Pate Feuilletee

Puff pastry! This was maybe one of the most fun units we've had yet. I loved the process of it: making a butter envelope, rolling and folding it, and then repeating it over and over to create a layered dough/butter dough. When you bake it, the butter melts and boils, creating steam that pushes the layers apart, resulting in a very flaky dough. We made rapide, classique, inversee and chocolate versions.

Clockwise from top: Papillons, Speedy Vol-au-vents, Regular Vol-au-vents, Palmiers. These were ways in which we manipulated puff pastry to take advantage of its natural poofing abilities.

Fruit strip. Puff pastry, creme legere, fruit. Nothing mind altering about this, tasty nonetheless.

Apple Gallette.

Milles Feuilles de Forme Ronde (Round Napoleon). We baked puff pastry between sheet pans (to make it not puff, which I think is weird - why did I go through all of that work, just to dock and restrict poofing?), cut them and filled the layers with creme legere. This picture was taken after it had been saran wrapped and carried on the train - I promise it was much more appetizing looking in the classroom.

Bar Tart. I actually made this on my own at home. Puff pastry baked between 2 sheetpans, with almond cream and sliced pineapple.

Pear in a Cage. I was introduced to a lattice cutter - one of the coolest tools ever. I was pretty proud with how mine came out. I enjoyed decorating it. Puff pastry, almond cream, poached pears.

Conversations. These I thought were bizarre. Layer of puff pastry, almond cream, another layer of puff pastry. Topped with royal icing and then baked. I didn't know royal icing could be baked, and it was meringue-like, sweet and brittle, which I liked. The almond cream baked into the puff pastry nicely, I thought. The whole thing was a little too sweet for my taste, but pretty good.

Seasonal Fruit Galette. We made a nectarine compote (I put ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom in mine) and baked them in a puff pastry shell. Pretty straight forward.

Jalousie. This was like the best toaster strudel I have ever had. Flaky and sweet. Puff pastry, filled with piped layers of almond cream and raspberry jam. This ish was da BOMB.

Pithivier. This was supposed to represent the King's carriage wheel, but I thought it looked more like a jellyfish or a frayed boob. Layer of puff pastry, frangipane (pastry cream + almond cream) in a mound in the middle, with another layer of puff pastry on top. Imprinted with a weird design. Pretty tasty though - the frangipane baked into the puff pastry so it was almost homogenous.

Chocolate Napoleon. We made chocolate puff pastry for this (a version of inversee, this was the biggest pain in the ass to make due to temperature issues in the classroom and the fridge). We made a creme d'or (whipped cream + warm melted choc) and creme legere to fill it with. Made a fancy glaze top design HOLLER! This did not taste as good as I thought it would. The chocolate puff pastry does not taste like chocolate. It only has a small amount of cocoa powder in it, which adds very little flavor. The difficulty in making it yields an inferior puff, so I don't think it's worth the trouble.

Cinn-choc Palmiers. A version of the first Palmier, only with cocoa puff pastry and cinn-sugar. My friend in class referred to them as tasting like choc teddy grams, and I can see the similarity. Again there was little to no chocolate flavor and this puff did not puff like others. I like the addition of spice to the sugar mix though.

Apple Dartois. Same as pear in a cage only with an apple compote and in a different shape. Pretty tasty. Not mind blowing.

Strip Napoleon. I think this was the best Naploeon we made and I am not sure why, because it had the same components as the round one. I was particularly proud because I made it one of my goals this unit to work on my presentation. I had been rushing before and getting sloppy with presentation for the sake of time. With this unit, and this Napoleon in particular, I took my time to decorate it properly and I think it came out beautiful!

Not pictured: Cheese straws, tart tatin. Forgot my camera.