Lately I have been missing my friends and reminiscing about the many mornings we spent at Le Pain Quotidien, our favorite hangout in Jumeirah Beach Residence. Those were times when we just wanted to take it easy, wash down our worries with gigantic bowls of cafe au lait while looking nonchalantly fabulous under the Arabian sun. Truly, undeniably veritable belles du jour.
Snapping myself back to the present, I thought I’d recreate those LPQ moments by spending a good amount of time in the kitchen and baking myself a Belgian treat. I’m leaning towards something sugary these days so I scoured the web and bumped into craquelin. It is basically a brioche that caters to your sweet tooth.
Happy with my choice of bakery, I hastily got down to business. That was last night. This morning, with the dough rising inside the oven, butter softening in the kitchen counter, coffee brewing in the French press… I grabbed a few minutes to put on a sundress and slap on some lippy. I haven’t forgotten to look fab for my petit dejeuner!
xxx
Karima
Craquelin
Makes about 10 individual breads
(Recipe adapted from the brioche entry in Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich)
Ingredients:
| 3 cups | bread flour |
| 20 tbs | unsalted butter, cold |
| 2 1/4 tsp | active dry yeast |
| 1/3 cup | granulated sugar |
| 1/4 cup | warm water |
| 6 large | eggs, cold |
| 1 tbs | sour cream |
| 1 1/2 tsp | salt |
| sanding sugar |
Method:
Place the flour inside the fridge for a good 15 minutes before use so that it’s nice and cold when mixed with the butter.
Cut the butter into small pieces and put in a mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat with the paddle attachment until the butter is smooth. Do not cream the butter as we do not want it to be soft . Transfer the butter in a bowl and store in the refrigerator.
Place the yeast, water and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a clean mixer bowl and stir until the yeast dissolves. Add remaining sugar, 5 eggs, sour cream, salt and flour. Mix until all the ingredients are combined.
Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until it forms into a ball and begins to pull away from the bowl. Add the cold butter a few pieces at a time, incorporating them into the dough before adding more.
Scrape the dough into an oiled bowl and cover. Refrigerate overnight or for up to 24 hours.
When you are ready to bake the craquelin, butter individual mini panettone tins or in my case, small bundt pans.
Take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll out to a floured board. Divide into the number of tins that you are using and roll each into a ball. Position inside the tins, cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place. Let the dough rise until doubled or until craquelin has risen to the top of the cups, about 2 hours.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Beat the remaining egg with about a teaspoon of water to make an egg wash. Brush the tops of the dough with the egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar.
Bake for about 12-15 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.
This looks absolutely scrumptious!
I have a question, though – do you place several small balls inside the mini-bundt pan?
I am wondering if this would work in a muffin-type tin?
I look forward to trying them…
(by the way, I just found your blog, will be indulging in ASAP!)
Hi Sally
Yes, I did roll the dough into smaller balls and piled them on top of each other in the bundt pans. I have baked them in mini panettone tins as well but used one ball of dough instead of several tiny ones.
I’m sure it’ll turn out just as great in muffin tins. If you really have a sweet tooth, you can perfume some sugar cubes with lemon or orange zest and push one into each dough ball before baking. It’ll give the breads a lovely citrusy aroma. I’m even toying with the idea of soaking the sugar cube in Cointreau but that’ll necessitate me to create a new category!
Let me know how yours will turn out!
xx
Karima
Thank you!
I don’t really have a sweet tooth, so I’ll stick to the way you posted
I am hoping to be able to make them this weekend, and will let you know if I do….
(Cointreau does sound lovely, though…..