Paris-Brest, the typical French dessert

Paris Brest is a French dessert consisting of a choux pastry base filled with mousseline cream. Let's discover the original recipe together.

Circular in shape, to celebrate the shape of the bicycle wheels, the Paris-Brest is made up of a base of choux pastry , the same used in the preparation of cream puffs, and a filling based on butter custard also known as mousseline cream . The decoration with flaked almonds is also inevitable, giving it its characteristic appearance.

Preparing the Paris-Brest dessert is not difficult but there are several steps that require a minimum of attention . One above all is the preparation of the choux pastry which must swell during cooking. Even for the cream there are some critical steps but thanks to our suggestions you too can celebrate this cycling event.

How to prepare the Paris Brest recipe

1. To prepare the Paris Brest, start with the choux pastry . In a saucepan, bring the water to the boil with 50 grams of butter and the salt . If you want, you can add a scant spoonful of sugar.
2. Then add the flour , all at once, mixing first with a whisk to avoid the formation of lumps, then with a spatula.
3. When the dough begins to detach from the walls, remove it from the heat and transfer it to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (you can also carry out the following steps by hand).
4. With the machine running, add the eggs , one at a time, waiting for the previous one to be absorbed.
5. Transfer the resulting dough, which should be smooth and form a ribbon, into a pastry bag fitted with a star nozzle.
6. Form a 20cm diameter circle on a sheet of baking paper with a single circular motion. Then make another one on the outside and finally one on top, straddling the two.
7. Decorate the surface of the cake with sliced ​​almonds and bake first at 210°C for 15 minutes , then finish cooking at 170°C for 30-35 minutes .
8. In the meantime, dedicate yourself to preparing the mousseline cream . Heat the milk with the vanilla pod cut lengthwise.
9. Separately, in a bowl, beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar , then add the corn starch .
10. After removing the vanilla pod, pour the boiling milk over the eggs, mixing with a whisk, then put back on the heat.
11. Cook until the cream has reached its characteristic consistency, then turn it off and transfer it to a bowl.
12. Let it cool for about ten minutes then add half the remaining butter cut into rather small pieces and mix until blended.
13. When it has reached room temperature, add the remaining butter , whipping the mixture with an electric whisk or with a planetary mixer fitted with a wire hook.
14. Transfer the cream into a pastry bag and then into the refrigerator for at least an hour before using it.
15. When the choux pastry base is ready and cold, cut it into two discs and fill the inside with the mousseline cream .
16. Close, decorate with a sprinkling of icing sugar and serve your Paris Brest.

In essence they are two different preparations which, with a little patience, can also be made by amateur pastry chefs like us. In this video you can see the steps in all their simplicity so why not give it a try? For a lighter version, instead of mousseline, use diplomatic cream .

Conservation

Paris-Brest will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days . Keep in mind that the humidity of the cream can alter the consistency of the choux pastry so avoid preparing it too early.

Origin and history

The Paris-Brest dessert was invented by Louis Durant , pastry chef from Maison Laffitte, a small village near Paris, in 1910. However, it was commissioned by a certain Pierre Giffart, who had just been promoted to editor-in-chief of a magazine for cyclists. His idea, to relaunch the newspaper, was to organize a new bike race that would replace the historic Paris-Bordeaux and also dedicate a dessert to it.

Thus was born the Paris-Brest-Paris , a 1200 km race to be completed in 84 hours initially reserved for athletes but then contested solely by amateurs. Originally, the event was held every 10 years, then it moved to every four years but starting from 1951, despite being deeply felt by the Breton population, it stopped taking place.

The popularity of the dessert also went through a dark period. Either because it is excessively caloric , but on the other hand it was designed to feed the cyclists who competed in the race, or because it is difficult to portion out . Only in recent times has it returned to prominence thanks to the pastry chef Pierre Hermé .

Originally Paris-Brest was round , just like bicycle wheels, prepared with choux pastry decorated with almonds and filled with a butter custard known as mousseline cream which was in turn enriched with powdered almond praline . To give the dessert an even more realistic appearance, it seems there were rays of bread dough but this is not certain since it was not possible to find any evidence. Today it is possible to find it in various shapes and sizes and even the fillings are the most diverse, dictated by the creativity of the pastry chefs and by seasonality.