Vol-au-Vent

Name: Vol-au-Vent (Flaky Pastry Timbale)
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: Chill for 20 minutes, then bake in a preheated 450-degree oven for about 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 400 degrees and bake another 15 minutes. Now coat all surfaces with egg mixture and bake another 20 minutes at 350 degrees. (Egg mixture makes pastry brown and glazed.) When it is done, carefully lift off cooky sheet to a wire rack. Cut the circle of dough out of the center and lift out. Scrape the uncooked layers of dough from it and the Vol-au-Vent. Cool Vol-au-Vent. Use, or store in a cool, dry place ready to use. Its life is that of the butter and after that it will become rancid. Vol-au-Vents are normally filled with something expensive, such as Sweetbreads Financière.; Cut a 5- or 6-inch circle from the center of the second piece of pastry, leaving a 2-inch ring of dough. (Make a Galette des Rois from the 5- or 6-inch circle.) Do not cut small circle out on the slant, but straight up and down. Carefully lift the ring of dough, turn it over and put the narrow side down on the dampened pastry. Gently press ring to lower layer. With the back of a knife push the slanted edges in at 1-inch intervals and to a depth of ¼ inch all the way around the outside of the two layers of dough. Puff pastry shrinks as it cooks. If it is cut on the bias the top will shrink back to be about the same size as the base and the Vol-au-Vent will be straight up and down. Also, when cut on the bias, heat strikes the edges and the Vol-au-Vent puffs higher. When baked, the edges are scalloped.; Make Feuilletée. On the sixth and final turn, roll the pastry into an 8 x 16-inch strip and about ½ inch thick, or a little less than ½ inch.; Brush a cooky sheet with cold water. With a spatula lift 1 circle of the dough. Put your fingers on the flat surfaces, being careful not to touch the cut edges with your hot hands. (At the place it is touched, rising is retarded.) Turn this circle of dough over, and put the narrow side down on the cooky sheet. Brush a 2-inch border of the pastry with cold water.; Mix together 1 egg yolk and 2 tablespoons cold water. With a very soft small paint brush (I use a camel’s-hair art brush) coat the circle down in the hole and the flat top surface with the egg mixture (called dorure in French). Do not hit any of the cut surfaces with the egg mixture or the Vol-au-Vent will not rise at those spots. With a very sharp knife, make attractive marks in the future lid down in the hole and around the ring of dough.

Flaky Pastry Timbale

Preparation info

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Hows and Whys of French Cooking

By Alma Lach

Published 1974

About

Method

Make Feuilletée. On the sixth and final turn, roll the pastry into an 8 x 16-inch strip and about ½ inc