Gateau Saint Honoré
Time & Yield
Yield: 1 Gateau (Serves 12)
Time: For best results, start the day before if making the puff pastry from scratch. If not, I would recommend at least 4 hours for all elements to bake and cool properly.
Ingredients
SAINT HONORÉ BASE
10 inch (25 centimeters) sheet of puff pastry, store bought or homemade*
3 tbsp of white granulated sugar
1 Egg for egg wash, which can be used for this and the choux
*For homemade puff pastry, the ingredients are listed below:
3 ½ to 4 cups (420g to 482g) flour
4 tbsp (57g) unsalted butter, chilled
1 tsp salt
1 ¼ cup (283g) cold water
32 tbsp (454g) unsalted butter, room temp
PASTRY CREAM
8 egg yolks (120g, 4.2oz)
200g sugar (7oz, about 1 cup)
Zest of one grapefruit
4 tbsp sifted corn starch
4 tbsp sifted all-purpose flour
760g milk (27oz, 3.5 cups)
2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp cognac (optional)
CHOUX DOUGH
120g whole milk (4.2 ounces, 1/2 cup)
120g water (4.2 ounces, 1/2 cup)
120g butter (4.2 ounces 8.5 tablespoons)
145g flour, preferably bread flour (5.1 ounces, 1 cup)
6g salt (0.2 ounces, 1 level tablespoon kosher salt)
6 whole large eggs
additional egg for egg wash (or remaining one from the base recipe)
CHANTILLY CREAM
235g heavy whipping cream (8.3 ounces, 1 cup)
2 tbsp sugar
1 vanilla bean pod (or 1 tsp vanilla extract/bean paste)
3g powdered gelatin (0.1 ounces, about 2 tsp)
Recipe
SAINT HONORÉ BASE
To make puff pastry, follow the instructions until #12. Alternatively, store-bought can also be used: Measure the flour (3 ½ to 4 cups; 420g-482g) into a mixing bowl. Remove ½ cup of flour and set it aside in another bowl. Take the half stick of chilled butter (4 tbsp; 57g) and cut it into small pieces. Drop the butter into the flour. With two knives, a pastry blender, or your fingertips, cut or rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles cornmeal
Add the salt (1 tsp) to the water (1¼ cup; 283g) and add this to the flour and chilled butter mixture. Mix gently with a fork until you have a rough dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If you need to add more water, do it a tablespoon at a time, until the dough holds together
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it is smooth and the gluten has been somewhat developed, about 2 or 3 minutes. Pat the dough into a 9" square and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes
Take the remainder of the butter (32 tbsp; 454g) and the reserved flour (½ cup) and mix the two together until they're well blended and smooth. You can do this with a mixer, a food processor, with a spoon, or by hand. Pat this butter/flour mixture into an 8" square on a lightly floured piece of waxed paper. Cover it with second sheet of waxed paper and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and put it on a lightly floured surface. Gently roll it into a square about 12" on each side. You don't have to be obsessive about the dimensions, but come pretty close
Once everything has chilled, arrange the dough as a square in front of you. Then place the chilled butter in the center of the dough rotated such that it resembles a diamond shape placed within the larger square of dough, instead of simply placing a smaller square within a larger square. Fold the corners of the dough over the butter until they meet in the middle. Pinch and seal the edges of the dough together (you should be left with a diamond shaped dough in front of you)
Turn the dough over and tap it gently with your rolling pin or by hand into a rectangular shape. (Make sure everything is still completely, but lightly, floured.) If the dough begins to feel too soft, cover it, put it on a small baking sheet, and refrigerate it for 15 minutes
Roll the dough into a larger rectangle, 20" x 10". As you work, keep the dough, the table, and the rolling pin well dusted with flour. Turn the dough over from time to time to keep the layers even. Again, you don't have to be obsessive about the dimensions, but come pretty close
When the dough is the right size, brush any excess flour off the top, and fold the bottom third of the dough up to the center and the top third over (like a business letter). Line the corners up as neatly as you can; if they need help sticking together, dab them with a little water, and turn the dough package 1/4 turn to the right so it looks like a book ready to be opened. If the dough is still cold and relaxed, do another rolling and turning the same way. (Again, if it begins to feel too soft, cover it, put it on a small baking sheet, and refrigerate it for 15 minutes to chill)
If you've successfully rolled it out and folded it twice, you've completed two turns. Classic puff pastry gets six. Continue refrigerating it after each two turns (or more often if necessary) until all six turns are completed. Keep track of how many turns you've made
When all six turns are done, put the dough in the refrigerator for at least an hour (and preferably overnight) before shaping
Prepare the mille base by rolling out your puff pastry. Cut it to the size of your Saint Honore. It should be about 10 inches. Place on a piece of parchment paper or silicone mat and transfer to a sheet pan
Beat an egg for the egg wash and brush the egg over your puff. Sprinkle the of sugar (3 tbsp) over the egg-washed puff
Place a piece of parchment paper or a silicone sheet over the puff pastry base, follow by a sheet pan. The weight of the sheet pan on top keeps the puff from rising, resulting in a crunchier final product. Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes OR until it is deep brown and the sugar has caramelized
