Carême Pastry https://www.caremepastry.com.au/ Traditional Puff Pastry Mon, 05 Sep 2022 06:02:46 +0000 en-AU hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.2 https://www.caremepastry.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/cropped-Careme-logo-Sq-50x50.jpg Carême Pastry https://www.caremepastry.com.au/ 32 32 180646637 Why we love chocolate ganache https://www.caremepastry.com.au/why-we-love-chocolate-ganache/ Wed, 31 Aug 2022 06:55:23 +0000 https://www.caremepastry.com.au/?p=22161 Whether you’re a beginner in the kitchen or an experienced cook, a chocolate ganache tart is one of the simplest and most delectable tarts you can serve your guests. It’s perfect for dinner parties and special occasions, and we think of it as the ‘little black dress’ everyone should have in their cooking repertoire.

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Why we love a chocolate ganache tart

Whether you’re a beginner in the kitchen or an experienced cook, a chocolate ganache tart is one of the simplest and most delectable tarts you can serve your guests. It’s perfect for dinner parties and special occasions, and we think of it as the ‘little black dress’ everyone should have in their cooking repertoire.

Another reason to love a ganache tart is that it can be made in advance – the tart shell can be baked a day ahead and the filling can be prepared on the day (a 5-minute job while you sip your morning coffee). You can put it together in the morning, then leave it in the fridge to set while you get on with your day.

A basic ganache consists of two ingredients: cream and chocolate. In the simplest terms, you heat the cream, pour it over the chocolate, and you’re done! If you’re a lover of extra richness and texture, you can also whisk in some premium butter.

A ganache’s texture depends on the ratio of cream to chocolate – more cream means a looser ganache, while less cream results in a firmer ganache.

We opt for a 170g cream to 400g chocolate ratio, which creates a silky-textured ganache that’s best served at room temperature, so you should remove from the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving. View our chocolate ganache tart recipe here.

We always recommend you choose a good quality coverture chocolate for your ganache – we opt for a minimum of 70% cocoa solids, but if that’s too dark for your taste, try a 55% version.

Accessorising your ganache

If you want to keep things simple, you can serve your tart ‘as is’ with a scant dusting of cocoa powder and a delicate quenelle of thick cream or crème fraiche. If you like your desserts to be a little fancier, you can accessorise – a simple fleck of fleur de sel (sea salt) or a nut praline does the trick, but if you’re feeling particularly glamorous, a touch of gold leaf will elevate your tart well beyond the ordinary.

Here are three of our favourite topping options to dress up your ganache tart… enjoy!

Almond Crunch

Ingredients

  • 80g blanched almonds
  • 80g demerara sugar
  • 40g plain flour
  • 60g unsalted butter, melted.

Method

  1. Place the almonds in a food processor and pulse to a coarse crumb, add sugar and plain flour and pulse again to form a finer crumb. Transfer to a bowl.
  2. Add the melted butter to the almond crumb and mix until combined. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Spread crumb mixture on tray.
  3. Place into oven at 150°C fan-forced (170°C conventional) and bake for 25 minutes. Remove and leave to cool. Once cool, sprinkle over tart and serve.

Main recipe: Chocolate Ganache Tart

Chocolate Ganache Tart with Almond Crunch

Candied Orange & Pistachio

Ingredients

  • 2-3 oranges, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup caster sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 60g pistachios

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C fan-forced (200°C conventional). Spread pistachios evenly on a baking tray and bake for 10 mins until fragrant and toasted, then set aside to cool. Roughly chop pistachios.
  2. In a large frypan, combine sugar and water and place over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved and syrup has come to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the orange slices in an even layer. Cook for 15-20 minutes, turning every so often, until the orange slices are translucent.
  3. Remove from heat and set aside to cool, removing the slices from the syrup. You won’t need the syrup for this recipe, but you can keep it in your fridge for cocktails or soda.
  4. Place the orange slices on top of the ganache tart and sprinkle with chopped pistachio.

Main recipe: Chocolate Ganache Tart

Chocolate Ganache Tart with Orange Pistachio

Drunken Muscatels

Ingredients

  • 150ml rich sweet sherry (eg. Pedro Ximinez*)
  • 150g bunch of dried Muscatels, cut into small clusters.

Method

  1. Heat the sherry to just below boiling point. Place muscatels in a medium bowl and pour the hot sherry over the top. Cover the bowl and leave to soak overnight until muscatels have softened and plumped up.
  2. Place the muscatels on top of the ganache tart and serve.

