ULTIMATE Paris-Brest (VIDEO)

Paris-Brest, a delicate ring shape Choux pastry with Hazelnut Praline Crème Mousseline filling, is definitely the Queen of French pastries! Crispy Pâte à Choux bonds together with silky, nutty Creme Mousseline filling in my Classic French recipe!

Prep Time1

Cook Time40

Waiting time1

Total Time2 40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Servings: rings of 19 cm / 7.5 inches in diameter each

Calories: 1608kcal

Ingredients

For the choux pastry

120 g Unsalted butter 82% fat content
120 g Water
120 g Whole milk
2 Large pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon Granulated sugar
140 g Bread flour high protein flour (12% protein)
220 g Egg might need slightly more or less, pls see tips above
75 g Almond flake

For the Praline Crème Mousseline

500 g Whole milk
100 g Granulated sugar
80 g Egg yolk approx. yolk of 4-5 eggs
25 g Corn starch
25 g AP flour
2 teaspoon Vanilla bean paste
50 g Unsalted butter room temperature, 82% fat content - will be used while making the pastry cream
130 g Hazelnut Praline paste homemade or store bough
150 g Unsalted butter room temperature, 82% fat content - will be used while making the mousseline cream

For Assembling

3 tablespoon roasted chopped hazelnuts
Hazelnut praline paste homemade or store bough

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Choux rings

Sift flour then measure and set aside
Place butter, water, milk, salt and sugar into a saucepan over medium heat
As soon as the mixture starts to boil remove from heat, add the flour in one go, and whisk vigorously with a Rubber spatula until it forms one smooth ball and flour bits are not visible
Place the saucepan back to the stove and cook the dough for about 3 min over medium heat mixing constantly. It is ready when a sort of skin forms on the bottom up the saucepan
Transfer the dough into a bowl and let it cool down slightly before mixing the egg in. Mix in only a small amount of egg at a time, consistently whisking after each addition. You should reach a consistency which is not too runny, not too firm but just fine to pipe. Pls see tips above
Move choux dough into a piping bag fitted with French star nozzle tip and let the dough rest in the fridge 1-2h
The recipe makes 3 Paris Brest 19 cm / 7.5 inches in diameter. Since the choux will expand in the oven, you will need to pipe about 14 cm / 5.5 inches
Pipe the dough in ring shape, leaving enough space in between them, as they will puff, then place the tray into the freezer for min 1h. Use Perforated “air” baking mat or baking paper.
Pre-heat oven to 200 C / 392 F
Lower oven temperature to 170 C / 338 F and bake the Choux rings for 40 min. Do not open the oven door in the first 30 min. If you are baking it the first time it is a good idea to take one choux bun out of the oven at 40 min and check its consistency. If it is golden in colour, nicely puffed up, does not deflate on room temperature and the middle of the ring is not raw (it is ok if it's a bit wet, it will dry while cooling down) then it is considered to be done
Cool them either on the perforated air mat or if baked on parchment papaer, then cool them on cooling rack

Pastry cream

In a large enough bowl with the help of a Hand whisk, mix together sugar and egg yolk until slightly fluffy for about 1-2 minutes
Mix in corn starch, flour, and vanilla until throughly incorporated and have a smooth paste
Bring milk to simmering in a saucepan on medium heat. Make sure it is simmering but not crazy boiling, see my tips above
Pour the warm milk over the egg yolk mixture slowly while whisking vigorously with a Hand whisk.
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook on medium heat for a few minutes until it thickens. Concretely it is approximately 1 min after the first boil. It might get lumpy first, don't worry just keep whisking and the cream will get smooth and glossy
If in doubt, strain the pastry cream for a lump-free, creamy end result
Add in room temperature soft butter and mix with a Rubber spatula until completely incorporated. It is worth to add the butter in 3 stages and mix well after each addition
Place the cream into a shallow bowl and cover the entire surface with plastic wrap to avoid skin forming on top. Let it cool to room temperature

Make the mousseline cream

Crème mousseline can be made with room temp pastry cream, room temp butter, and hazelnut praline paste. Make sure everything is at room temp otherwise the mixture might curdle
Whipp room temp butter first for 1-2 minutes, then mix in praline paste
Start adding in the room temp pastry cream in 4 stages until cream reaches a stable yet fluffy texture. Do not over whip the mixture as it can become runny

Assemble

Cut the top of each choux ring and fill them with about 1 tablespoon chopped roasted hazelnut per ring plus some hazelnut praline paste on top
Move mousseline cream into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle tip. You can use Wilton 1M piping nozzle tip or French star nozzle tip. Pipe the hazelnut praline mousseline cream around the choux
Dust the top part of the choux ring with icing sugar and place on top. Decorate the top with some more hazelnut and hazelnut skin
Store in fridge. Paris Brest is best served fresh as choux pastry might get soggy after some time. Due to the butter content mousseline cream will get firmer in the fridge, that is normal

Video

Notes

INGREDIENT NOTES:

Measure your ingredients with a Digital scale for accuracy
To make the choux, use high protein content bread flour for the best results, I am using 12% protein content flour
Do not skip the salt, it has a special function while baking choux
For the mousseline cream use whole milk and hazelnut praline paste
Feel free to substitute the hazelnut praline with hazelnut butter but make sure to increase the sugar content for the pastry cream and hazelnut butter contains no sugar

TECHNIQUE NOTES:

Make sure you read my Expert tips section above to maximize your success. A short recipe alone is not able to cover all the necessary details, and science behind baking
While heating the milk, water, butter, salt, sugar mixture make sure that sugar and salt fully dissolves
Do not skip sifting flour as you don´t want to deal with flour lumps while making this recipe
Please note that you might need slightly more or less egg - and that is normal - depending on the flour you use and how much you dried the mixture while cooking it. Pay very close attention to the consistency while mixing the egg in and apply the V shape test.
There are 2 chilling times involved - one fridge resting before piping, and one freezing before baking. Both of them are important to achieve neat, crack-free results
Use a star nozzle tip so your choux pastry will puff neat
If you have never used a piping bag and piping nozzle before, it is worth practicing before
I strongly advise using a Digital oven thermometer to be able to measure your exact oven temperature
While baking, do not use fan in your oven, it can encourage cracks on your eclairs
While making Creme mousseline, it is crucial that both the pastry cream as well as the butter is at room temperature. Also, make sure you do not over whip it as it can become runny

Nutrition