Baba and Savarin with David Blom

Boom!

Hello, I'm Julia Child.

Welcome to my house.

What fun we're going to have baking all kinds of incredible cakes, pies and breads right here in my own kitchen.

David Blom is Pastry Chef at Chef Allen's in Miami.

Today he pays homage to the classics with this delicious, fruit-filled savarin and these lusciously moist babas.

Join us on Baking with Julia.

[Captioning sponsored by VIEWERS LIKE YOU] Here is a great display of...

There's a baba au rhum.

There's savarins, and beautifully decorated.

And they're all made out of a dough called a "baba dough."

It's a very spongy dough so that you can make it drink up a lot of rum syrup.

And David Blom is going to show us how to do it.

And you said-- when was it-- started out as a Polish...?

Mid-1700s.

Uh, there's a Polish king.

He actually took gugelhupf and he poured rum over it to flambé-- the court loved it.

They thought that was the cat's whiskers That they did.

So this is how we started out.

So, we have three-quarter cups of warm water.

I'm going to take one tablespoon of dry yeast.

That's just regular dry yeast.

And to that...

I'm going to add two teaspoons of sugar.

The sugar... is going to help feed the yeast.

So it will get active sooner.

Correct.

Yeah.

And two eggs.

U.S. graded, large eggs.

Brown, they're the same as white, right?

I've never noticed any difference.

There is no difference.

( chuckles ) I'm just going to mix this around a little bit so the yeast doesn't clump up.

The water is just a little over blood temperature, isn't it?

Just a little warmer than body temperature.

If it's too hot, you've killed it.

Okay, now, 1½ cups of all-purpose flour.

And that goes... That goes right into the machine.

You could do this by hand if you wanted to?

Yes, absolutely you can.

I just take all our liquid ingredients.

I'm just going to add it right directly into the flour.

A little on slow speed.

Now we're going to let that mix just for about one minute, two minutes so it develops some gluten.

So it's been mixing.

I'm going to just take the butter-- we're going to throw it right in.

How much butter you got there?

This is four tablespoons of softened butter.

Must be softened-- it has to... And unsalted.

Unsalted butter-- always use unsalted butter.

If I wanted salt, I'd add it.

I can control it a little bit better.

Once the butter is all absorbed... that's it, you stop.

That was easy.

Get rid of the paddle.

And we're just going to take some plastic wrap.

Because what's going to happen now we want to put this in a warm place.

Humid would be nice, too.

Yeah, humid, yeah, okay.

Nice to make in the summertime.

And keep it in a warm place in your kitchen just for about ten, 15 minutes while we're going to prepare the molds.

Okay.

Actually you can use any kind of molds you like.

But this is the traditional one for the savarin.

This is traditional for the savarin.

You can use brioche molds.

That's the traditional baba mold, isn't it?

This is the traditional babas and this is a dariole.

Oh... We're going to do babas in that later.

So... We don't have to be traditional... No, not at all.

as long as it's delicious.

Now you just take a little melted butter... and coat these pans.

When you butter them, you're really just using the clear, melted butter, not that milky residue-- clarified butter, really.

So, here we have a batch of savarin dough.

That you already did.

See how it proofed up a little bit-- you can see the air?

And it smells a little yeasty.

Yeah.

That's why it goes well with champagne-- champagne and savarin.

Oh, yes.

Yeah, you can just help me out a little here.

Mm-hmm.

If you'd hold that and make sure it doesn't come out the bottom.

Yup, I'll put my thumb in the bottom.

We want to get a nice, smooth dough.

You're deflating it.

And it's important that it be spongy and that it hold its shape, isn't it?

Very true.

And that it don't collapse when you put all the rum in it.

Okay, ready?

Uh-oh.

Wait a minute.

There you go.

There I was talking and not holding it properly.

That's interesting-- you're putting it in with a pastry tube.

It's a lot easier, you'll see.

Yeah, it's a lot easier.

When I do the baba, I have to use my hands.

Yeah.

It's a little messier.

That makes a nice squishy sound.

Well, that's not very much, is it?

No, maybe a little bit more.

Isn't that interesting, though, it's... Because, like, these...

This goes through another rise.

And all these molds get about halfway filled.

