remember that basic boule bread i told you about yesterday? well, i found another use for it today. or so i thought.
i found this delicious sounding pastry and proceeded to make it. unfortunately i realized while reviewing the recipe - that it called for the basic BRIOCHE dough from the book, not the boule dough...which is pretty different. so...i didn't find another use for this dough...exactly. i must have been half asleep when i read it the first time.
but, alas, i figured this out too late - the "pastry" was made.
for the most part this was pretty easy - having the dough ready to go was awesome (would have been better if it was the right dough...). definitely need practice in the dough-braiding method...then again...right dough...better braids i'm sure.
the recipe also called for almond cream - which was a recipe in the book - that you first need almond PASTE for. i didn't have either of course, but i did have almonds! i used this recipe from my sister's kitchen but halved it. the almond cream was a mixture of the paste (paste is ground almonds, egg white, powdered sugar and almond (or in my case, vanilla) extract), butter, an egg, flour and more almond (vanilla) extract. the paste was oh so yummy - i know i shouldn't have been eating it - but it was just...so creamy...
the original recipe also called for raspberries and raspberry jam, but i went with strawberries.
but oh-my-gosh how huge did this turn out!?
also - these were really really tasty strawberries.
although the "pastry" still tasted like any basic bread towards the ends - the middle was still delicious. that almond cream - mmmm...
still. pretty darn delish. some advice: read, read and read again your recipes. before you start. and then read it again five more times.