the perfect egg: a recipe for îles flottantes and one for pain brioché

Iles Flottantes

with Lime & Jasmine Blossom Crème Anglaise & Rose Meringue

will serve 4 

for the Crème Anglaise:

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup of sugar

2 cups of milk

2 lime leaves
grated zest of 1 small lime

a handful of lime blossoms

a handful of jasmine blossoms

1 vanilla bean split in two

In a saucepan, bring the milk to a boil with the vanilla bean, grated lime zest, lime leaves, lime and jasmine blossoms.

In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until pale yellow and doubled in volume.

Just before the milk reaches the boiling point, remove it from the heat, cool it for one minute and gently pour it on the egg yolks while whisking them.

Return the milk and eggs to the pan, cook over medium heat while stirring continously. 

Do not let the custard reach the boiling point. As soon as the custard coats the back of the spoon, remove from the heat and pour it in a cold bowl, whisk it until cooler. Place the custard in the fridge with a plastic film on top.

For the Meringue:

3 egg whites

2 Tsp of sugar

1 pinch of salt

1 tsp rose blossom water

In a perfectly clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the sugar, salt and rose water until they stiff and shiny.

Spoon on a lightly buttered baking sheet dollops of meringue. Cook at 100C

for 45 minutes, do not let them color too much, remove from the oven and let them cool.

Prepare the Iles Flottantes: pour the custard in a large bowl and float the meringues on top.

For the Caramel:

1/2 cup of sugar

2 Tsp water

In a heavy saucepan, heat the sugar with the water until it forms a syrup.

Let it bubble until it starts coloring, tilt the pan until the color is uniform but do not use a spoon otherwise the sugar will crystallize. Do this until a nice light mahogany color is reached.

Drizzle the caramel on top ot the meringues and serve.

Pain Brioché

makes one loaf or 10 small buns

4 cups of flour

1Tbs of dry yeast

3 tbs of sugar

2 tsp of sea salt

3 large eggs

175grs (6oz) of unsalted butter

1 1/2 cup of milk

Place the flour, the sugar, the salt and the yeast in a large bowl. Mix together.

Melt the butter with the milk in a pan on low heat. When melted, remove from the heat and cool to barely warm. 

Add the eggs and the milk/butter to the flour, mix, then start to knead (it will be sticky), add a little flour if you need to. Continue to knead for 10 minutes. When the dough is satiny and feel springy, place in a buttered bowl and let rise for 2 hours in a warm place. After that time, it should be doubled its size. Punch it down and let rise another 2 hours (if you made the dough in the afternoon, let it rise in a cool place overnight).

Shape it in a loaf or in a braid or make buns.

Let the dough rise 20 minutes after you shape it.

Cook in a preheated oven 200C or 350F for 40 minutes for the loaves and 20 minutes for the buns until golden.

Baking bread in a different world

If there is one thing I miss a lot here in Bali, it is a good, crusty, warm loaf of bread fragrant with the sweet smell and heady tang of yeast. I have been dreaming for a long time to build a bread oven but so far, it has remained only that, a dream.

Not only could I bake bread in it but pizzas and fruit tarts as well. Ahhhhhh, just the thought of it transports me back to the bakeries in France at noon, when all the baguettes, pains de campagne and other breads are still warm and ready to be nibbled on the way back home.

A few months back, I decided that if the bread oven was a dream, the bread itself could possibly become a reality. I went to the town next to our village, bought an electric toaster oven/rotisserie and started to develop some recipes which, if not on a par with French bread, are pleasant and edible.
So for all of us who do not live in a country where good bread is available at every street corner, there is still hope for a decent loaf of daily bread!

    Baguettes et Petits Pains 

will make 5 baguettes or 10 petits pains

4 cups of bread flour

2 packages of dry yeast

2 tsp sea salt (you can increase to 1 Tbs if you like)

1 Tbs natural sugar

1 1/2 cup spring water (not tap because of the chlorine in it)

Place the flour in a bowl, add the yeast, the salt and the sugar. Mix with your hands, add the water.  (I do not bother with mixing the yeast, sugar and some water together first). Continue mixing with your hands until the water is incorporated, add some flour if you feel the dough is too wet.

Turn on a counter and start kneading, pulling and stretching, tucking it under to incorporate air in it. It will be tacky at this point but continue, it will start becoming more elastic as you knead. You may add a little flour if you start to have more dough on your hands than on the counter! 

Do this for 10 minutes until the dough is elastic and feels alive.

Form the dough in a ball and let it rise for 2 hours in a bowl covered with a towel in a warm, not drafty place.

After that time, when the dough has doubled in volume, deflate it gently. Add a bit of flour and form it in whatever shapes you want. Place the formed dough in a towel or on the baking tray and let it rise for 15minutes.

Bake at 475ºF or 250ºC for 20 minutes. Voilà, warm, crusty and chewy bread!

