Creme Fraiche with Nancy Silverton

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.

Nancy Silverton owner of La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles bakes a crème fraîche brioche torte with fresh fruit poached in her secret white wine sauce.

It's pure heaven on... Nancy Silverton is going to do her famous crème fraîche brioche tart, and here it is.

And look at-- this is this beautiful, tender, buttery brioche dough and inside it is baked with a crème fraîche custard.

It's just divine.

In a previous show in this series Nancy made the brioche dough in detail and you'll also find the recipe in the book that goes with these series.

Here's how she made it.

I start out with two and a quarter teaspoons of dried yeast a third of a cup of warm milk.

I usually have it hand hot which is a perfect temperature for the yeast one egg and a cup of flour.

Now, this is all-purpose flour.

Mix it up a little-- see how nice and wet that is.

And now I'm going to cover it with another cup of flour and by covering it I'm going to insulate my sponge so it doesn't dry out and also it's going to show me if my yeast is really active before I add my expensive ingredients like my delicious butter.

That will kind of rise up.

Yeah, it will rise and it will crack.

And that usually takes about 30 to 40 minutes See how the flour's cracked?

It's a sign that our yeast is alive.

Is... it's swelling.

Now I'm going to add my sugar.

One-third cup, rounded.

I can add my salt directly on top of this because my yeast, remember, is at the bottom.

You never want to add salt directly to yeast.

This is, look it... One tablespoon salt, kosher salt.

And my four eggs.

So that would be three-quarters cup of whole egg.

Now, remember I put a cup of flour on my sponge so I have a cup and a half left to add.

A cup in the sponge, a cup on top of it.

And now I'm going to add a cup and a half, but actually...

So that's about a pound, isn't it?

Of flour, right.

But I'm really only going to add one cup at this point and hold back a half a cup and add it if needed, and this way you have much more control of your dough.

Make sure you turn it on slowly so you don't have flour going all over.

And remember, I've reserved a half a cup so I'm going to add it as I need it.

We're now ready to incorporate our butter.

We've taken this out of the refrigerator so that it's room temperature.

Here, give it a feel.

It's cool but not chilled.

No, so I'm going to work it a little.

And you can either knead it by bashing with a rolling pin or be a little bit kinder, which I'm going to be and just do that with a dough scraper.

The "butter rights" people will be after you if you bashed it, wouldn't you?

Okay, so we'll be gentle like this.

But do be careful not to touch it or touch it as little as possible because the warmth of your hands, again is going to turn this into melted butter.

And then you get kind of a greasy brioche.

A little bit higher.

Okay, so we're going to add the butter now.

We let this mix for 15 minutes without the butter earlier.

But once we add the butter we want it just to blend and then turn it off.

Can you hear the slapping sound at this stage, also?

And you know that you're almost there.

That was a definite slapping there.

Here, feel the temperature of this dough.

You can see it's still really cool after all that...

Yes, it is, it's surprising... after all that mixing.

And it's very important that it is left cool.

Because otherwise you said it will be... turn oily.

Right, and you won't get the volume and you won't get the structure.

So we're going to transfer our brioche to a nice, clean, lightly oiled bowl.

We're going to put this in a nice, warm place and let it double in volume.

That's beautifully risen now, isn't it?

Yeah, doubled in bulk.

And now it's time for me to deflate it.

Smelling good...

Here, I'll give you a little peek in here.

It's kind of webby, isn't it?

Uh-huh.

Isn't that interesting?

But now we need to deflate it let the air out, the gas out and redistribute the yeast so it has new food sources to eat up and grow again.

So that will give it that lovely, soft, lovely texture.

Right, so this is really a gentle kind of a twist.

It needs to be covered and refrigerated.

Four to six hours is plenty just so it's firm and ready to use.

So, let's begin.

I'm starting with a half a recipe of chilled brioche dough.

And I'm going to roll it into a circle about an inch larger than my mold that I'm going to use.

This is a ten-inch mold that's one inch deep, isn't it?

Right, and they're not so easy to find.

It's easy to find ones that are lower.

But you don't want a lower one.

No, no, you need the higher one because the dough rises and you need the height.

But you can use a springform pan.

And that will hold the custard and...

Okay.

Now, you're going to see that I'm going to actually crimp the dough outside of the shell and lift it into the shell which is sort of an interesting way of doing it.

If for some reason it becomes difficult for you to do you can really line the... shell also.

It doesn't have to be in this way.

Do it the right way.

I'm going to show you the right way.

Good.