Mm-hmm.

Well, that is certainly easier than the spooning-in method.

Much easier.

Much.

Put these to the side.

And there's another batch.

This is the one that we did before.

Ah, so that's really done enough.

So now we have the babas.

All we have to do is add a little bit of rum to macerate our raisins.

This is about a quarter cup of raisins and rum to cover.

You can let it sit for an hour.

You can let it sit for four hours-- however much you want.

But they need softening up.

That it does.

These were already done up.

So, add them... right to the dough right before you're about to mold them.

I'm just going to use my hands here.

Then you save the rum to add onto your syrup, I guess.

That you can.

Or should.

Should.

( both chuckle ) Always get the air out of it.

This is how I do it with my hands.

Oh...

Pastry chefs always have impeccably clean hands-- do they not?

That's a wonderful way of doing that, yeah.

Just a little more.

Okay.

So now, here you get a half-sheet pan.

Going to place these molds right onto the pan.

Now, it goes through a second proofing.

So you put them back in that same warm place that you found in your kitchen.

And what will happen, these will rise about twice their volume right now.

And then we put them into the oven.

Good.

Well, that was about 20 minutes at a fairly warm-- around 80 or so.

Correct.

And they rose to fill the molds.

Exactly.

They'll double in volume in the warm space in your kitchen.

And now we're going to bake them.

You don't want to let them over-rise.

Correct.

Correct.

Otherwise we'll have too much air.

Okay.

They just have to double their size and go right into a 350-degree oven.

It'll take about 15, 20 minutes to bake.

That's not very long, is it?

Even that great, big thing?

This one might take a little bit longer.

It's different with every oven.

Yeah, okay.

Now, to garnish.

Yep.

I'm going to make a real quick pastry cream.

Good.

Okay.

First of all we have one cup of milk.

It's going to go into a pot.

I'll turn it on for you.

I'm going to split a vanilla bean.

That's a nice way of doing it.

See all the little pods in there that we want.

And this is better than using vanilla extract?

Much better.

What else you can do after the vanilla bean I dry it out, put in sugar and put in vodka-- make your own extract.

Hmm, good idea.

So, next, we're going to need four egg yolks.

Back and forth, back and forth.

Always keep your egg whites.

Later maybe I'll make you some meringue.

They freeze nicely, too, don't they?

That they do.

So, we have our yolks.

We're going to add a quarter cup of sugar... to our yolks.

Then we're going to thicken it up with cornstarch.

But, remember this-- we always add the sugar first.

Oh, why?

If we add the cornstarch with the sugar or the cornstarch before the sugar we have little lumps of the starch.

The sugar is going to help break up the cornstarch.

So, our cornstarch is two tablespoons of cornstarch.

Well, that's good to know... about not adding the cornstarch until you've broken it up.

Going to whip this...

Some people make it with flour.

Ahh... That's a tough one.

Um, flour-- I think I'll reserve that for bread.

There, she's bubbling.

She's bubbling.

So, at this point, once it comes to a boil we're going to take it off.

I'm just going to go through a little process of tempering.

Going to take a little of the hot milk pour it into the yolks, whisk it around... and pour it right back in.

This goes back onto the flame... and we're going to keep whisking.

That's already thickening up, isn't it?

Yeah, it will thicken up very quickly.

You don't have to worry about raw egg yolks because they're cooked.

Oh, yeah, very hot.

Does that have to come to the boil?

This is fine.

So then we're going to take a tablespoon of butter... And just going to mix that around until the butter melts.

Mm-hmm.

Very carefully... That's nice.

remove the vanilla bean.

Are you going to save that?

Save them.

Wash them off, dry them throw them to sugar and you have vanilla sugar because there's still a lot of flavor in these vanilla beans.

Now, what we do... is just pour it into a... bowl.

And this has to chill.

Cover it?

Take a little plastic wrap.

You can push this right down-- right down on top of the cream.

Oh, so it won't crust over.

So it won't crust.

And this... can go right into the refrigerator.

Fine.

How are your babas doing?

Do you think, are they done yet?

Shall we go have a look?

Shall we look?

Okay.

I'll let you open.

Almost.

Almost.

They should brown.

See how they puffed up a little bit more?