*Pedro Ximinez is a rich sweet style Spanish Sherry, can be substituted for Australian Muscat or Tokay.

Main recipe: Chocolate Ganache Tart

Chocolate Ganache Tart with Drunken Muscatels

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Where the Wild Things Are – A Little More Barossa https://www.caremepastry.com.au/where-the-wild-things-are-a-little-more-barossa/ Wed, 29 Jun 2022 08:12:11 +0000 https://www.caremepastry.com.au/?p=21934 Master chef and pastry artisan William Wood and trail-blazing winemaker Pete Schell have one thing in common – they know where their food comes from because they caught it themselves.

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Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are

When: Sunday 28th August 2022 – 10am-3pm
Where: The Barossa Cellar – 991 Stockwell Road, Vine Vale
Tickets: $190

Master chef and pastry artisan William Wood and trail-blazing winemaker Pete Schell have one thing in common – they know where their food comes from because they caught it themselves. A masterclass and lunch celebrating the hunter, where hare is the hero, these gents will bring their providore of food they’ve gathered throughout the year. You’ll learn what to do with wild caught game, how to dress your catch, make a delicious hare pie, safely select, and use ingredients like wild mushrooms, garlic, fennel seed, and pickled quince. Lunch will be a plentiful spread worthy of the hunter alongside the untamed and flavoursome Spinifex Wines.

The menu, though paddock to plate, is a reflection of William’s training, bringing together refined French cooking (he trained in 3-star Michelin restaurants) and his artisan pastry alongside gathered Barossa produce and hero ingredients. Naturally, Spinifex wines made by fellow Francophile and craftsman Pete Schell are the perfect foil to a generous lunch of nature’s provisions and spoils of the hunt.

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‘Cook up a Cure for Breast Cancer’ with Manu Fieldel https://www.caremepastry.com.au/cook-up-a-cure-for-breast-cancer-with-manu/ Tue, 11 Aug 2020 10:08:01 +0000 https://www.caremepastry.com.au/?p=17174 Learn how to cook a French feast from celebrity chef Manu, host a dinner party for friends, and raise money to support life-saving breast cancer research. […]

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Breast Cancer Trials 3 Course Challenge with Manu Fieldel

Learn how to cook a French feast from celebrity chef Manu, host a dinner party for friends, and raise money to support life-saving breast cancer research.

The world-leading breast cancer doctors and researchers at Breast Cancer Trials are working to change the future for people with breast cancer, so they can live better and longer.

To help get closer to a cure, celebrity chef, Manu, is hosting a three-course virtual French dinner party challenge on 29 August. People around Australia are invited to join in by hosting a party at home and raise funds for life-saving breast cancer research, to help create a future where women can live without the fear of breast cancer.

We’re proud to be a part of the event by donating Carême vanilla bean shortcrust pastry for Manu to use in the Tarte au Chocolat dessert, as well as a year’s worth of Carême Pastry for twenty lucky prize winners. We’ll also be giving each of the winners a very special ‘The Carême Favourites’ mini cookbook.

The class and menu will be a celebration of French culture and food, to bring a little touch of France to our own homes during a time when none of us can travel overseas.

To be a part of the event, host a French-inspired dinner party at your home on the same day as Manu’s cooking class; or, practise the recipes and host one later. Then, invite your guests to support you in the challenge by attending and making a donation to Breast Cancer Trials. It will be a night to remember, and one that can save lives.

To learn more, and be a part of Manu’s French dinner party, register on the event website.

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2020 South Australian Food Awards https://www.caremepastry.com.au/2020-south-australian-food-awards/ Mon, 10 Aug 2020 10:28:44 +0000 https://www.caremepastry.com.au/?p=17166 The South Australian Premier’s Food and Beverage Industry Food Awards are on again for 2020. This year’s theme is ‘Sharing Our Stories’ – which celebrates the […]

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Vote for Careme Pastry in the SA Food Awards

The South Australian Premier’s Food and Beverage Industry Food Awards are on again for 2020.

This year’s theme is ‘Sharing Our Stories’ – which celebrates the people, places, and passions that underpin the success of our industry.

We’ve been fortunate to be listed in the Top 20 of the Consumer Award for the last few years, thanks to the support of our wonderful Carême community.

This year, there’s a change to the Consumer Award, with it being split into two categories – one for businesses with up to 15 FTEs (full-time equivalent employees), and another for those with more than 15 FTEs. We’ll fit into the former category.

