Daring Baker's September 2009 Challenge

Saute of Louisiana Crawfish Vols-au-Vent

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

When Aubrey and I stayed at the Madewood Plantation, we had the most amazing creamy crawfish mixture served in a puff pastry bowl. I wanted to make it, but I'd given up on finding a recipe... much less knowing how to make a puff pastry bowl. Well, (low and behold) a few days later, I got our daring baker's challenge..... Vol-au-Vent, which is a puff pastry bowl. We could fill it with anything we wanted, and my search continued for this creamy crawfish mixture. Emeril, you're the best!!! The Vols-au-Vent is a layered dough. It was very similar to the dough I made for the Braided Danish, so I was a little familiar with how it worked (as well as how much time it takes to make).

It started off as a small dinner with just Aubrey and me. It's not so intimidating cooking for just Aubrey because I've had my share of embarrassments messing up recipes and having to order pizza or Chinese take-out... I don't get embarrassed anymore. But when he suggested having a dinner party I have to admit I was a little nervous. Well, a lot nervous is more like it. I don't think I've ever had people over and cooked something I've never made before... much less a Daring Bakers Challenge. I'm blessed to have a husband that believes in me (and my cooking) so much that he knew it would be just fine. It ended up being one of the best things I've put in my mouth, and I couldn't have done it without Aubrey's help with prepping the food and being the taster when adding the ingredients in the Crawfish Saute.

It was so much fun making the puff pastry from scratch, and I can now check this off my list. However, when I make this Crawfish recipe in the future, it will be much quicker to use the frozen puff pastry dough straight from the grocery store freezer section (unless my daring side comes out again).

First, I'll give the recipe and directions for the Vols-au-Vent. At the bottom will be the recipe for the Saute of Louisiana Crawfish.

Vols-au-Vent

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cups cake flour

1 Tablespoon salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)

1 1/4 cups ice water

1 pound very cold unsalted butter

extra flour for dusting work surface

Directions:

Mixing the dough
Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers... kinda like Play-Doh.

Remove the dough from the machine, and form it into a ball. With a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that's about 1-inch thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm; if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Incorporating the Butter

Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour. With your rolling pin, press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10-inch square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with "ears" or flaps.

Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. You should now have a package that is about 8-inches square.

To make great puff pastry, it is important to make sure the dough is cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it. You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.

Making the Turns

Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24-inches (don't worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24-inches, everything else will work itself out). With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle: check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength).

With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed the first turn.

Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24-inches and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.

Chilling the Dough

If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you've completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.

The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.

Forming and Baking the Vols-au-Vent

Yield: 1/3 of the puff pastry recipe below will yield about 8-10 1.5-inch vols-au-vent or 4 4-inch vols-au-vent

You will need the following:
Well chilled puff pastry dough (see recipe above)

Egg wash (1 egg or yolk beaten with a small amount of water)

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divide your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled. (If you are looking to make more vols-au-vent than the yield stated above, you can roll and cut the remaining two pieces of dough as well... if not, then leave refrigerated for the time being or prepare it for longer-term freezer storage. See "Tips" section below for more storage info).

On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.

For smaller hors d'oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5-inch round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5-inch round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4-inch cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking-not wadding up- the pieces.... they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides).

Using a 3/4-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2 to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut the centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little "caps" for your vols-au-vent, or put them in the scrap pile.

Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little "caps," dock and egg wash them as well.

Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400-degrees. You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.

Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly. Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temp to 350-degrees, and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center "caps" they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned).

Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for cold fillings or to warm for hot fillings.

Fill and serve.

***TIPS***

*Although they are at their best filled and eaten soon after baking, baked vols-au-vent shells can be stored airtight for a day.

*Shaped, unbaked vols-u-vent can be wrapped and frozen for up to a month (bake from frozen, egg-washing them first).

* Unshaped, unbaked puff pastry dough: Roll into a sheet about 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick and freeze firm on a lined baking sheet. Then you can easily wrap the sheet in plastic, then foil (and if you have a sealable plastic bag big enough, place the wrapped dough inside) and return to the freezer for up to a few months. Defrost in the refrigerator when ready to use.

*Homemade puff pastry is precious stuff, so save any clean scraps. Stack or overlap them, rather than balling them up, to help keep the integrity of the layers. Then give them a single "turn" and gently re-roll. Scrap puff can be used for applications where a super-high rise is not necessary (such as palmiers, cheese straws, napoleons, or even the bottom bases for your vols-au-vent).

Saute of Louisiana Crawfish

(for the filling)

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup minced onions

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 Tablespoon chopped garlic

1 pound Louisiana Crawfish tails (I bought these in the freezer section in my grocery store)

Essence (recipe below)

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Worcestershire sauce

Hot sauce

3 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

6 medium Vols-au-Vent puff pastries
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions:
In a large saute pan, over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onions. Season with salt and pepper. Saute for 2 minutes. Stir in the garlic and continue to saute for 1 minute. Season the crawfish with Essence. Add the crawfish to the onions. Continue to saute for 2 minutes. Stir in the cream. Season with Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce. Bring the liquid to a simmer and cook for 4 minutes. Reseason if necessary. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the parsley. Remove from the heat. Spoon the crawfish sauce in the center of each puff pastry. Garnish with the remaining parsley and cheese.

Essence:
2 1/2 Tablespoons paprika

2 Tablespoons salt

2 Tablespoons garlic powder

1 Tablespoon black pepper

1 Tablespoon onion powder

1 Tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 Tablespoon dried leaf oregano

1 Tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight jar or container.
Yield about 2/3 cup

Source: Emeril