It's very important that this be cold and if you can chill your marble you're better off, too, aren't you?

You are, and a lot of people have just a piece of marble.

This one you can't move, this is pretty heavy but...

I've seen one that... will fit their refrigerator shelf.

Right, and move it in.

Yeah, but it helps the brioche because you need to keep it firm and hard.

So, I rolled it out a little bit larger, right?

Now, are you watching carefully?

I certainly am.

So, what you're using as your guide is this indentation that you made.

So you don't want to go any smaller than that.

Press in.

And this becomes my decoration.

Hmm.

Now, let's do that again.

Have your finger in the...

I'm using two fingers because I get a larger crimp, right?

So two fingers and I'm pressing.

I'm lifting the bottom of the dough over my fingers and down keeping in mind about where the marking is.

Now, if you go a little bit smaller than the ring itself you can stretch it out.

Stretch it out.

So, it's not crucial.

Takes a little practice.

A little.

And when you get to the end where it meets you kind of give a twist and press in.

And then, can I have that baking sheet over there?

This is this wonderful silicone paper that don't stick, they say.

Lift it right in, press it to the edges.

And this isn't buttered or anything?

No.

There's enough butter in the dough.

( laughs ) All righty, and this needs to rise uncovered for about 45 minutes to an hour.

And here's the one that I have ready that's been rising for about an hour.

You can see that I kept my edge.

And now what I'm going to do, I'm going to dimple it and I'm going to make my crème fraîche custard and pour it in.

Okay, so let's see-- I need my crème fraîche, I need a cup of it.

And that, you can just buy that or make it?

Right.

Do you make yours with buttermilk?

Buttermilk and cream that you leave out overnight.

Just mix it up and let it... about a tablespoon of buttermilk to a cup of cream?

Uh-huh, that's exactly the proportion that I use.

I need a bowl, one egg.

This is a very simple recipe to remember.

One egg.

Do you use graded large eggs?

I usually use extra large.

Extra, that's about like an egg and a quarter, isn't it?

Right-- mix it together.

You know, you can also use sour cream if you can't find crème fraîche or you forgot to make it.

Wouldn't be as rich.

No, and also, it doesn't bake the same, you know.

It does curdle just a little teeny bit.

It gets... but it still tastes delicious and when you put the fruit on the sabayon, you're okay.

Now, you want to really dimple.

Right down in.

Give us back our edge a little bit.

And pour that in.

And do you serve this at the restaurant?

Well, yeah, we serve it both for breakfast and for dinner.

And you know what?

I've never met anyone that doesn't like it so that's a good sign.

Well, I had a taste of it yesterday and it was just divine.

And this is about a half a cup of sugar.

Now, again, that's going to vary with how wide your band of dough is.

But you want to make a nice, even layer of granulated sugar.

Enough so that some of the sugar does remain.

And it's kind of magical the way it works but it takes as much as it wants, you see?

You mean, it will tell you if it's high enough?

There, it just beeped, right?

We see all the sugar still and they didn't quite use the half a cup.

A little egg white.

Now, I'm going to be making a sabayon which is a custard, later on and I'm going to need egg yolk so I'm going to save the egg yolk because I need a white to glaze the edge.

Now, a pastry brush, which I have and I'm going to be sprinkling on this crystallized sugar.

Have you seen this before?

No, isn't that interesting?

You know, that never melts into the crust and so you get a nice crunchy, crunchy bits of sugar.

Where do you get that?

Any kind of specialty store carries... Like a pastry supply.

Like a pastry supply.

And a nice border and see how pretty that is with the... That's lovely, haven't seen that before.

Now, we're ready to bake the tart.

What temperature does it go in at?

We're going to be baking it at 275 degrees.

That seems awfully low.

It is awfully low, but if we baked it any higher our custard in the middle would burn before our crust was cooked.

We want the custard to be set and the crust nicely brown.

How long is it going to take?

About 30... 30 to 40 minutes.

Yeah, you just have to watch it.

Uh-huh.

Yeah, okay.

And now what are you doing with vanilla beans and all kind of goodies?

And wine.

Well, I'm going to be making a sauce that I use in my sabayon but also I poach my fruit in.

Oh, this is the fruit froth that you're going to serve with the tart.

With the tart.

We call it at the restaurant, a white secret sauce.

And that's because so often when chefs make something that they really love it becomes a secret.

But this is no secret-- I'm going to show it to you.

But you will reveal it to us, that's very nice.

