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MASTER CLASS Making a Rum-Raisin Napoleon A pastry chef shows how to create silky custard and crisp pastry for her version of this classic dessert BY LAURANN CLARIDGE Pastry chef Laurann Claridge uses baked custard instead of pastry cream in her napoleon. he napoleon is the quintessential French Richard in which he used a baked custard instead of Tpastry. It’s elegant. It’s refined. It’s gorgeous pastry cream. It was a brilliant substitution, which but not gaudy. More than the looks, however, I love I’ve adopted. the delectable contrast in each mouthful—creamy, The baked custard is actually simpler to make, smooth-as-silk custard (spiked with a little rum easier to work with, and most importantly, more and raisins in my recipe) against buttery, toasty, wonderful to eat—smooth, satiny, not the least crisp pastry. bit heavy. Over the years I’ve spent a lot of time developing Egg yolks give structure to the custard. The and improving my own version of this dessert. But custard is simple, but it helps to understand the you don’t need to be an expert to produce a stunning interaction among its three crucial components— napoleon, which is called millefeuille (pronounced eggs, milk or cream, and sugar. MEEL-FOY) in France, meaning “a thousand layers.” If Eggs are crucial for setting a custard, and here you’re patient, persistent, and precise (and you fol- they are the sole thickener; the absence of flour or low the directions below), you can turn out a dessert cornstarch is one of the reasons the custard is so vel- more beautiful and delicious than any you see in a vety. Whole eggs will give you a slightly lower-fat cus- French pastry shop window. tard, but the whites tend to make the texture firmer, more gelatinous. I use only yolks, two or three per A BETTER CUSTARD MAKES A BETTER cup, and I use mostly cream with a little milk for The custard is baked NAPOLEON lightness (see recipe on p. 72). For the richest cus- in a water bath to The custard is the heart and soul of a napoleon. tard, use three yolks per cup and all cream—no milk. keep the heat gentle Even perfect puff pastry won’t mean a thing with- Sugar is the least critical component in this cus- and even. A covering out a smooth and creamy custard between the tard, and you can adjust the amount to suit your of foil helps prevent a layers. Traditional napoleons are made with pastry taste. When whisking sugar and eggs, whisk imme- thick skin from form- cream (crème pâtissière), a custard thickened with diately and vigorously. If sugar and eggs are left in ing on the surface. flour or cornstarch, but I’ve always found pastry contact for more than a minute or so, the sugar will cream to be, well, pasty. I was lucky enough to taste “burn” the yolks, making little lumps that will never a napoleon made by Los Angeles chef Michel blend into the finished custard. Photos except where noted: Fran Brennan 68 FINE COOKING Copyright © 1995 - 2007 The Taunton Press Making the détrempe—the basic dough Rub in the butter. Sift flour and salt Make a well and mix the ingredients. Shape the flakes into a onto a cool, dry surface. Rub butter well, pour water and lemon juice into the center, and rotate into the flour until you have a scat- your fingers to draw in the flour, making a wet paste. Drag in tering of flakes the size of oatmeal. the rest of the flour to make a ragged dough. Blend the dough. Controlling the heat for a smooth texture. To nounced day-TRAHMP)—which makes the pastry Smear the dough with produce the smoothest custard, you need to bake dough very stretchy and hard to roll out. The trick is your palm to form a the it in a water bath (also called a bain marie) to to go slowly and to pace the process so that you allow rough ball. If the keep the heat gentle and steady (see photo oppo- plenty of chilling and resting time in between each dough is too dry to site). Cover the water bath snugly with aluminum stage. In fact, you’ll have better success if you spread hold together, add up foil to trap the steam; this will prevent a thick skin the process out over a couple of days. to 1⁄3 cup more ice from forming on top of the custard. Don’t bake the Not plain pie dough. A classic puff pastry recipe water, 1 tablespoon at custard in a metal or foil pan, since metal will con- calls for equal weights of flour and butter, which is a time. Work until the duct the oven’s heat too di- about