Previous winners of the consumer award have included Golden North, Haigh’s, and Robern Menz.

Voting closes at 5pm on 9 September, with the Top 20 to be announced on Monday 12 October. Another round of voting follows, with the final winner announced on Friday 13 November.

This is your chance to recognise your favourite food business in the state, and we’d love your vote! Thank you!

To vote, visit the SA Food Awards website.

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Mexican Fish Picnic Pies https://www.caremepastry.com.au/mexican-fish-picnic-pies/ Wed, 18 Sep 2019 06:22:48 +0000 https://www.caremepastry.com.au/?p=12829 The post Mexican Fish Picnic Pies appeared first on Carême Pastry.

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The Sydney Seafood School shared this delicious fish pie recipe using Carême butter puff pastry.

“These clever free-form pies don’t even require a pie dish or ramekin – and the layered filling looks very attractive when they’re cut open. You can serve them hot or cold, so they’re ideal for the picnic hamper or as a snack any time.”

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

  • 4 x sheets Carême Butter Puff Pastry, defrosted
  • 500g silver dory fillets, skin off, pin-boned, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • ⅓ cup anchovy-stuffed green olives, roughly chopped
  • 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed and peeled
  • 1 cup well-drained canned tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
  • Tabasco sauce, to taste
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • Plain flour, for dusting

Garlic & Coriander Mayo

  • 1 cup whole-egg mayonnaise
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • ½ cup coriander leaves, finely chopped

Method: 

  1. Combine fish with olives, capers, parsley and garlic. In a separate bowl combine tomato, oregano and Tabasco sauce.
  2. Preheat oven to 220°C.
  3. Cut each pastry sheet into four squares and brush with egg. Divide the fish mixture between the centre of 8 of the squares. Spoon the tomato mixture over the top of the fish, leaving a 1cm margin around the edges of the pastry. Cover each square with the remaining pastry squares and press the edges firmly with a fork to seal. Brush with egg and cut 2 or 3 slashes in the top. Place on a baking paper-lined baking tray and bake for 15 minutes or so, until lightly browned.
  4. Meanwhile, make Garlic and Coriander Mayo: combine all ingredients.
  5. Serve pies with Garlic and Coriander Mayo.

*Alternative species: Leatherjacket, mirror dory, whiting.

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Queen Fine Foods & Carême Pastry Vanilla Slice Baking Competition Winner https://www.caremepastry.com.au/queen-fine-foods-careme-pastry-vanilla-slice-baking-competition-winner/ Fri, 22 Feb 2019 06:22:30 +0000 https://www.caremepastry.com.au/?p=12636 The post Queen Fine Foods & Carême Pastry Vanilla Slice Baking Competition Winner appeared first on Carême Pastry.

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To coincide with Australia Day, the wonderful people at Queen Fine Foods approached us to run a joint Vanilla Slice Baking Competition. Open to bakers all across Australia, the entrants would be vying for a bakers dream of a prize, including a 1kg personalised jar of Queen Vanilla Bean Paste and a year’s supply of Carême All Butter Puff Pastry.

We were so impressed by the incredible entries and would like to thank everyone who entered.

And to the winner, Maelisa’s Kitchen – who baked this Summery Coconut, Peach and Lime Vanilla Slice – a huge congratulations!

Here’s Maelisa’s Vanilla Slice recipe:

