Paris Brest

Paris Brest

Paris-Brest is definitely the Queen of French pastries! A crispy ring of pâte à choux filled with silky hazelnut praline crème mousseline and decorated with flaked almonds. It's a challenge worth making!

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: 1609kcal

Ingredients

For the choux pastry

120 g Unsalted butter 82% European style butter at room temperature, in chunks.
120 g Water
120 g Whole milk
½ teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoons Granulated sugar
140 g Bread flour high protein content flour, eg. 13%
220 g Egg Approx. 4 eggs at room temperature. Might need slightly more or less, see the tips below.
75 g Almond flake

For the Praline Crème Mousseline

480 g Whole milk 3% fat
100 g Granulated sugar
80 g Egg yolk approx. yolk of 4 eggs
25 g Corn starch
25 g All purpose flour
2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
57 g Unsalted butter room temperature, 82% fat content - will be used while making the pastry cream
115 g Hazelnut Praline paste homemade or store bought
150 g Unsalted butter room temperature, 82% fat content - will be used while making the mousseline cream

For Assembling

3 tablespoons roasted chopped hazelnuts
Hazelnut praline paste homemade or store bought

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Choux pastry rings

The recipe makes 3 Paris Brest, 19 cm / 7.5 inches in diameter.
Sift flour, measure, and set aside. Prepare your piping bag with a Wilton 6b French star nozzle, perforated “air” baking mat, or a baking sheet with baking paper.
In a saucepan, combine the butter, water, milk, salt, and sugar. Heat over medium, stirring occasionally, until the mixture begins to simmer—avoid letting it come to a boil.
Once it starts to simmer, remove from heat and immediately stir in the flour all at once. Use a rubber spatula to vigorously mix until a smooth dough forms and no lumps of flour remain.
Return the saucepan to the stove and cook the dough over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly. During this time, the moisture will evaporate, and a thin film should form on the bottom of the pan.
Transfer the dough to the bowl of your stand mixer and mix on low speed for about a minute to cool it slightly (use the paddle attachment). Gradually add the lightly beaten eggs, one small spoonful at a time, while the mixer runs. Allow each addition to fully incorporate before adding the next. The dough should become glossy, pipeable, and come together within 2-3 minutes.
The dough is ready when it falls slowly from the paddle in a V shape. It should have a thick, non-runny consistency. Keep in mind that the exact egg quantity may vary depending on how much moisture evaporated and the type of flour used—use your judgment.
Transfer the dough to a pastry bag fitted with a 0.5-inch (1.3 cm) Wilton 6b French star nozzle. Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour before using it.
Pipe two ring shapes next to each other, ensuring the choux dough touches, and then pipe one more ring on top of the two. 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.
Repeat twice more, so that you have three rings. Next, sprinkle roasted almond slices evenly over the entire surface of the choux dough.
Place the tray with the 3 Paris Brest rings in the freezer for at least 1 hour.
Preheat your oven to 200°C / 392°F (no fan).
After one hour of freezing time, place the tray in the oven, reduce the temperature to 170°C / 338°F (no fan), and bake the choux rings for 40 minutes. Avoid opening the oven door for the first 30 minutes. If baking for the first time, it's helpful to remove one choux at the 40-minute mark to check its consistency. It should be golden, nicely puffed, and not deflate at room temperature. The center should not be raw (a slightly wet interior is fine, as it will dry during cooling).
Cool the choux rings on a perforated air mat, or if baked on parchment paper, transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely

Pastry cream

Whisk together sugar and egg yolks in a bowl for 1-2 minutes until fluffy. Add cornstarch, flour, and vanilla, mixing until smooth.
Heat milk in a saucepan until it just begins to simmer (not boil). Slowly pour it into the egg yolk mixture while whisking to temper the yolks.
Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, mixing constantly, until thickened (about 1 minute after boiling). If lumpy, keep whisking until smooth. Remove it from the stove. Strain if necessary.
Gradually mix in softened butter in chunks until fully incorporated. The pastry cream needs to be completely cool before using it. Place the cream in a shallow bowl and cover the entire surface with plastic wrap to avoid skin forming on top.

Make the mousseline cream

Crème mousseline can be made with room temperature pastry cream, room temperature butter, and hazelnut praline paste. Make sure everything is at room temperature, otherwise, the mixture might curdle.
Whip the room temperature butter first for 1-2 minutes, then mix in praline paste and mix until combined.
Begin adding the room-temperature pastry cream into the mixer while the mixer is on. Add the cream in four stages, allowing each addition to fully incorporate before adding the next. Whip on medium speed until the cream reaches a stable yet fluffy texture. Be careful not to over-whip, as it may cause the mixture to become runny.
Transfer the mousseline cream into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle tip, such as a Wilton 1M or a French star nozzle. If the cream is on the softer side, refrigerate it for 30-60 minutes. However, avoid refrigerating it for too long, as the butter may solidify, making it impossible to pipe.

Assemble

Cut the top of each choux ring and fill it with about one tablespoon of chopped roasted hazelnut per ring. Then, drizzle some hazelnut praline paste on top.
Pipe the hazelnut praline mousseline cream around the choux.
Dust the top part of the choux ring with powdered sugar and place on top. Decorate the top with some more hazelnut and hazelnut skin.
Paris-Brest is best served immediately after filling. Once filled, they will gradually lose their crispiness over time, so it's best to enjoy them fresh. Any leftovers can be stored refrigerated for about a day.

Video

Notes

INGREDIENT NOTES:

Measure your ingredients with a Digital scale for accuracy.
For the choux, use high-protein-content bread flour for the best results. I am using flour with 12% protein content. Do not skip the salt, and use lightly whisked room-temperature eggs.
For the mousseline cream, use whole milk and good quality either store-bought or homemade 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, as hazelnut butter contains no sugar.

TECHNIQUE NOTES:

Make sure you read my Expert tips section above to maximize your success. A short recipe alone cannot cover all the necessary details and science behind baking. Consider this recipe more like an in-depth tutorial—literally, the only recipe you will ever need to make choux pastry.
While heating the milk, water, butter, salt, and sugar mixture, ensure the sugar and salt fully dissolve. Best to start with room-temperature butter so the mixture will melt together at the same time.
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 two chilling times involved—one fridge resting before piping and one freezing before baking. Both are important to achieve neat, crack-free results.
Use a closed star nozzle tip so your Paris-Brest puffs up neatly. Neither a round nor an open star nozzle tip will give you the desired results.
If you have never used a piping bag and piping nozzle before, it is worth practicing.
I strongly advise using a digital oven thermometer to measure your exact oven temperature, as most home ovens are either over or underheating.
While baking, do not use the fan in your oven; it can encourage cracks on your choux rings.
When making pastry cream, use a small/medium saucepan with good heat distribution to avoid burning the milk.
While making crème mousseline, both the pastry cream and the butter must be at room temperature. Also, make sure you don't over-whip it, as it can become runny.

Nutrition

Equipment