I'm going to start off with caramelizing some sugar and water and the vanilla bean and once it becomes a nice caramel I'm going to stop it with some white wine.

And so a cup and a half of granulated sugar.

Shake off the excess.

These are Tahitian vanilla beans.

I can smell them from here.

That's wonderful.

Do you like them the best?

I do, they seem to be the plumpest and the most aromatic.

So I'm going to open them up-- smell that.

Mm-hmm, that is strongly vanilla.

Scrape out the seed and now just enough water to really moisten the sugar.

The process of caramelization is the evaporating of the water.

So you don't want to put too much water in because it would take so long to finally reach your caramel but just enough... About a third of a cup probably.

Let me turn that up to high.

And do you cover the pan or just...

I don't, I just let it boil away.

Do you find you have any tricks in doing your caramel?

One trick is to not jiggle the pan too much.

You don't want the sugar crystals to be thrown against the sides because what happened is the mixture crystallizes which means it sort of seizes and it hardens up.

Now you can melt that again, the sugar because it'll melt down, but... it's kind of a mess.

So you can see that we're getting close here.

The bubbles are getting a little larger...

They're kind of piercing each other.

Right, and not so fast, you know?

And it doesn't seem as loud to me-- a little bit quieter.

( Julia sniffing ) I can smell the vanilla, which is nice.

Uh-huh.

And we wait until it actually begins to caramelize?

Yeah, well, I always wait till I see the first sign of color somewhere in the pot.

There's always a hot spot, someplace it's going to start to color.

And now what I'm going to do I'm going to measure out my wine.

What are you using for wine?

I'm using a nice dry white but not the best of your cellar because it's not necessary for something like this.

We'll do 2 1/4 cups... ( Julia exclaims ) Exactly.

Yes, that definitely is coloring there.

We'll start to swirl it.

Now you're safe in swirling.

Now I'm safe because I'm hot enough.

Yeah, mm-hmm.

That's definitely that color.

You would not want to touch it at this point.

( laughing ): No.

( Julia sniffing ) Yes, I'm beginning to smell caramel, yes.

I think that we're... we're there.

Take it off the heat.

Now, stand back because it's really going to bubble.

( hissing and crackling ) And look what happens when you add the cold liquid: You almost make a hard candy or a... Oh, yes.

a lollipop in there.

Mm-hmm.

See that?

Nothing to fear, though, it's going to melt again.

( hissing continues ) As soon as all the sugar re-melts again, we'll turn it off.

Which it has done-- great, shall I turn it off?

Sure.

Okay.

I can smell that tart; should we look at it?

Let's go check it.

Julia: Your minutes are up.

Now, how can you tell if and when it's done?

Nancy: See how nice... the crust is nicely brown.

Yeah.

Give it a jiggle.

A little bit loose, but not liquidy so it's perfect, we can turn the oven off.

Just like a perfect caramel custard.

Exactly.

Then should we leave the door slightly ajar?

Let's leave it open.

There.

It's wonderful to know when the tart is done because if it's overdone, then you... then it's... it's stiff, isn't it, the custard...

It's much... it's too dry.

All right, let's finish our sabayon now.

I need to crack three more egg yolks into my bowl.

And we're going to bring the white wine mixture back to a boil.

This is boiling, yeah.

Now, if you can measure out for me 1½ cups.

Isn't it a pretty color?

It's a lovely color.

Is that a cup and a half?

Yup, exactly.

And let's save this.

You know, we're going to be sautéing our fruit in here.

Mm-hmm-- here you are.

Turn that off... okay.

Drizzle it slowly because it's so hot we don't want to scramble the eggs.

It has a wonderful smell.

Mmm.

It is... this is a wonderful whisk.

I love how it conforms to your hand.

Yes-- you can't find them anymore.

I keep urging people to make them.

It's also a nice weight.

Yeah.

So, this has to be kept on the move the whole time.

We want to get as much air as possible... And the sort of... the slow warming thickens the egg yolk, is that...?

Right, that's what we're doing we're cooking the egg yolks so again they'll be cooked.

We're not hard- boiling them or scrambling them?

No, we're not hard-boiling but we're... cooking them to a temperature that's hot enough... Yeah.

that we can eat them and feel safe.

So we don't need to worry.

No worries.

We can eat it.

It's thickening very nicely, then.

What you want to watch for is... any cooking of the egg around the sides which we don't have yet, and if that happens you know what, I take it off...

Right off.

mix it a little and put it back on.

Mm-hmm.

So you can take it on and off as... Just like making a hollandaise, really, isn't it?

