When I saw Zoe's posted "
pear gallette", a recipe from
Michele Gayer earlier this year, January to be exact, first thing came in my mind was, to make chocolate puff pastry
again, then use that as the base for the gallette. I made my pastry that day, then I stored it the freezer. What I needed was just to buy couple of pears, then I was set. So I thought! The problem with fruit like pear in my family, it never lasted that long, we always end up eating it for a snack right away, and I never had the chance to turned it into something more delicious like this galette. Months passed by so quickly without I realize it, and my pastry has long expired as it is April already. Not wanting to throw away my hard labor, I went to grocery store pretty early on Friday morning, I bought couples of pears, straight back home and poached it immediately. This was good, because no one was at home, and I got to work peacefully, and not to worry that someone might want to have a taste of my poached pear. Glad that I finally made it, the galette was every bite delicious. I can't thank
Zoe enough for her inspiring post on
Michele Gayer's "
Pear Galette". Thank you both!
Chocolate puff pastry might be not available in the store, at least not that I'm aware of and I never really seen it in my neighborhood store so far, so you either make it yourself, or use regular pastry instead. I also poached the pear first, just because I like it that way, you can also skip the poaching process like the one that Zoe posted on her blog. I hope you like it.
Note:
When I baked this pastry, the almond frangipane started to flow over the sides of puff pastry, I think next time I would make the shell differently. Instead of rolling it into a disc then elongates into oval shape, I probably make it into pastry shell like I would made
vols au vent. If you don't want your frangipane to flow over the sides of each pastry when you bake it, make shells instead. Please visit
here if you don't know how. This way, you won't lose some of your delicious frangipane like mine. Or, perhaps use less frangipane, and place it in the middle of pastry, top with poached pear, cut side up, like the one show on
Zoe's post.
490 g (17.3 oz) chocolate puff pastry (
recipe follows), or 2 sheets regular puff pastry. Thaw if frozen.
For poached pear:
3 ripe but still firm Bosch pears
750 ml (1 bottle) good quality white wine of your preference
1/2 cup sugar
vanilla bean, scraped
For frangipane:
1/2 cup butter, soften at room temperature
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 medium eggs, lightly beaten with fork
1 tbs orange blossom water
2½ cup almond meal
2½ tbs all-purposed flour
1/2 tsp salt
To serve:
Apricot preserve, optional
To make poached pear:
Peel, and cut the pear in half, using melon baller core and discard the seeds. Place them in a large pot, pour in white wine, add sugar and vanilla bean. Place the pot over medium low heat, simmer until pears are slightly tender, about 30 to 40 minutes. Turn off the heat, cool completely.
To make frangipane:
Sift almond meal, all-purposed flour, and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
Using paddle attachment on electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy, add egg in two additions, beating well after each addition. Scarpe the side of the bowl if necessary. Turn the speed to low, add almond meal mixture, mix to blend. Refrigerate will working on puff pastry.
To assemble: please read my note above before assemble it!
Roll out puff pastry to about a 1/4 inch thick, cut into 5-inch discs. Working with one disc at a time, roll it out until it elongates into an oval shape, about 7-inch long. Don't roll all the way to ends, so the ends will puff up higher then the middle. Transfer to baking sheet, repeat with the rest of puff pastry. Refrigerate 30 to 45 minutes. If there is any left over pastry, wrap, and save it for other use.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Using clean kitchen towel, or paper towel, lightly pat dry poached pears and transfer into a plate.
Fill each pastry with (more or less) 3 tablespoons almond frangipane, top with poached pear cut side down. Bake 25 - 35 minutes, until golden brown and puffy.
Transfer to a wire rack, and cool completely. Right before serving, brush each pastry with warm apricot preserved if desire.
Chocolate Puff Pastry
recipe adapted from Piere Hermé book's Chocolate Dessert, and from Fanny's technique on how to "Mastering puff pastry, step by step"
makes 2 ¾ pounds
For the dough:
3 cups (420 g) all-purposed flour
3/4 cup (185 g) cold water, plus more as needed, about 2 -3 tbs
2 tsp salt
5 tbs (2½ oz; 70 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
For the butter packet:
3¾ cup (15 oz; 425 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (50 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder (Valrhona, if possible)
To make dough packet:
Put flour on a kitchen counter top, and make a well in the center.
Mix 3/4 cup of water and salt until salt is dissolved. Pour this in the well, working from inside of the wall flour, start mixing it using a fork until most of flour has been stirred. Pour the melted butter over this mixture, continue to stir. If the dough feels a bit on the drier side, add water a tablespoon at a time. Knead the dough for roughly one minute, shape into rectangle, wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours. The dough will not look perfect at this point.
Using paddle attachment on an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth, but not airy. Add cocoa powder, continue to process just enough to blend them together.
Lay a piece of plastic wrap on a kitchen counter top. Scrape the butter directly on top, shape into square about an inch or two inches smaller than the size of your dough packet. Wrap - refrigerate at least 2 hours.
I always rely on this same method of making puff pastry, and it is always successful. I have
Fanny to be thankful for her fantastic tutorial, so please visit
Fanny's blog on how to
"Mastering puff pastry, step by step". I am sure you will be happy to find her easy to follow technique, and explanation.
When you are done with steps, refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.
