Paris-Brest
Hey foodies!
Here is my Paris-Brest recipe that you may have already spotted in a photo last week. :o)
This is a pistachio Paris-Brest, but you can follow the same recipe and make it with hazelnuts if you prefer.
A Paris-Brest is made of choux pastry, craquelin, mousseline cream and above all a praline!
Here is the list of ingredients for a 20 cm Paris-Brest (12-15 servings):
Pistachio praline
- 270g pistachios
- 270g sugar
- 3g salt
Craquelin
- 64g butter
- 80g brown sugar
- 80g flour
Choux pastry
- 100g milk
- 100g water
- 90g butter
- 8g sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 128g flour
- 200g eggs (4-5 eggs)
Pastry cream
- 400g milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 90g egg yolks (4-5 eggs)
- 64g sugar
- 45g cornstarch
- 36g butter
Mousseline
- 270g butter
- 180g pistachio praline
Pistachio praline
For this, follow the recipe found here: Praline.
But with the following quantities: 270g blanched pistachios, 270g sugar and 3g salt.
You'll see the recipe is easy to follow. Make sure to adjust the oven temperature to 150°C since we are working with pistachios.
Once the praline is done, come back here for the next steps. :o)
Store your praline in the fridge if you are not making your Paris-Brest the same day.
Craquelin
For this, pour 64g butter, 80g brown sugar and 80g flour into a bowl.
Mix the 3 ingredients by hand until you get a ball.
Your dough will remain quite crumbly... that's normal.
Roll out your dough between two sheets of baking paper to about 3 mm thick.
If you have a small rolling pin, use the purple rings which are the thickest.
Make sure you can cut out an 18 cm round afterwards.
Once the dough is rolled out, place it in the fridge so it firms up slightly.
Once our craquelin is in the fridge, let's get started on the choux pastry.
Choux pastry
Preheat your oven to 220°C, fan-assisted.
In a small saucepan, pour 100g milk and 100g water.
Add 90g butter, 8g sugar and 1 pinch of salt.
Bring everything to a boil, then remove from the heat.
Add 128g flour all at once, off the heat, and mix with a wooden or plastic spoon.
You will form a kind of fairly sticky dough.
The dough is very sticky and you can see it sticking to your spatula.
Place your saucepan on medium heat for 2 minutes and never stop stirring the dough vigorously.
After 2 minutes, your dough will no longer stick to the spatula (you can see in the second photo that it is clean) and your dough will be well dried out.
A small deposit forms at the bottom of the pan. That's normal. :o)
Place your choux pastry in a large bowl and mix the dough using the flat beater (K beater) until no more steam escapes (about 2-3 min).
It is important to cool it down before adding the egg.
Then pour 200g eggs (about 4-5 eggs) into a small bowl and whisk the eggs with a fork.
Add 1/4 of the eggs to your choux pastry and mix using the flat beater.
You will see that at first your dough becomes grainy, but after 1-2 minutes it becomes smooth again. :o)
Add another small portion of egg and repeat the process until the dough becomes smooth, homogeneous and shiny again.
You need to add the eggs in about 4 additions.
There we go, our choux pastry is nice and smooth and shiny.
Grab a 13 mm star tip and pour the choux pastry into a large piping bag.
Use a scraper to make sure all the choux pastry is pushed down to the tip of the bag.
For the next step, you will need a perforated baking tray, a perforated mat and a 14 cm stencil that I have prepared for you here: STENCIL
Place your stencil under your perforated mat.
Pipe a first 14 cm circle.
Then pipe another circle on the outside of the first one.
Then pipe another circle on top of the first two (i.e. on top, between the first two circles).
Pipe another circle, but this time on the inside of the first one.
Then pipe two last circles... The first one on top of the small circle (the last one we made).
And a second one on top of our pyramid. :o)
I hope my explanations were clear!
So nothing complicated... Just pipe circles and stack them to get a nice tall Paris-Brest.
If you prefer, you can pipe 3 circles side by side, then 2, then 1. That might be a simpler explanation, but at the time I did it differently...
You will see in my third photo that there are three layers in height, making a nice pyramid.
Remember to remove your stencil before baking. :o)
Take your craquelin out of the fridge and using the 18 cm stencil, cut out a circle with a knife. The stencil is here: CRAQUELIN STENCIL
Cut out an 8 cm round with a cookie cutter from the center of our craquelin. This will be the hole of our Paris-Brest.
Run the knife well under your craquelin before picking it up. If it is not properly detached, it could break.
Then place your craquelin on top of your Paris-Brest. :o)
I then added some crushed pistachios (in crumbs) around my Paris-Brest and also on top.
Press them by hand onto the side of your Paris-Brest.
Place your Paris-Brest in the oven preheated to 220°C, fan-assisted. Then TURN OFF your oven. Completely.
And let your Paris-Brest develop quietly for 15 minutes in the turned-off oven. Never open your oven!
Then turn your oven back on to 170°C, fan-assisted and continue baking for about 30-35 minutes.
Turning off the oven when it is hot will allow our Paris-Brest to develop nicely. It will rise evenly and keep its beautiful round shape without being disturbed by the fan. And yes, this also works with éclairs. :o) They will be much more beautiful if you use this method.
Your Paris-Brest is done when it has a nice golden colour.
If your Paris-Brest deflates once out of the oven, it means it hasn't baked long enough...
Let your Paris-Brest cool to room temperature.
Pastry cream and mousseline
For this, we will start by preparing our pastry cream. A mousseline cream is simply pastry cream, praline and butter. :o)
Pour 400g milk and 2 tsp vanilla extract into a saucepan.