  1. Preheat oven to 200C. Cut 2 sheets Carême All Butter Puff Pastry in half. Place 2 pieces of pastry on baking trays lined with, baking paper, then place another sheet of baking paper on top of the pastry, followed by the remaining 2 sheets of pastry. Place a baking tray on top and bake for 15 minutes then drop temp to 180C and bake for 5 minutes. Line a brownie tray (27cm x 17.5cm) with baking paper lengthwise and widthwise, leaving an overhang on each end. Tip: store pastry in air tight container once cool.
  2. Combine 250g caster sugar, 90g corn flour, 60g custard powder, 250ml milk, 250ml coconut cream in saucepan, whisk until smooth. Tip: pass through a sieve to remove lumps. Add a further 250ml milk and 250ml coconut cream. Stir on medium heat until mixture boils and thickens (at least 1 minute). Reduce heat to low, add 60g of butter (Tip: cut butter into cubes) and 2 teaspoons Queen Vanilla Bean Paste, whisk until combined. Remove from heat, whisk in 3 egg yolks.
  3. Place pastry in base of lined tray. Spread evenly with custard. Place another piece of pastry on top, gently press down. Place in fridge to set.
  4. Place 1 litre of water, 300g of caster sugar and 1 Queen Finest Vanilla Bean pod (cut and scraped) in a large saucepan, stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Add 8 peaches (score bottoms with a small cross) in a single layer. Place a small plate (top side down) over peaches. Bring to boil, simmer gently for approx 10 minutes, or until tender. Remove from pan with slotted spoon. Cool, then peel peaches, cut in half and remove seed. Place flat side down on a tray and put in fridge to dry (Tip: do not pat dry – you want to keep the black specks of vanilla bean on peaches).
  5. Mix together 225g icing sugar (sieved), 40ml of lime juice (Tip: if not enough juice make up difference with milk), finely grated rind of 1 lime and 1 teaspoon Queen Natural Vanilla Extract. Spread over third pastry sheet. Set in fridge.
  6. Remove custard from fridge, arrange peach halves on top (5 rows of 3) and place iced pastry on top. Cut into 15 pieces to serve.

Tip: best eaten with hands and don’t worry if custard oozes and pastry crumbles!

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Why We Use Butter For Our Pastry Instead of Margarine https://www.caremepastry.com.au/why-we-use-butter-for-our-pastry-instead-of-margarine/ Fri, 11 Jan 2019 04:01:47 +0000 https://www.caremepastry.com.au/?p=12614 You may have wondered why we use butter rather than margarine at Carême Pastry as the preferred fat for our premium ‘French’ style puff pastry and […]

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You may have wondered why we use butter rather than margarine at Carême Pastry as the preferred fat for our premium ‘French’ style puff pastry and shortcrust pastry.

Well, it’s because butter produces superior quality pastry with a lovely flaky texture, more richness, better flavour, and impressive lift. In fact, you’ll find that our traditional All Butter Puff Pastry records 7cm of lift from just a single sheet!

Made from cream, butter is a natural product with a high-fat content of around 80%. On the other hand, margarine (what most store-bought pastry is made with) is an artificial product made from palm oil (vegetable oil). It has a much lower fat content, and thus, a higher percentage of water. Why does that matter? Well, because the greater the fat content the better the quality of baked goods. Therefore, butter trumps margarine for baking every time.

Butter melts at body temperature, and as such, the tasting experience is a superior flaky pastry, with a ‘melt in the mouth’ sensation. Margarine, on the other hand, melts at a higher temperature resulting in a waxy feel in your mouth (kind of like an unpleasant film or coating), and it produces tougher baked goods.

So, it’s not difficult to see why we choose butter over margarine for our pastry, and why you’re baked goods will end up tastier, more consistent, and more beautiful when you choose Carême Pastry.

Discover our pastry range for home cooks and our bulk range for foodservice.

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Little Apple Frangipane Tarts https://www.caremepastry.com.au/little-apple-frangipane-tarts/ Thu, 30 Aug 2018 02:38:16 +0000 https://www.caremepastry.com.au/?p=10702 The post Little Apple Frangipane Tarts appeared first on Carême Pastry.

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We’ve been in the kitchen today baking little apple frangipane tarts for some special guests this afternoon (hint: for our visiting Western Australian distributors, Blue Cow).

Rather than using our sweet vanilla bean pastry for this recipe, like we did on these apple frangipanes, we’ve used our puff pastry – both our classic butter puff pastry and our spelt wholemeal puff pastry.

If only you could smell the aromas coming from the oven right now!

We thought you might want to give these a go yourself, so here’s the method. Enjoy!

To make the frangipane:
• Beat 110g caster sugar with 100g butter until pale.
• Add 1 egg, beat until just combined.
• Add 100g ground almond meal, tsp cornflour, pinch salt, mix until combined.

Tart process:
• Cut 10 rectangles from a sheet of pastry.
• Top each with a teaspoon of frangipane.
• Slice 6 apples into thick (1/2 cm) slices, and place on top of frangipane.
• Brush apple with melted butter, then sprinkle with Demerara sugar.
• Bake at 220c for 10 minutes, then reduce oven to 190c and continue to bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until pastry is golden.

Little Apple Frangipane Tarts with Spelt Puff Pastry

The spelt puff tarts ready for the oven.

Little Apple Frangipane Tarts with Spelt Puff Pastry

Voilà! The finished spelt butter puff tarts.