Maybe sometimes we'll just help if we just turn...

In case the oven is not even enough turn them around once halfway through cooking.

Yeah.

We've got about... maybe five more, ten more minutes on that.

So...

The next thing we have to do is we have to make a syrup to soak the savarin and babas in.

And for that we have a very simple recipe.

It's just two cups of water...

I'll turn the heat on for you.

And one cup of sugar.

Well, that's easy.

Very easy.

And you don't put your liqueur in now.

No, the alcohol comes in later.

Now, supposing you didn't want to use any alcohol then what?

Oh, you could... you could leave it plain you could soak it in juices, purees.

Like apple juice.

Apple juice.

Just plain vanilla.

Absolutely.

You could take the vanilla bean and throw it into the syrup.

And here we have the syrup-- it's coming to a boil right now.

All the sugar has dissolved.

All the sugar's dissolved.

You just bring it up to a boil boil it for about 30 seconds and that's that.

That's your simple syrup.

Simple syrup.

That's why we call it simple.

( both laugh ) It is.

Let's check and see if they're done.

Oh, they look done.

They look good.

I'll be interested in seeing how you tell that they are done.

Well, what we're looking for... We could wait a little while until they cool because these are very hot.

Coming right out.

They pop right out.

Now, if they don't come out, then what?

Might need to bake them a little bit more.

Ah, that would probably be the reason they wouldn't.

If they really don't come out then you haven't buttered your molds enough.

I can see there's a little space between... Yeah, they'll come away from the sides a little bit.

That looks wonderful.

They're definitely done when they're brown, aren't they?

Mm-hmm.

Well, this will be interesting.

There we go.

That came out perfectly.

See, now, this could be going a little bit more.

So next thing is we're going to soak these.

While they're still hot like this?

These are going to be cooling down.

This'll take a little bit longer to cool.

But these are kind of cool already.

A little warm, but not bad.

At this point, what you could do is put them in a plastic bag.

You could freeze them.

They'll stay for a month or two.

But would you let them cool off before freezing?

Yes, absolutely.

You can make all... a whole bunch of different kinds up way ahead of time, freeze them and then whenever you want some you soak them and you serve them.

Now... We have our hot syrup that we just made.

Just plop them right in.

I'll do two savarins.

These are going to soak up, probably about 30 seconds depending on how hot your syrup is.

The hotter it is, the quicker it will penetrate.

The important thing, I think, in this dough is that it will hold a syrup without collapsing.

Correct.

I think the taste of the baba dough is not... not very interesting in itself.

It needs... it needs soaking, doesn't it?

Oh, absolutely.

To check their doneness just press on them.

It's a little soft.

Mm-hmm, yeah, they're kind of spongy.

That's exactly what they are-- they're a sponge.

And make sure the bottom, too, is soft, also.

And you do the same for the babas, also.

For bigger pastries like this you don't have a pot big enough.

No.

You probably do, but maybe some people don't.

So we take a ladle just keep going over and over.

Mm-hmm.

And it's a little longer process but it'll do the same thing.

Now, how do I know how much to add?

Until it really gets spongy.

Until it's very, very soft.

Is that... is that soft enough now?

We'll go more.

Because it should be practically juicy when you cut into it shouldn't it, yeah.

Mmm, that's going to be lovely.

Now we're ready to eat them practically aren't we?

First we have to decorate them fill them with a couple of creams.

Let's start with the babas.

Now these are all soaked.

Remember, the babas is only rum.

Savarins can get any kind of liquor.

So we're going to take some rum.

We're just going to sprinkle it over.

See how it soaks it up?

Mm-hmm.

And that's just done at the last minute.

You're not wasting any.

Let's turn them over, too, to get them everywhere.

Use always the best quality rum.

Let's prepare a little filling for this.

So we have our little babas here.

We have our pastry cream that we had before.

I'm going to lighten it up just a little bit with some whipped cream.

This is kind of pasty if we don't put something in it.

A little bit.

See how... Yeah, that's really...

So throw some pastry cream in there.

So we have, like, two parts of pastry cream and just, like, one part of whipped cream.

Is that sweetened or just plain whipped cream?

It depends on your taste.

Yeah, do whatever you want.

You do whatever you want.