Olive Oil Dough & Fougasse

This soft dough is basically the same as above with the addition of extra virgin olive oil, the proportions are slightly different. It makes tender rolls and a perfect base for focaccia.

will make 2 large focaccias or 10 rolls

4 1/4 cups bread flour
2tsp sea salt
2tsp natural sugar
5/6 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 1/4 cup spring water
Follow the directions for the recipe above with the addition of the oil at the same time as the water.
This dough can rise longer and be punched down 2 times. I make a large batch in the afternoon, make rolls for dinner and keep half the dough for making focaccia for lunch next day.

Roasted Lemon, Onion & Garlic Focaccia

for the focaccia:

2Tbs extra virgin olive oil
Coarse sea salt for sprinkling
Sprigs of fresh rosemary
A few basil leaves
1 ripe tomato, sliced thinly


for roasting:
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 lemon, thinly sliced
1 garlic head, unpeeled
1tsp sugar
1Tbs olive oil

In a roasting pan, place the lemon, garlic and onion. Mix and rub the oil and sugar in. Roast 200ºC (375ºF) until  golden. Let cool slightly. Push the roasted garlic out of their skins. Cut the lemons in small pieces.

When the dough is rested, take half of it and turn it on a baking tray, push the dough to fit, from the center to the sides, but do not stretch it, poke it with your fingers and drizzle the oil. Cover with a dishtowel, let rest for 45 minutes.

When rested, poke the dough again gently, let rest 30 more minutes (you could skip this step if pressed by time).

Sprinkle the roasted garlic, onion, lemon and Rosemary sprigs on the dough. Arrange the tomato slices on top (you could add some cheese if you'd like), sprinkle some sea salt, grind some pepper on top and bake in a preheated oven at 250ºC (475ºF). Lower the heat to 220ºC (400ºF) and cook for 30 minutes.

Fougasse

1/2 batch of olive oil dough or 1/2 batch of white dough for baguettes

Preheat the oven at 250ºC (475ºF).

Place the dough on a floured counter and spread it gently in a rough square, let it rest 5 minutes. Divide the dough in three smaller squares. Be gentle in handling the dough, do not deflate it, you want to keep air in it.

Cut a large cut in the center and 2 smaller diagonal cuts on each side. Open wide the holes with your fingers as they will get smaller when the fougasse is baking. Sprinkle flour generously on the fougasse.

Place on a well floured baking tray in the oven. Cook for 15/20 minutes until golden.
Variations: After the dough has rested, mix in some good black olives, chopped anchovies and rosemary sprigs, knead a few times and let it rise for another hour, then follow the directions above for shaping and baking. Another good variation is to add some walnuts pieces and some blue cheese instead of the olives and anchovies.

I am still dreaming about my bread oven. Maybe one day....

A very different landscape

I am staying in Erwinna, a small village in Pennsylvania by the Delaware River for another ten days before I return to Bali.

 This morning, I woke up to a landscape of snow. The roads have not yet been plowed and the world is silent, quiet and very beautiful in its white stillness. Just the soft hush of the snow falling. 

It feels so peaceful and cozy to be in a warm house, snowed in with nowhere to go when suddenly, it dawns on me that I did not buy any food before the storm. Besides eggs, milk and bread, there is barely anything to eat in the house and I have two hungry teenagers waking up, fortunately I let them sleep late!

Today we will make Rice Pudding and Pains Perdus, maybe a soup with an omelet for dinner, we will eat together by the fireplace and all will be peaceful, cozy and well!

Pains Perdus

When I was a child coming back from school in the late afternoon, these would, most of the time, be waiting for me in the kitchen and, as I devoured them, I often wished there were more bread leftovers. My mom used to turn day old bread into delightful sweet things: Pains perdus, Gâteau de Pain, the ultimate Bread Pudding, studded with raisins macerated in rum that she served with vanilla crème anglaise and in the Summer, Charlotte aux Fraises, my favorite!

1 loaf of day old French bread, sliced in medium slices

4 eggs

2 cups of milk

1 Tbs sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp orange flower water (optional)

Beat the eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and orange flower water together until well mixed. Soak the slices od bread for 5 to 10 mnts in the mix until soft but still holding shape.

In a frying pan, heat the oil and fry the bread until golden. Place on a plate, sprinkle sugar on top and serve.

Riz au Lait (Rice Pudding)

This is the simplest of rice pudding, another staple of my childhood, so comforting and so easy to make that I was allowed to prepare it without supervision at six years old and never stopped making it since then...  

1 1/2 cup of short grain rice, rinsed and drained

1 quart or so of whole milk

1 vanilla bean split in half

Zest from a lemon, left in ribbons

3/4 cup of sugar 

In a large sauce pan, place the rice, half of the milk, the vanilla and lemon zest, bring to a very gentle boil, it should barely look like it's bubbling. Mix with a wooden spoon from time to time, top with more milk (it should never be dry) until the rice looks cooked to your taste and you like the consistency (20/30mnts), I like my rice pudding soft and not dry. Add the sugar, mix it in and continue cooking for another 5mnts. Serve warm.

Life is sweet