Palmiers with Vanilla Bean, Pecan, and Cardamom
Persons
18
Serving Size
2 Palmier
Prep Time
50 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Wait Time
4 hours, 40 minutes
Total Time
1 hour, 10 minutes
Notes
Suggested timeline for making puff pastry
- Making the dough – 5 to 7 mins
- Making the butter block – 5 to 7 mins
- Chill – 30 mins
- Combine the flour and butter block – 10 mins
- Folding the dough six times with 15 mins intervals 6 x 15 minutes – so, 90 minutes
- The process of rolling and folding itself takes only 5 minutes each time so 6 x 5 = 30 minutes
- Final chilling – 60 mins
- Total time 230 minutes of which 180 minutes is the chilling time (inactive time) while the actual work (active time) is only 50 minutes
- Always keep puff pastry cold at all times. This is the best way to create and preserve those layers of flour and butter. If the dough warms up too much, then the two will combine together and blend into a single dough ruining any layers you may have created.
- Don’t skip the resting time – This is important not just so the butter stays cold but it also helps the gluten in the flour relax, making it easier to roll again. The un-rested dough will shrink and not roll making it difficult to keep those layers separated.
- If you live in a hot humid country – work on a chilled large baking tray rather than on a countertop. Place the baking tray in the fridge with the dough so it stays chilled. Then, bring the dough out – flip the baking tray, dust with flour, and roll the dough to create the fold.
- Each half can be rolled to a thin sheet of minimum 12 x 12 or a maximum 16 x 16 square.
- Rolling the sheet thin gives pretty well defined puffed edges. While rolling it thick will give you very bulky edges, which don’t look as elegant.
- And yet, rolling too thin will squash the layers ruining all your hard work.
- If you live in a hot and humid country – work in small batches. For example, if you have divided the sheet into 16 squares – work with 4 squares at a time – keeping the rest in the fridge. This will make sure you have beautiful puff pastry treats no matter what the weather is.
- Pre-heat your oven before you place your puff pastry in to bake. Laminated doughs must be baked at between 200 C to 220 C (400 F – 425 F). If the oven is not hot enough, the butter between the layers will melt away and the layers will fuse together ruining all the hard work you did.
You will need to work in batches. It is OK to slice the entire log at once and place slices on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan in the freezer. Bake straight from the freezer about 12 at a time.
Ingredients
- Puff Pastry Dough (détrempe)
- 1/2 lb (225 g) Bread flour or all-purpose flour
- 2 oz (65 g) Butter unsalted, chilled, cubed
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 cup (240 ml) Water
- Filling:
- ½ cup (57 grams) pecan halves
- ½ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon (1.5grams) kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon (1 gram) ground cardamom
- 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved
Instructions
- Puff Pastry
- In a bowl, place the flour, salt, sugar – and combine well.
- Add the chilled cubed butter to the bowl.
- Using your hand, fork, or a pastry blender – cut or rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs (similar to when we make pie crust).
- Add water a little at a time – bringing it all together.
- Gather it all into a ball and knead slightly until it comes together.
- Tip – The kneading helps add elasticity and gluten, and yet you don’t want to over-knead the dough like bread. So knead until it’s smooth.
- BUTTER BLOCK (BEURRAGE)
- Place the room temperature butter in a bowl.
- Cream for 30 secs.
- Add the flour and cream for another 30 secs.
- Transfer to a 6 x 6 plastic wrap lined square baking pan.
- Spread to all the corners of the pan so you have a thin 6-inch square.
- Use plastic wrap to cover the butter well and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- LAMINATE – FLOUR (DÉTRAMPE) AND BUTTER BLOCK (BEURRAGE) – (PATON)
- Make sure the dough and butter block are both chilled but not hard. If necessary leave them on the counter for a few minutes.
- Roll the dough to a large square about 12 x 12 inches.
- Place the butter block in the middle of the dough.
- Flip the sides over and seal the edges.
- Wrap the dough in cling/plastic and place it back in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- CREATING THE FOLDS/TURNS (TOURS)
- Place the dough on a lightly floured surface so the seam is towards the top.
- Start by lightly tap the dough with the rolling pin on the top surface – this will soften the butter inside preventing it from cracking. (which usually happens if you just start rolling).
- Tap from bottom edge to the top – gently. Do it no more than 2 times.
- Then roll the dough to approximately 20 x 10 inches long.
- To create the evelope fold, imagine you are dividing the dough into thirds.
- Just like a book – Fold the top third to the middle.
- Then fold the bottom third over the middle.
- This is your first fold. (1st fold)
- Wrap in plastic wrap again and chill for 15 minutes
- THE CLASSIC PUFF PASTRY HAS SIX FOLDS (6 TOURS)
- Repeat this process of tapping, rolling, and folding five more times.
- Total of six-folds. And making sure to chill between each or between every 2 folds.
- If the dough is cold and relaxed you can do two folds at one time.
- In winter, two folds are sometime possible. But in summer one fold with every 15 minutes chilling time.
- STORAGE
- After the last fold – the puff pastry needs to rest for at least an hour.
- PALMIERS:Instructions
- In the work bowl of a food processor, combine pecans, sugar, salt, cardamom, and vanilla bean seeds. Process until mixture is uniformly incorporated and is the texture of fine sand.
- Pour about half of sugar mixture onto work surface. Place puff pastry on top, and sprinkle with additional sugar mixture. Begin rolling pastry, working quickly, incorporating more sugar (as you would when flouring your board while rolling piecrust or cookies). Roll up dough, jelly-roll style, beginning with each long end and meeting in the middle. Place rolled dough in the freezer until firm, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and spritz with water.
- Cut dough log into ¼-inch thick slices, and place palmiers about 2 inches apart on prepared pan. (See Note.) Freeze sliced cookies for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Bake palmiers for 8 to 10 minutes, turning with a spatula halfway through baking. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
