#1 - Crème Pâtissière
The fundamentals of crème pâtissière
Hello!
I hope you are well and that you've had a great week full of delicious things.
It's our first proper foray into the world of pastry together and I couldn't be more excited! This week we are going to chat all things crème pâtissière. It's my absolute favourite pastry preparation, and if you can nail a basic crème pat, you're on your way to becoming a dab hand with desserts. For me, what makes crème pat so special is its versatility. Whether an oozy doughnut centre or the filling for a fancy fruit tart, its always delicious, and once you have a basic recipe you can play around with the flavours as much as you like. So, here's a little run-down of what we will be chatting about this week...
Crème Pâtissière
What is it?
A basic recipe
How to use it
A variation - chocolate
So, what actually is crème pat? If you're new to the world of pastry, you might be unfamiliar with the term. Essentially, it is a custard, but not like the stuff you get from the supermarket. Crème pâtissière, or French pastry cream, is a very thick custard. It is used for anything from filling large and small cakes, to tarts, desserts (hot and cold), and anything in between. It can be used on its own, or with other ingredients mixed through such as cream, meringue, or butter to alter its taste or texture. It can also be infused with herbs, spices, and other flavours, so is a perfect vehicle for introducing new flavours into desserts.
There are four central components to a crème pat: eggs, flour, sugar, and milk.
Eggs: the key thickening agent in your custard. When they reach a certain temperature, eggs will coagulate, or set. This is why we often use eggs for baking cakes, and why they are an essential ingredient in custard!
Flour: Eggs need to be cooked to a very specific temperature to set in a custard, but can scramble if they go beyond this. Adding starch helps to stabilise the mix so it won't split when you cook it, as well as an extra thickener to get the custard to the consistency we want.
Sugar: for flavour!
Milk: the liquid part of your custard. Always use whole milk - don't be scared of the fat, it's important when it comes to making the best patisserie.
The great thing about crème pat is that no matter how many additional flavours you use, the basic method always remains the same.
The Basic Recipe
Ingredients
300g whole milk
1 vanilla pod, or equivalent paste
6 egg yolks (should be around 90g)
50g caster sugar
20g cornflour
Method
Begin by heating the milk in a medium saucepan with the vanilla. This is where you'll infuse the flavour of the vanilla with your milk, so I prefer using a lower heat to warm gradually.
While the milk warms, whisk the egg yolks, caster sugar, and cornflour together in a medium mixing bowl. You want to give it a good whisk here to incorporate all the sugar - sugar can 'burn' the yolk, essentially cooking it, if left on the surface. This will make it go grainy and nasty, so make sure you whisk well. It should look ever so slightly paler and fluffier.
By this point, you should see steam coming off the milk. If not, increase the heat slightly. It should be steaming, but not boiling - if you dipped a thermometer in, it would be around 70°C.
Pour approximately 1/3 of the warmed milk over the egg yolk mixture and whisk. Pour another 1/3 over and whisk again. By doing this, you are increasing the temperature of the eggs very gradually (called tempering) to ensure you don't cook them too quickly. It's all about gentle heat!
Put the pan with the remaining 1/3 of milk back on a medium heat, and pour the yolk mixture into the pan. Now is when you need to whisk, whisk, whisk!
After a few minutes, the heat will begin to thicken the mixture. I like to take it off the heat at this point whilst whisking hard - this will help minimise lumps. Once you’ve got a thickened custard, return it to the heat to keep cooking.
The custard should eventually begin to bubble. Don't worry - the starch in the custard will stop it from splitting. This is how we cook out the starch and get rid of the floury texture. Keep whisking as it bubbles, then remove from the heat after 30 seconds. If you aren't sure whether you've cooked it enough, taste a little. If it feels floury in your mouth, keep cooking for a touch longer.
Use a spatula to get every last bit out of the pan into a tub or tray. Press a piece of parchment directly onto the custard to prevent it forming a skin, and allow to cool before chilling down completely in the fridge.
Once cool, it will be very gelatinous and fairly unappetising. Here is where you need to get your whisk out again - plop it into a big bowl and whisk to your heart's content to get a smooth, glossy custard.
You've made your crème pat, what now?
So now you've got a big bowl of lovely thick yellow custard, but it's a little too thick to pour on anything. Obviously, you can just eat it. It really is delicious as is, and a big dollop would still be perfect with a piece of apple pie, or even with a shop-bought doughnut dipped in. However, I'd encourage you to explore the vast realms of crème pât by doing your own little experiments. We'll cover these all properly at another time, but to get you started, here's a little guide:
Crème pâtissière + whipped cream = Crème légère
Crème pâtissière + whipped cream + gelatine = Crème diplomat
Crème pâtissière + Italian meringue = Crème chibouste
Crème pâtissière + butter = Crème mousseline
Crème pâtissière + butter + cream = Crème madame
If you're very much a beginner to the world of pastry and crème pât, I'd suggest starting simply by whisking 150g double cream and folding gently into your crème pâtissière. The others are a little more temperamental, and better to try once you're feeling a little more confident, and preferably with a mixer!
Chocolate crème pat
Chocolate custard is a marvellous thing. Personally I'd eat this straight from the bowl in front of the TV, but it also makes a great tart filling. Simply make the crème pat as instructed above, reducing the cornflour to 15g (the chocolate adds a little setting power to the custard). Before reaching step 8, add 100g chopped dark chocolate and one tablespoon of red wine vinegar into the pan with the crème pât (off the heat!). Give it a good stir until the chocolate has totally melted and incorporated. Better yet, use a stick blender to blitz it together - this will help it emulsify and give you the smoothest, glossiest custard possible. The red wine vinegar may seem a strange addition here, but trust me, it works! As a slight alternative, I like to use oat milk to make chocolate crème pâtissière.
I hope you've enjoyed my first recipe, and that you will be tucking into a big bowl of comforting custard this weekend. Maybe you'll make something fancy with it too - I'd love to hear how you get on!
Just a little note before I go, I know that sometimes things just go wrong in the kitchen. You might have followed the recipe from start to finish, but somehow you've STILL ended up with a sad lumpy custard, and you're not really sure why. So, every week I'll answer any questions from the previous newsletter. If you run into problems, simply send me an email or write a comment and I'll help you troubleshoot!
I hope you have a lovely weekend, and chat soon.
Annabelle
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