Remove the base and set aside to cool
CHOUX DOUGH
Next, prepare the chouquettes, prepare two sheet pans with either silicone mats or parchment paper before piping. This is a crucial step that will keep the bottoms of your chouquettes from burning
Start by heating the milk (120g), water (120g), butter (120g), and salt (6g) until the butter is fully melted and is just starting to steam
Meanwhile shift the flour (145g) into a bowl to avoid clumps
Once all the butter is fully melted, add the flour to the milk-water-butter mixture all at once and quickly stir. Continue heating for another 2 minutes to drive out extra moisture. The bottom of the pan should form a thin film of choux dough
Remove the choux from the heat and transfer to a bowl. It must cool a bit before adding the eggs. Using either a spoon or paddle attachment with a stand mixer, begin incorporating the eggs (6) one at a time. Wait until the egg is fully incorporated before adding the next
Stop when you reach a smooth and soft texture. Test it by using a spoon to scoop up the dough. It should fall under its own weight. If it does not, continue to add eggs. Now your choux is ready for piping and baking
Fit your pastry bag with a piping tip that has many teeth on it (like Ateco #865). It will increase the surface area by creating weak points for the choux to expand evenly. Fill your pastry bag so there are as few air pockets as possible
Pipe the choux onto your prepared sheet pans from the top, using a quick swirling motion while releasing pressure to finish
Prepare an egg wash by vigorously beating one egg until it is completely liquid and smooth and gently brush each with the eggwash (or use remaining egg wash from the mille base)
Bake at 360°F for 30-35 minutes
Your chouquettes should rise early on while baking, and you want them to be brown, not pale, and somewhat crisp. MAKE SURE NOT TO OPEN THE OVEN ONCE YOU HAVE PUT THEM IN, as the steam is what will make them hollow enough for filling
Remove from the oven and let cool
PASTRY CREAM
To prepare the pastry cream, there will be a few some prep work for the ingredients themselves
Separate the egg yolks (8) from the egg whites and save the egg whites for another project
Use the zest of the grapefruit and combine with the sugar (200g), using your fingers. The oils from your fingers will allow the grapefruit flavor to truly infuse with the sugar and give a strong grapefruit note to the pastry cream
Once the ingredients are prepped, cream the egg yolks (8) and grapefruit zest and sugar until thickened and frothy
Sift in the corn starch (4 tbsp) and flour (4 tbsp), then whisk to combine
Scald the milk (760g), cognac (2 tbsp), and vanilla (2 tsp) until just under boiling
Temper the egg yolks by adding the milk to the egg mixture in thirds
Once the mixture is completely combined, return it to the saucepan and heat over medium heat until thickened and steaming
Transfer the pastry cream to a container to cool. For optimal cooling, stretch sheets of plastic wrap over a sheet pan and spread the cream out thin. Then cover it with additional plastic wrap
CHANTILLY CREAM
The last element of this dessert is the Chantilly cream; to prepare this, first pour the chilled heavy cream (235g) into a bowl and whisk in the sugar (2 tbsp) to dissolve, and the vanilla (seeds from 1 pod)
If available, use a stand mixer to whip the cream into soft peaks. The stand mixer will ensure a smoother product than a whisk, but a classic balloon whisk will work just fine. Make sure you stop when you get to soft peaks. That is, when you bring up the blender head, the cream should barely hold its form and slightly fall down.
Now stabilize the Chantilly cream with gelatin (3g) for better piping and a longer-lasting cake. Bloom the gelatin in 2 tablespoons of chilled water by quickly whisking the two together until there are no lumps. When it re-solidifies, microwave it for about 8 seconds until liquid. Quickly whisk this into the cream and bring it to stiff peaks using the immersion blender.
ASSEMBLY
Assembling! First fold about ¼ of the Chantilly cream into the cooled pastry cream.
Use a pastry bag to fill each of the chouquettes with pastry cream and arrange around the rim of the puff pastry.
Pipe more pastry cream into the center of the gateau then, using the St. Honore piping tip, pipe the Chantilly cream into a radial motion over the pastry cream.
Top with final chouquette!
NOTES
If your pastry cream curdles (and even if it doesn’t), I recommend running it through a sieve before putting it in the container to cool to make sure, if any eggs did end up scrambling, that you can get it out beforehand
There are other setting agents if you find you don’t have enough gelatin (like agar agar), but gelatin tends to work best
You really must use your hands to infuse the grapefruit flavors into the sugar with the zest due to the oils; if you so desire (because obviously, the pastry cream doesn’t change color or anything), you can add a little pink food coloring to indicate the grapefruit flavor! I didn’t do it when I made it but I think it could make a nice visual impact
Piping tip matters - we’ve included a couple links to proper tips for this recipe
To identify when the choux pastry dough is ready, look up the “V” effect
Source:
Saint Honore Gateau: Chef Iso
Puff Pastry - King Arthur Baking Company