twice the amount of dough forms a slightly rectly to the custard. I use butter in a regular pie crust. soft and sticky ball. Pyrex or ceramic pans. The trick to puff pastry This large amount of fat is Score the top in a Once the custard is baked, carefully combined with the crisscross pattern (see it needs a long cooling time— is to go slowly other ingredients in a process photo opposite) Wrap first at room temperature and known as “turning,” which in plastic and again in then in the refrigerator for an- and pace the process. creates hundreds of sheets of foil. Chill 4 to 12 hours. other few hours or preferably flour-and-water dough sand- overnight—to be firm wiched between thin layers of enough to transfer in strips to the finished pastry. butter. The butter lubricates the layers, keeping (See custard recipe on pp. 72–73.) each distinct and separate. During baking, the moisture in the dough turns to steam, which pushes MASTER PUFF PASTRY BY GIVING IT A REST the layers upward, resulting in a delicate, crisp, The custard for this napoleon is easy to make, and buttery pastry. the puff pastry can be easy, too, despite its reputation A blend of flour gives just enough strength. I as one of the most challenging pastries to master. recommend combining equal portions of un- The most common problem for beginners is that bleached all-purpose flour and cake or pastry flour. they develop too much gluten in the flour-and This half-and-half mixture gives the dough just water-part of the dough—called the détrempe (pro- enough gluten to make layers that will stay intact DECEMBER1995/ JANUARY1996 69 Copyright © 1995 - 2007 The Taunton Press during all the rolling and turning and during bak- Wrapping the butter ing, despite the pressure of the steam. Good butter makes a difference. Use unsalted Shape the butter. butter for the best flavor. Unfortunately, all butter Sprinkle the work contains moisture (though the better the quality, the surface with 1⁄4 cup lower the moisture content), which can increase flour and arrange the gluten formation and toughen the dough. To allevi- butter sticks into a ate any problems with excess moisture, I knead a block. Pound to form little flour into my butter while I soften it. The flour a pliable mass; add absorbs the water but doesn’t form much gluten be- more flour if it gets too cause it’s surrounded by so much fat, which “short- sticky. Shape into a ens” or interferes with gluten formation. 5-inch square. Cold water and acid cut down on gluten. I use spring water because I don’t want to risk any off fla- vors from tap water, and I chill it until it’s very cold, which will help minimize gluten development. Place the butter. I also add a little lemon juice to the détrempe, Roll the détrempe into which lowers the pH of the dough and conditions a 1⁄2-inch-thick slab and relaxes the gluten strands, making the dough about 10 inches easier to roll and turn. You can also use cream of tar- square, with the edges tar or cider vinegar. slightly thinner than Puff pastry is made in three basic steps: the center. Set the • making the détrempe (the basic flour-and-water butter square in dough); the center. • softening the butter and wrapping it in the détrempe; • rolling and turning; this step is done six times. I’m a traditionalist, and I prefer making the dé- trempe by hand (see photos on p. 69). I find that working the dough by hand has a wonderful ther- apeutic effect. While the détrempe is mainly flour and water, a small amount of butter is worked in to help keep too much gluten from forming. You want the détrempe to be strong and stretchy enough to withstand lots of rolling and folding, but if it’s too stretchy, it will shrink back as you roll, and you’ll never manage the six turns. The key to the right détrempe texture is to let it relax for at least four hours and up to 12 hours in the refrigerator until it reaches its ideal texture— smooth and supple. In fact, your goal is to give the détrempe the same texture as your butter has at room temperature. When both components have the same texture, they’ll behave the same way under the rolling pin, forming even sheets of dough and butter. I give the butter the right texture through a com- bination of letting it warm up to room temperature and pounding it and a little flour with the rolling pin until it’s very malleable, like modeling clay (see photo at top left).

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