Get a pastry bag here.

What's going to go into the bag?

I guess you're going to hold it yourself this time.

( laughs ) I have a little star tip.

Throw that right into the bag.

So I'm just going to take a little slice in there... and put it in the cup.

Open it up, so you can look at the grain.

And we pipe.

That's very nice, making those little whirligigs.

Yeah.

Also, another way...

Right in... Oh.

like a little surprise.

Squirt it in, oh, yes.

Baba au surprise.

We have little glacé fruits... Mm-hmm.

a little sprinkle.

Maybe a couple of almonds if you'd like.

Oh, that's very nice.

Mmm.

So those are done.

That's charming.

Could I have the yellow plate, please?

Let's do the smaller savarin... and the brioche mold.

Let me soak this with champagne.

With champagne.

Well, that's interesting.

The yeast from the champagne, the yeast in the savarin-- excellent, excellent complements.

Let's go with orange.

So we're going to take the pith off.

Make sure... we don't want any of the pith.

It's a little bitter, isn't it?

That it is.

And instead of taking segments, let's cut across this way.

Like this... get the nice, round... And a nice, really sharp knife.

And this you'd really have to do at the last moment, wouldn't you?

Exactly.

Let's arrange these on the plate.

Round concentric circles.

So how about, just to accent a little take a little crème fraîche.

Oh.

Just dab it a little bit.

Let it run down the sides.

Or you could use whipped cream but the crème fraîche would be a nice... A little different.

Here, this'll brighten it up a little bit-- just happened to have made a little raspberry sauce: fresh raspberries, sugar-- puree.

And a little bit of lemon juice.

You could take it through a sieve, too-- takes out the seeds.

Little dots.

Don't want to get too fancy.

Oh, that's very nice.

Isn't that clever?

Very simple... and beautiful.

Let's do with papaya.

Papayas and mangoes are popular now, aren't they?

That they are.

They have all these little seeds in there.

Cut right down.

To remove the seeds, just scrape them out and just cut.

What kind of liqueur do we have for this?

We could go rum again, or kirsch would be nice.

Kirsch I'll use for another one.

We'll do this rum.

Kirsch for the sav...

I think rum is awfully good.

Bourbon whisky is nice.

Bourbon whisky.

Well, it is.

Try it, you'll like it.

It's one of my favorite shots.

( laughing ) So we're going to take one of these savarin.

That is nice and soft, isn't it?

A little off center.

A little off center, yeah.

And... Hmm... put it around the side.

How about we take some raspberries.

So we could do mango sauce: sugar, a little lemon juice-- puree, strain.

Make a little mess, ready?

Yeah.

Oh, you...

It's not on the floor.

There's a garbage there.

You just did that with it now.

Well, that's pretty chic, I think.

I need some kirsch for this one.

How much would you say you're putting on, about?

About four tablespoons for this maybe a tablespoon for small ones.

Okay, I've got some strawberries.

I'm going to take some blackberries and raspberries.

I'm going to heat them up in a little sauté pan.

If you could turn that on for me.

Just a little bit of water.

The raspberry sauce I made-- I'm going to bring that to a boil.

So while that's warming up can take some of that whipped cream.

Just put some in the middle here.

Strawberries go in.

This'll bring out their flavor in their juices.

Blackberries.

We're not trying to cook these at all; we just want to warm them up a little bit.

Put the strawberries in first, though.

They'll keep their shape more.

You need any sugar in on there or not?

Oh... we should taste them.

Yeah, it could use a little sugar.

Always go by taste.

And the raspberries.

Raspberries you don't want to cook too much.

That smells so good, too.

And that's it.

So just take it.

I'm just going to spoon it right in.

Let it drip over.

That's going to be lovely.

How about a little more decoration?

Mmm.

A little whipped cream around the side.

That's lovely!

This is handsome, I think.

This needs a little bit something more.

How about that?

Good.

That's very nice.

So should we have a little taste, do you think?

Absolutely.

I think I'd like to taste the savarin.

Mmm.

And that little bit of liqueur is so good, isn't it?

That it is.

It's been great.

Learned so much and I hope you brought babas and savarins back... Hopefully.

into American culture.

Thanks loads.

You're very welcome.

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