Heat until the mixture steams. Then remove from the heat. Be careful, the mixture must absolutely not boil! It would cook our eggs...
While the milk is heating, pour 90g egg yolks (4-5 eggs) and 64g sugar.
Add 45g cornstarch to a bowl and whisk vigorously to lighten the mixture.
Then pour 1/3 of the heated milk into your egg yolks and mix everything well with a whisk.
Pour the egg/sugar/milk mixture back into the saucepan and mix well.
Then place back on medium heat.
Make sure to always whisk the mixture so it doesn't burn.
Your cream will then thicken. You will see the foam gradually disappear.
At the first PLOP (first boil), remove the cream from the heat.
Continue to stir vigorously for at least 1 minute.
You can clearly see in my first photo that the pastry cream has set nicely.
Add 36g butter and mix with a whisk. Allow the butter to melt fully into the cream.
Then pour your pastry cream into a fairly wide container so it can cool quickly.
It needs to come down to 25°C. You can place it in the fridge and stir it every 5 minutes to save time.
Once your pastry cream is at 25°C, pour it into a large bowl.
Then add 180g pistachio praline.
Add 270g butter at room temperature.
Whisk everything together for 1 to 2 minutes.
Your mousseline must be nice and smooth. It is therefore important that your butter is at room temperature and that your pastry cream is at 25°C. :o)
Otherwise you will get lumps or, on the contrary, melted butter...
Set the mousseline aside in the fridge for a few minutes.
We are now going to cut our Paris-Brest in half.
For this, I always use a cake leveller... that strange tool with a cutting wire. It is perfect for cutting a sponge cake, a Paris-Brest or even a sandwich as straight as possible. :o)
So saw your Paris-Brest in half. Be careful not to break your choux pastry. You really need to saw and not pull.
Once cut, you can clearly see that it is hollow inside. This is proof that it has baked well and will be perfect to eat.
Place the bottom of your Paris-Brest on a tray or plate. Once filled, it will be impossible to move.
Fill a piping bag with the remaining praline and cut the tip with a pair of scissors.
Pipe all of the remaining pistachio praline into the base of your Paris-Brest. Yes, yes... all of it. ;o)
Then spread it all out with an offset spatula.
Then prepare a piping bag with a 13 mm star tip and the mousseline cream.
Pipe your mousseline cream however you like. :o)
Personally, I started by making rosettes, then added lots of small dots here and there.
Sprinkle with the remaining pistachios. I used the pistachios that had fallen off my Paris-Brest when cutting.
Then cover your mousseline cream with the top of the Paris-Brest.
Dust your Paris-Brest with snow sugar using a small sieve. Snow sugar is like icing sugar except it is moisture-resistant, and that's brilliant!
And here is the result! :o)
I really hope you will enjoy this tutorial! It took me a long time to create it.
You can easily make the praline the day before to save some time.
Let your imagination run wild! Pistachios, hazelnuts, almonds or even pecans! Everything is possible with the same recipe.
Remember to take the Paris-Brest out a good 10 minutes before serving. It's a thousand times better. :o)
Happy Sunday, foodies!
Karin
P.S.: All the equipment used can be found at the bottom of the recipe.
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Comments
Question de Alexandra
By: Alexandra A. On 2024-12-21Bonjour,
Si ma pâte à choux est plutôt liquide (plus liquide que chez vous et difficile de faire des étages), quel a été mon erreur ? Pas assez refroidi avant de mettre les oeufs ? (Il n’y avait plus de fumée pourtant)
Merci pour votre aide et bonne journée
Replied by: Laura On 2024-12-23
Réponse
By: Karin On 2023-10-02Nous vous déconseillons de faire la crème mousseline la veille car elle va se figer. Vous pouvez sans soucis mettre votre Paris Brest au frigo dans une boîte afin qu'il se garde bien. ;)
Belle journée et bonne pâtisserie!
Team Cakelicious
Question de Lydie
By: Lydie G. On 2023-10-01Bonjour, je pensais faire la crème mousseline la veille, cela ne pose pas de problème qu'elle reste toute la nuit au frigo ? Et une fois le Paris brest terminé il faut le mettre au frigo c'est ça ? La pâte à choux ne risque pas d'être trop molle ? Il fait le mettre emballé au frigo ?
Un grand merci pour cette recette et votre aide !
Question de Veronique
By: Veronique E. On 2022-12-14Bonsoir,
Est-il possible de faire les préparations en avance et le montage le jour de la dégustation? Si oui comment prévoir l’agenda ? ? merci de votre retour et bonne soirée.
Véro
Replied by: Laura On 2022-12-15
Question de Céline
By: Céline M. On 2021-11-04Bonjour, la quantité du crémeux pistache est il suffisant pour faire un number cake pour 2 chiffre (53)?
Merci
Céline
Replied by: Karin On 2021-11-05
Question de Nadine
By: Nadine D. On 2020-10-11Super recette, les explications détaillées sont top! Merci :)
Replied by: Karin On 2020-10-12
Question de Doris
By: Doris T. On 2020-08-10Bonjour,
Ma fille ne peut consommer aucun produit laitier d'origine animale. Est-ce que vous pensez que la recette peut fonctionner en remplaçant ces aliments par du lait de riz par exemple, de la margarine, etc. ?
Merci d'avance de votre réponse.
Doris
Replied by: Karin On 2020-08-11
Replied by: Lydie G. On 2021-01-24
Replied by: Karin On 2021-01-24