posts may contain Amazon affiliate links, which earn me a small commission when you buy (but doesn't cost you anything extra). Occasionally I receive free products and/or run sponsored posts—this will always be stated clearly in the post. Thank you for supporting this blog.

This website contains some quotations, excerpts, and screen clips from copyrighted material. These uses fall well within the copyright doctrine of "Fair Use".
Saturday, March 16, 2013

Irish Cream Custard Gâteau {Bread Baking Babes}

Do you know what today is?  That's right, it's the sixteenth - and that means Bread Baking Babes!  Lien from Notitie de Lien is our host kitchen of the month and she has chosen a rich, buttery, decadent Gâteau à la Crème for us to bake up in our kitchens this month.  The original filling is made from egg yolks, sugar, lemon, and crème fraîche.  That's a big yum.

However.

Do you know what tomorrow is?  That's right, it's the seventeenth - and means St. Patrick's Day!  Holy shillelagh, the first half of this month whizzed by!  I told you of my best-laid plans to make all Irish, all month, right?  Mmm hmm.  Just as I suspected, I failed on that front.  I barely brought you a week's worth of Irish-inspired grub.  Okay, that's a lie.  This is actually only the fourth Irish-ish thing I've shared this month.
If only my real life had as many hours in it as my imaginary life did.

So in order to squeeze in one more Irish-inspired post, I decided to nix that tasty sounding lemon filling.  Instead, we're going with a rich, chocolatey custard that is laced with a good punch of Irish Creme.  It's ridiculous.  Irish ingredient number one.  But take a wee gander at that brioche that's supporting the custard.  See how it radiates all the warmth of a sunny afternoon?  There's 5 egg yolks in there. (Um, that may or may not have been an error that worked out for the best.  You'll have to check some of the other babe's posts to see how many yolks their brioche contained.)  The other contributor of that golden hue?  It's Kerrygold Irish Butter.  You've gotta know by now that I cannot get enough of that stuff.  I start to shake a little bit if there's none in my fridge.

What do you think?  Irish Cream Liqueur and Irish Butter all rolled into one glorious (ahem, French) dish.  That counts towards my goal, right?  If you're looking for a great brunch item for St. Patty's (Paddy's?) day, you cannot go wrong serving these gâteaux with a side of fresh fruit, a few rashers of Irish bacon, and some good coffee.  Or tea, whatever you fancy.

Irish Cream Custard Gâteau

by Heather Schmitt-González
Prep Time: 3 hours
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
Keywords: bake bread breakfast snack dessert butter flour French Irish

Ingredients (2 small gâteaux (4-6 slices e)
    for the brioche dough:
    • 250 grams bread flour
    • big pinch fine sea salt
    • 2 Tbs. granulated sugar
    • 1½ tsp. active dry yeast
    • 2 eggs
    • 3 egg yolks
    • 150 grams unsalted butter, cubed & at cool room temperature
    for the Irish Cream Custard:
    • 1½ c. heavy cream
    • 1/3 c. granulated sugar
    • 6 large egg yolks
    • 1 oz. (28 grams) bittersweet chocolate chips
    • ½ c. homemade Irish Cream Liqueur or storebought
    to finish:
    • 1 egg, beaten
    • pearl or nib sugar
    Instructions
    making the dough:
    Combine flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the dough hook (put salt on the very bottom and yeast on the very top). Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks and mix on low until the dough starts to come together, ~3 minutes. Turn up the speed to about medium and allow to knead for another 5 minutes, or until the dough starts to pull away from the bowl.

    One by one, start adding cubes of butter to the bowl and continue to mix until all the butter is incorporated, 2-3 minutes.

    Remove bowl from mixer and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside at warm room temperature for 1 hour. Refrigerate for 1 hour longer (this makes the dough easier to work with).

    make the Irish Cream custard:
    Place the egg yolks into a small bowl and set aside.

    Combine cream and sugar in a medium pot over medium heat until it just starts to bubble around the edges. Whisk to dissolve sugar. Turn to low.

    Slowly pour some of the simmering cream into the eggs, whisking the whole time to temper them. Once you have at least a quarter of the mixture whisked it, pour the whole thing back into the pot, once again whisking the whole time. Add chocolate.

    Continue to cook while whisking constantly until chocolate has melted and mixture has thickened, 2-3 minutes. Whisk in the Irish Cream and allow to cook (yes, you're still whisking) for another 30 seconds or so.

    Pour the whole mixture into a large, glass measuring cup (through a strainer if you think you have any lumps). Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it down so that it touches the surface so that a skin does not form. Refrigerate until ready to use.

    forming the dough:
    Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

    Lightly flour a work surface. Divide the dough in half. One piece at a time, for the dough into a ball and flatten into a disk. Gently continue to press the dough flat and spread it into a circle that is ~9-inches in diameter; start from the middle and press outward, leaving a 1-inch border, as best you can. Or make it slightly larger and build up your own edge. Take care not to stretch the dough and to keep the dough even in thickness. (You can either do the flattening on the parchment-lined tray itself, or do it on your work surface and carefully transfer it over. I did one each way - and both ways worked fine.)

    Gently set a piece of plastic wrap over the dough and set aside at warm room temperature for 25 minutes.

    Preheat the oven to 180°C/360°F (or if your oven doesn't have a 360 mark, you can do what I do and just stick it somewhere between the 350 and 375 marks).

    filling, finishing, and baking:
    Prick the base of the dough all over with a fork. Brush the rim of both rounds with the beaten egg, and then scatter as much nib sugar over as you wish.

    Divide the custard between the two rounds, filling them full. You may have just a bit of custard left over. No worries...eat that part with a spoon while you're waiting.

    Carefully slide the tray into the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the edges are risen and golden brown. The filling should still look a bit wobbly, but it will be bubbling around the edges. Set the tray on a rack to cool. Cut into wedges and serve!

    Good for dessert or with your morning coffee. Or with Irish Coffee...mmmm....

    notes:
    You can make the custard a day or so in advance, if you like. Cover with plastic wrap (pressed down to touch the surface) and refrigerate until ready to use. No need to bring to room temperature - pull it out of the fridge when you're ready to form the dough.

    Gâteau adapted from Raymond Blanc's Kitchen Secrets. Custard adapted from here
    Powered by Recipage

    The Bread Baking Babes
    Bake My Day - Karen
    blog from OUR kitchen - Elizabeth
    girlichef  - Heather
    Life's a Feast - Jamie
    Provecho Peru - Gretchen

    If you'd like to bake along as a buddy this month, check out the post by Lien at Notitie Van Lien, our Babe kitchen of the month - then head into the kitchen and bake up your own Gâteau and send her your link by the 29th.  She'll send you a badge for baking along and round up all of the entries on her site!