Little Apple Frangipane Tarts with Butter Puff Pastry

And the finished classic butter puff tarts.

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Lift your reputation with Carême Puff Pastry https://www.caremepastry.com.au/lift-your-reputation-with-careme-puff-pastry/ Thu, 12 Jul 2018 00:56:52 +0000 http://foodservice.caremepastry.com.au/?p=81 The post Lift your reputation with Carême Puff Pastry appeared first on Carême Pastry.

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Chefs all around the world know the struggles of making the perfect puff pastry from scratch. Flaky texture and impressive lift are always sought after but rarely achieved. Pies and other pastry dishes are served with unimpressive, flat lids due to poorly made pastry. Fundamentally, the recipe for pastry sounds easy to perfect as it is essentially two parts water to one part fat, however this is far from the truth. Making puff pastry with impressive lift and exquisite taste is both an art and science.

Carême Pastry have perfected this science over the past decade to bring you a perfect puff pastry that showcases remarkable lift. In fact, the all butter puff pastry records 7cm of lift from just a single sheet. See the video below to see just how much rise is possible from one sheet of Carême pastry.

Puff Rising from Caremepastry on Vimeo.

How do we do this?

The secret is in the production process and nailing the recipe. Pastry dough must be kept between 8C and 11C to prevent the butter from becoming too soft. To combat this, Carême work in small, 10kg batches of dough to ensure that the temperature is kept within this range.

Another important process Carême undertake is the resting of dough between turns. This enables the gluten strands within the pastry to link up and retain the layering of the dough. In fact, creating Carême pastry is a two-day process. The base dough, known as the detrempe, is prepared on day one and then rested overnight. The following day the laminating will then begin. The butter is then hand folded into the dough, which is followed by the first set of turns.

In total, the dough is turned four times, which creates 81 layers of butter and 82 layers of dough – for a combined 163 layers of dough and butter in the one sheet of Puff Pastry. The 7cm of lift is possible due to the large number of layers expanding from steam generation in a hot oven. This is also why Carême recommend starting baking at 200C (fan forced) and then to reduce the temperature once the dough has lifted.

The Carême production process enables chefs and cooks across Australia to easily create great looking dishes that taste as good as they look. Using high quality pastry will enable a restaurant to command a premium price for the dish as diners will be delighted by the melt in your mouth texture. Carême create the pastry so you have time to make the dish.

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Potato, Chorizo & Gouda Tart https://www.caremepastry.com.au/potato-chorizo-gouda-tart-recipe/ Mon, 02 Jul 2018 02:20:44 +0000 https://www.caremepastry.com.au/?p=10545 The post Potato, Chorizo & Gouda Tart appeared first on Carême Pastry.

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Potato, Chorizo & Gouda Tart

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes
Serves: 8 individual pieces

*Recipe and photos by Anastasia Zolotarev for Harris Farm Markets.

Ingredients:

Method: 

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
  2. Place roll of puff pastry onto the bench approximately 30 minutes before starting the recipe to allow it to come to room temperature before rolling it out.
  3. Prepare the potatoes by slicing them into roughly thin slices, then place on a baking tray and top with olive oil. Bake the potato slices in the oven for 20 minutes then set aside (see note below).
  4. Prepare the chorizo by cutting it into 20 medium-thick pieces and then place them in a hot pan. Cook each side until slightly crisp. There is no need to add any cooking oil because the chorizo will release enough oil on its own. Once cooked remove the chorizo pieces from the pan but keep the pan on the side to use the oil in it for a later step.
  5. Grate the Gouda cheese and set aside.
  6. After the pastry has come to room temperature it can be used. Using your hands just roll out the pastry so it’s flat, don’t use a rolling pin. We want to keep the shape and thickness of the pastry. Place the pastry onto lightly greased baking paper and onto a baking tray.
  7. Using a knife just lightly cut into the pastry creating a rectangle – cut into it 1 cm from the edge (see note).
  8. Using a brush, dip it into the pan with the leftover chorizo oil and then brush the edges of the pastry with the oil.
  9. Place the grated Gouda cheese evenly around the tart, followed by the potatoes, chorizo and bay leaves.
  10. Place in the oven and bake the tart for 30 minutes.
  11. Remove from the oven and eat immediately while still warm!

Notes:

  • The potatoes will be cooked twice, the first time is just to cook through the potato slices and then once again when the potato slices are arranged on the tart.
  • Slightly cutting into the pastry will help the edges rise.

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