black sesame paris brest
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From Claire Saffitz’s new cookbook, Dessert Person, this was one of the many sensational looking desserts that immediately caught my eye. This version replaces the traditional praline cream (which as Claire notes, can be expensive and hard to find) with black sesame tahini.
What is a paris brest?
Originally created in honor of a bicycle race, the Paris Brest is a French dessert made of choux pastry and filled with cream. Instead of the typical eclair or cream puffs, this is shaped like a circular bicycle wheel. This is also a dessert that would provide competitors in a biking competition with plenty of energy so this is probably best shared with friends.
Where can I find black sesame tahini?
Whole Foods carries a black tahini and if you don’t have any near you, check your local health foods store. It’s also relatively simple to make your own, by toasting and blending black sesame seeds with some neutral oil to achieve a smooth paste. Black sesame offers a nuttier version of regular tahini with an undercurrent of bitter notes which help balance out the sweet creaminess of the pastry cream.
Simplifying a dramatic dessert
This is a perfect example of an impressive dessert that can be easily broken down into manageable steps.
Choux Pastry
The choux pastry batter can be prepared and store in the fridge in an airtight container prior to baking. After baking the choux ring, let it cool at room temperature and fill it right before serving
Black Sesame Pastry Cream
Similar to the choux batter, this can also be easily made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator.
Whipped Cream
I like to do this at the end as it only takes minutes to quickly whip up heavy cream. Keep the heavy cream chilled in the refrigerator so it’s ready to go.
A few tips:
Choux pastry
If you don’t have pastry bags, use a large ziploc bag with a corner snipped off to pipe the round. It doesn’t have to be perfect because the dough will puff and expand dramatically in the oven.
As you cook the initial dough on the stove top, err on the side of cooking for an extra few minutes because you want to 1. cook the flour and 2. evaporate excess moisture
The exact amount of eggs to achieve the perfect consistency may vary. A few attributes of the perfect consistency: stiff enough to hold its shape when piped, but loose enough to be easily pipable and should leave a v-shaped trail from a spatula or spoon
No matter how tempted you may be, do not open the oven door for the first 25 minutes or you risk your choux collapsing. I’ve watched enough Great British Bake Off to witness what happens when you do that.
black sesame paris brest
from Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz
makes one 9 inch round, serves 8
ingredients
pâte à choux:
125g / 1/2 cup whole milk
13g / 1 tablespoon sugar
2g / 1/2 teaspoon salt
100g / 7 tablespoons unsalted butter
125g / 1/2 cup water
130g / 1 cup AP flour
300g / 5 eggs + 1 beaten egg
handful of black sesame seeds
demerara sugar
black sesame pastry cream:
456g / 2 cups whole milk
7g / 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla paste
2g / 1/2 teaspoon salt
100g / 1/2 cup sugar
30g / 1/4 cup cornstarch
80g / 5 large egg yolks
85g / 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
140g / 2/3 cup black tahini
whipped cream:
312g / 1 1/3 cups heavy cream, whipped
steps
Pate à choux:
Preheat oven to 400 F.
1. Heat the milk and butter: In a small saucepan, combine the milk, sugar, salt, butter and water and bring to a simmer over medium low heat. Stir with a wooden spoon to melt the butter
2. Mix in flour: As the liquids are simmering, dump in the flour all at once. Initially stir slowly to incorporate with the liquid, and begin to stir vigorously after flour is fully mixed in until all the ingredients come together into a soft dough and a light film forms around the bottom and sides of the saucepan. Continue cooking and stirring for a few minutes as the dough forms a smooth ball.
3. Beat in the eggs: Transfer the dough over to a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or large bowl if mixing by hand) and start mixing in 5 of the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. The dough should start to become smooth and glossy with each egg until you reach the desired consistency where the dough is just loose enough to leave a thin v-shaped trail from the paddle. It may take fewer than 5 eggs to reach this consistency, so stop once you reach this point.
4. Pipe pâte à choux ring: Prepare a half sheet pan with parchment paper with a 9 in circle traced on the back side of the paper. Transfer the dough to a piping bag, snip a 1 inch opening at the end, and pipe the pastry along the traced circle. Continue piping a second ring adjacent and a third ring on top, each starting and ending at a different point.
5. Decorate the ring: Brush the pate a choux ring with the beaten egg and lightly score all around the ring using a fork. Generously sprinkle with black sesame seeds and demerara sugar.
6. Bake the pastry: Bake for 10 minutes at 400 F, before reducing oven temperature to 350F until pastry is puffed and golden brown, for about 45 -55 minutes. Make sure the pastry is thoroughly baked to avoid risk of collapsing. Remove from oven and poke several holes around the side of the pastry to release steam and return to the turned off oven with the door propped open for 10 minutes to help dry the dough out.
Black sesame pastry cream:
1. Heat up the milk: In a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk, vanilla, and salt and let mixture slowly come to a simmer, whisking continuously.
2. Mix eggs: As the milk is heating up, vigorously whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch until mixture is very pale, light in texture and thick. Slowly stream half of the hot milk into the egg mixture, tempering the eggs. Mix the egg mixture back in the saucepan with the remaining warm milk, whisking constantly
3. Cook cream: Continuing whisking the milk/egg mixture over medium heat until cream thickens like pastry and coats the back of a spoon (around 3 minutes) and the whisk leaves tracks.
4. Strain cream: Strain the scream through a mesh sieve to remove any solids. Whisk in the cold butter one piece at a time until smooth before stirring in the black tahini until well mixed.
5. Chill: Press a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface and refrigerate until cold for a few hours.
Assembling:
1. Prepare the choux ring: Once the pâte à choux is completely cool, use a serrated knife to slice the pastry horizontally to separate the narrow ring of pastry from the wider base below. Carefully remove the upper ring and cut into eighths (to help easily cut the pastry after it is filled). Scoop out and discard some of the doughy innards from the ring base.
2. Fill the pastry: Pipe dollops of the pastry cream into the base, followed by large dollops of the whipped cream on top. You can use either a pastry bag or a large spoon. Gently arrange the pieces of the pastry ring on top of the cream. Serve immediately.
