You’ve probably already heard of the famous French viennoiseries. This word doesn’t sound familiar to you ? It's probably because you've never heard the generic term for croissants, pains au chocolat and brioches! All these French sweets constitute a sub-category of French pastry: viennoiseries!
How do we characterize viennoiseries?
Unlike bread dough, a viennoiserie has the particularity of being enriched with fat and sugar, giving it softness and sweetness. A viennoiserie is often made of eggs, butter, milk, cream or sugar. The dough is often leavened or flaky, and kneaded to give a soft texture to the final product. Its technical gestures are similar to that of bread or puff pastry, which is why you can find viennoiseries in bakeries.
When do we usually eat viennoiseries?
This bakery preparation is anchored in the French customs. Viennoiseries are often eaten in the morning, as a sweet breakfast is a tradition in France. However, it is not uncommon to consume viennoiseries for a snack in the afternoon.
What are the different French viennoiseries?
As I explained earlier in the article, viennoiseries are generally divided into two sub-categories: brioche doughs, and puff pastries. In both cases, doughs have a resting time to rise and develop.
The particularity of a brioche dough is the quantity of butter added to the base of the dough. This addition of fat allows it to have a soft texture and a taste slightly more greedy than bread.
The most popular viennoiseries of this category are :
Brioche (plain, pearl sugar, chocolate chips, praline)
Gâche
Pogne
Chinese
Cougnou
Milk roll
Beaten cake (Picardy)
Pastis landais
A puff pastry is a distinctive dough, because it’s characterized by a succession of layers varying between butter and dough. This laminating technique allows to have a crispy and honeycombed pastry. In this category, you must know :
Croissant
Apple turnover
Swiss or Swiss brioche
Oranais
Chocolate croissant
Pain aux raisins ( or Chelsea bun)
Palmier
Sacristan
Rissoles
Patte d’ours (bear paw turnover)
Flaky brioche
Techniques for mastering viennoiseries
Do you want to make real French viennoiseries at home? Here are my tips for mastering the making of your future croissants and brioches.
Tip 1#
3 elements are essential to make a success of your viennoiseries: the texture of the dough, the temperature during rising time , and the lamination (for puff pastry)
If you want to make a successful brioche dough, you need to knead the dough long enough (10 minutes minimum). The goal is to activate the gluten contained in flour and to incorporate the butter. This will give the dough an elastic texture ( i.e. to have a soft brioche ).
Tip 2#
Whatever leavened dough you are going to bake, avoid putting the yeast in contact with salt or sugar. Salt and sugar will consume the yeast, and therefore degrade it. I therefore advise you to always pour the yeast either opposite the salt and sugar, or on a different layer from the other ingredients (for example on flour).
Tip 3#
Always use fresh yeast, it will give an artisanal taste much more pleasant in the mouth than dry yeast.
Tip 4#
Whatever your preparation, avoid working in a too hot environment. Stay between 22°C and 25°C (71°F and 77°F). Heat is the enemy of pastries because it can either melt your butter or make your dough too soft.
Tip 5#
Resting or rising time is essential for successful pastries. This phase is important to be able to ferment and activate the gluten after kneading. For a dough to ferment properly, I advise you to leave it in the fridge for at least 2 hours. This way, it will develop its yeast aromas. It is also this time of pose which will make it possible to obtain an airy texture.
Tip 6#
As mentioned above, the particularity of a puff pastry is its layering process. Seen from the side, a puff pastry is a succession of layers of dough and butter. It is this succession of texture which will allow to have a puff pastry crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Puff pastry is one of the most complex techniques to master when baking. Especially if you make it by hand. I advise you to always use a VERY good quality butter (with at least 82% fat). The quality of the butter will also make it easier for you to do the lamination process.
Tip 7#
The lamination is a very technical step: keep in mind that your butter and your dough must always have the same texture. Otherwise you will not have a homogeneous result and the butter will crumble inside the dough.
Tip 8#
My ultimate secret: after having tested many lamination techniques, I advise you not to leave your puff pastry more than 15 minutes in the fridge between rounds. Why ? Butter has the particularity to harden very quickly compared to the dough. As stated in tip #7, the dough and the butter must always have the same texture. This is even more important because we roll out the dough by hand. You have 2 solutions : leave your dough in a cool place for 15 minutes between each round, so that the dough doesn't get too soft, or leave the dough to ferment in the fridge for 1 hour and take it out for 30 minutes at room temperature (22°C) until the butter softens and has the same texture as the dough.
Now you have all the keys to succeed your homemade pastries!
Ready to make puff pastry ? Learn how to make beautiful homemade croissants with step-by-step guidance.
Do you prefer brioche viennoiseries ? Get started on making a brioche to make a Tropézienne!
Feel free to tag me on Instagram at @theparisbest_baking, I'll be happy to see your creations and repost your sweets.
See you soon on the Paris-Best !
Lea from the Paris-Best
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