Right, but... if you can manage to cook this to the proper consistency and not cook any egg against the sides you'll get great volume.

You have won.

You have won.

Now, what are we looking for to know that it's done?

I'm getting air in there.

I know that I have to cook it for at least five minutes.

Yeah, mm-hmm.

And...

It certainly has thickened up nicely.

Uh-huh.

Let's see how we're doing here.

Oh, I think we're there, we're hot enough.

Ooh.

That's very hot.

As long as you can't keep your finger in it.

Okay.

And now we need to whip it until it's cold.

I can see why you did it in that awkward bowl because you wouldn't want to beat it by hand for five minutes.

( laughing ): No.

Our sabayon is done.

It's interesting, the color now is perfectly white.

It looks like whipped cream.

Uh-huh, and the bottom of the bowl is cold.

It's cold.

And I would say it tripled in volume which is what we want.

Lovely consistency.

Okay, going to fold some whipped cream into this now.

The sound of it, too, is very...

It's hollow, huh?

It really... it keeps its shape, yeah.

Lovely.

I see you've got your whipped cream over ice.

That keeps it, doesn't it?

Keeps it cold.

You know, it started to separate just a little bit and so I'm going to stir in some crème fraîche which brings it back and keeps it shiny.

That's a good trick, because it has, it's gotten kind of... yes, it has lost its shine, well, that's interesting.

You know, I also prefer whipped cream anyway with a little crème fraîche.

Uh-huh, because it gives it a little more character doesn't it, yeah.

Uh-huh.

That's amazing, that's really brought it right back to its shine, hasn't it?

I'm going to fold about a third the amount of cream as I have sabayon.

This has a lovely sound, doesn't it?

Think we're going to have to taste it?

I think you're going to have to.

Look, I've got a spoon right there for you.

Mmm.

Mmm, that is lovely, that... wine flavor is so good.

Good.

I have some peaches and plums already cut up and I'm going to finish with some nectarine, actually.

This is the perfect season to serve this dessert because it's just delicious with the star fruit.

Now, what would you do... like in the wintertime?

Pears maybe?

Pears are good.

Dried fruits... Oh, yes.

that you soak and macerate to... to soften, and that's really delicious.

Figs, apricots, prunes.

Oh, that's right pitted prunes are nice.

Uh-huh.

Yeah, they're delicious.

All righty.

Well...

I'll keep out of your way.

Okay, maybe you can turn the burner on for me.

That's your poaching syrup.

( in unison ): The white secret sauce.

Yes.

We need to bring that to a boil.

And actually, since this fruit is pretty ripe we don't have to cook it very much.

No.

We want it to absorb a little bit of the liquid.

We've got our wine mixture boiling I'm going to start sautéing some fruit.

You want to get the tart out of the oven?

Mm-hmm.

That looks lovely.

That's really just sort of lightly cooking the fruit isn't it, yeah?

Mm-hmm-- yeah, you want to use fruit that is still a little bit firm so it doesn't fall apart... but ripe.

Yeah.

Oh, those look done, don't they?

Yeah, these are done.

That's beautiful.

You want to move the tart over here?

Mm-hmm.

Have we got a serving platter?

Yeah... we do.

There we go.

Oh, doesn't that look lovely?

It doesn't look to me as though you really need anything on it at all.

No, it doesn't need anything, you're absolutely right.

How hungry are you?

Well... Mmm, you look pretty hungry.

Yes, I am.

( Nancy laughing ) That certainly is a different cut than if it were a... pie crust, isn't it?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, look, and then that's all perfectly done through.

You can see right along the edge there, yeah.

Lovely.

There we go.

And we have our... sautéed fruit.

Oh, isn't that nice?

And just a little to moisten it.

Mmm.

Lovely.

Look at that.

And sabayon.

Some freshly toasted nuts.

And... And powdered sugar, this is about as... taking it about as far as it can go, isn't it?

That's lovely.

There you go.

Mmm.

Mmm.

A good combination, hmm?

It's... ( laughing ) It's a dessert to cry over... ( laughing ): it really is.

This is... so good.

I really am crying... ( both laughing ) Thank you.

You're welcome.

That's a triumph.

Thank you.

Julia: Well, I think this is the best dessert I ever ate and I think that custard is... is so lovely and the brioche, of course, itself is divine and the sabayon and everything.

This is marvelous.

Nancy, thank you very, very much.

You were a dear to come and give one of your secret recipes as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Julia: Bon appétit!