Viennoiserie

While viennoiserie may be considered quintessentially French, it has its origins, as the name suggests, in Vienna. And we have an Austrian by the name of August Zang to thank for it.

He began his career as an artillery officer, but in 1837 or ’38, when he was about 30, this enterprising young man moved to Paris and opened up a bakery, which he called, apropros enough, Boulangerie Viennoise. Not only did he introduce to French cuisine the Austrian pastry called a kipferl — which the French then dubbed the croissant for its crescent shape — he also brought with him the steam oven, which made French baking and, more specifically, viennoiserie what it is today.

Never mind that he went back to Vienna 10 years later and completely reinvented himself again, this time as a journalist, Zang made an indelible impression not only on French baking but even on bakeries themselves, as the French began imitating the look of his bakery, leading to the iconic brass, glass and marble décor that French boulangeries are known for today.

Viennoiserie has been called the bridge between boulangerie and patisserie, the two categories of classic French baking — boulangerie generally used to describe breads and rolls, and patisserie describing the cream- and fruit-filled confections built around a pastry crust or cake. As the famous Escoffier culinary school’s website describes the difference:

“On the one hand, viennoiserie could be considered the hot work of a boulangerie baker. The perfection of a perfect brioche crust is surely under the purview of this master of heat. However, making the proper croissant dough so that the end product is light, fluffy and buttery falls squarely on the patisserie chef. That being said, should you be visiting Paris any time soon, you are much more likely to find viennoiserie in a boulangerie and not necessarily a patisserie.”

Viennoiserie are made with enriched dough. Some are laminated with butter to form the flaky, delicate layers epitomized in the croissant. In this category you’ll find the pain au chocolat, pain au raisin, chausson aux pommes and the palmiere. Other viennoiserie are simply yeast doughs with added milk, butter, eggs and sugar to make soft, rich breads like the brioche, pain au lait, pavé suisse and Vienna bread. They are often eaten at breakfast or as an afternoon snack (especially for schoolchildren).

For this challenge, the bakers in the Great White Tent were charged with making two types of viennoiserie, 12 of each. Nancy and Luis used laminated dough for both of their pastries, while Richard used laminated dough for his pain au chocolat and enriched dough for his pain au lait. I chose to make two laminated pastries of different shapes but both in the style of what we in the U.S. call Danish. These pastries can be shaped in many different ways, but they all contain fillings or toppings of fruit, cream, nuts or chocolate. 

My two varieties include one made in the shape of a kite — like Nancy Birtwhistle’s apple and lemon kites — filled with spiced plums and frangipane, and one in a more traditional Danish shape filled with passion fruit curd and cream cheese filling. I used the pastry recipe from Veena Azmanov’s blog here. I also used her cream cheese filling recipe from the same post, but for the passion fruit curd, I used a recipe I found on TheJamLab.co. For the frangipane, I used a recipe from BBCGoodFood.com which calls for cardamom, a good complement to the spiced plums.

I’ve made laminated dough before, both for the kouign-amann technical challenge earlier this year and for my Puff Pastry Triple Play showstopper from the 2013 GBBO season. This time, I spread the bake out over a few days, making the passion fruit curd and poaching the plums on the first day, then making the dough on the second day, up to the point of completing the turns, leaving it in the fridge until I was ready to form the pastries two days later. 

On the day I was ready to form and bake the pastries, I made the cream cheese filling and frangipane, then formed the Passion Fruit Curd and Cream Cheese Danish first, cutting the dough into squares and then folding the corners into the center. Before filling them, I left them to proof with a little parchment paper pouch of pie weights in the center to hold down the corners and create an indentation to hold the filling. They went in to the oven like that for about 5 minutes, just to keep the corners down and to seal the hollow in the center before adding the cream cheese filling. Then I removed the pouches, added a dollop of cream cheese filling to each one, and let them bake for another 20 minutes or so until taking them out of the oven. Once they were cool, I glazed them with apricot jam, topped the cream cheese with a bit of passion fruit curd and garnished each one with a few raspberries.

For the Spiced Plum and Frangipane Kites, I cut the dough into squares, folded each one into a triangle and made a cut about ¼ inch from the edge on two sides of the triangle, leaving the tip of the triangle attached. Then I unfolded the triangle, put about a teaspoon of frangipane in the center, topped it with a poached plum half, and brought one cut side over the plum to the other side, repeating with the opposite side to create a little box frame in the shape of a kite. These were then proofed, baked and glazed as well.

The only problem I encountered with these pastries was that a lot of the butter leaked out during the last proof. I’ve done some research on this, and plan to look into it more, but I think one problem was that the proof setting on my oven is too hot for puff pastry. GBBO 2014 finalist Richard Burr has a handy pastry troubleshooting guide, where he says croissants (and, presumably, other laminated doughs) should be proofed at room temperature. Another reason for the leakage might be that the ratio of butter to flour in this recipe may be too high, according to this thread. While my pastries still came out light and flaky, they didn’t have the distinct layers I was looking for. Like I said, I will continue researching this (and try, try again)! Baking is a lifelong learning process!

Aside from the leakage and layers problem, however, the flavors of these two pastries were outstanding! I can’t say which is my favorite. The cardamom in the poached plums and frangipane really made the flavors sing in the Spiced Plum and Frangipane Kites, while the fresh tanginess of the passion fruit curd provided an extra zing to the Passion Fruit Curd and Cream Cheese Danish. These were a special treat for a few friends who came for brunch on my screen porch on one of the last warm days before the fall chill sets in here in Wisconsin. The company of friends combined with good food and laughter made for a memorable day that will stay with me through the winter.

Next week: Mini Scones, Victoria Sandwiches and Tarte au Citrons