside of each slice, but the recipe gives a step-by-step.  I'll try it again one day, and hopefully, get the technique right!

Picture 1:  Prepping the dough.

 prepping the dough

 

2.  Danish ring fresh out of the oven:

danish ring as it came out of the oven

3.  And now, as it was partially eaten (closer look of slices - as you can see I did not quite do the slices with flying colors!)

partially eaten ring

 

 

dmsnyder's picture

Hi, Norm! Please look at this ...

February 29, 2008 - 9:52pm -- dmsnyder

Hi, Norm.

I've taken your coffee cake dough formula and scaled it down, added your streusel topping formula and a cheese filling recipe I've used before. I am planning to make Cheese Pockets tomorrow to test the formula and make adjustments to my taste and so the dough, filling and streusel quantities more or less match up (which they probably don't now).

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