Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (200 page)

PITHIVIERS

[Almond Cream Baked in French Puff Pastry]

The small town of Pithiviers, south of Paris halfway to Bourges, may have other distinctions, but its world renown is certainly due to the famous
almond pastry that every local
pâtissier
prominently and proudly displays. This is an exact illustration, drawn from our own photograph of
le veritable Pithiviers de Pithiviers,
taken only moments before we consumed it down to the last crumb in a warm and flowering meadow just outside the town itself. This buttery, flaky, tender, marvelous dessert is probably one of the most glorious uses to which you can put puff pastry; it is also a persuasive reason for you to learn how to make your own
pâte feuilletée,
because a
Pithiviers
is so easy and fast to assemble. It is two disks of dough enclosing a lump of rum-flavored almonds, sugar, and butter; the top disk is glazed with egg just before baking, and the characteristic design is cut into it with the point of a knife. Serve the
Pithiviers
as a dessert, at a tea party, or on any occasion that calls for something special in the way of a sweet. One of the great white Sauternes would be lovely with it, or a sweet Champagne, or a sparkling Vouvray.

For an 8-inch Pithiviers, serving 6 to 8 people

TIMING NOTE
: Make the puff pastry the day before serving, as well as the almond cream, since it must be cold and hard. The assembled
Pithiviers
may be refrigerated or frozen, but once baked, it is at its best when served within 2 to 3 hours (unless you have a warming oven where it can remain safely at around 100 degrees for a number of hours).

1)
The almond cream—chilling time 30 to 40 minutes in freezer

⅓ cup sugar

4 Tb soft butter

An electric mixer, or a bowl and wooden spoon

1 “large” egg

2½ ounces (½ cup loosely packed) ground blanched almonds—may be ground in an electric blender

¼ tsp almond extract

¼ tsp vanilla extract

1½ Tb dark rum

Beat sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg, almonds, extracts, and rum. Cover bowl and set in freezer for 30 to 40 minutes, or in refrigerator for an hour or two; it is essential that the cream be chilled and hard before you assemble the
Pithiviers.

2)
Assembling the Pithiviers—about 1 hour, including 2 half-hour rests

The recipe for chilled classic
French puff pastry

A round pastry cutter or upside-down cake pan 8 inches in diameter

A small, sharp-pointed knife for cutting dough

A piece of lightly floured waxed paper on a tray

More flour and more waxed paper

A dampened baking sheet (a pizza tray is good for baking this pastry)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees in time for Step 3. Place chilled puff pastry on a lightly floured marble or board, and roll it rapidly into a rectangle ⅜ inch thick, 12 inches wide, and 20 inches long. (To equalize stresses and strains within the dough for even baking, be sure to roll it crosswise as well as lengthwise.)
Centering cutter or cake pan well on pastry for each of the disks you are to cut, and making them at least ½ inch from edges of pastry and from each other, cut two 8-inch disks (rounds) in the dough. Lift off surrounding dough, and arrange it in one layer on tray; see directions for its re-use as
puff pastry
.

Cover this leftover dough with waxed paper, and dust paper lightly with flour; roll one of the disks up on your pin, unroll on the waxed paper, cover with another sheet of waxed paper, and refrigerate. Unroll second disk topside down on baking sheet, cover, and refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cold and firm. (Make frequent use of the refrigerator, and you will have no troubles with puff pastry.)

Remove disk formed on the baking sheet from the refrigerator. Push dough out gently with your fingers to make it slightly more than 8 inches in diameter all around. Soften almond cream, if necessary, by kneading it; form it into a cake 4 inches in diameter and center it on the disk of dough. It is important here that the almond cream be cold and hard, and that there be a free circumference of dough 1½ to 2 inches wide all around; this will prevent it from leaking out of the pastry during baking.