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.
I had such high hopes for this challenge. Not only am I a big fan of Steph's blog but I love puff pastry. I usually have a box in the freezer for quick desserts. My last experience with a laminated dough from scratch seemed to go fairly well. It wasn't exactly a puff pastry like this month's challenge but it was definitely similar (at least in my little mind!). And up until the actual shaping and baking, everything seemed to be going according to the recipe.
I had no issues incorporating the butter into the dough. That went swimmingly! I think my problem began when it came time to shape the dough. I didn't have any round cutters to use or any other shape cookie cutters for that matter. I decided to use a chef's knife instead and go with rectangular shapes. I tried to make quick sharp cuts so that it wouldn't damage the layers too much.
umm...yeah. The layers. About that. Well...maybe I should just show you what I got after baking.
Kinda...small and flat no? Here is a close up of the few layers that managed to puff up.
They were also veerrrrrrryyyy crunchy. You could pick them up and crack! Now you have 2 sub-par Vols-au-Vent! I did attempt again but got the same result. I wonder if I had the proper cutting utensils if it would have worked. I still have a small section of the puff pastry so I will attempt this again once I remember to pick up the round cutters.
For this month's recipe, please check out Steph at A Whisk and a Spoon. To see more Vols-au-Vent, check out the Daring Bakers blog roll.
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4 Treats for Charlie:
oh i'm sorry they didn't rise up for you. the only thing i can think of: was it cold enough at home and was the pastry kept in the fridge for long enough etc? your filling sounds familiar because like you, avocados make me happy. :)
Now that you mention it, it probably was to warm in my apartment. I'm in Texas so it is pretty hot still even with the AC running. I left the pastry in the fridge for 30 minutes between each turn. I probably should have left it in longer taking into account my apartment temp.
Sorry the vol au vents didn't work out for you, but I love your description that they crack. Keeping the dough cold seemed to be crucial. Some of mine got too warm and so they tilted over on one side. Glad you did the challenge. I love avocados, too.
oh, i'm so sorry. but thanks for giving it a shot and baking along this month!
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