Paris-Brest
Ingredients
- Choux pastry: 125 ml water, 125 ml milk, 110 g butter, 150 g flour, 4 eggs, salt, sugar
- Sliced almonds, for topping
- Praline mousseline cream: 250 g milk, 55 g sugar, 50 g egg yolk, 25 g cornstarch, 25 g butter, 150 g hazelnut praline paste, plus extra softened butter to whip in
Created in 1910 by pastry chef Louis Durand to mark the Paris–Brest–Paris bicycle race, this pastry is piped as a ring of choux dough, scattered with sliced almonds, and baked until crisp. Once cooled it's split and filled with a praline mousseline cream — a pastry cream lightened and enriched with butter and hazelnut praline paste — and its round shape is a direct nod to a bicycle wheel.
Method
Pipe the choux pastry into a ring on a lined tray, scatter with sliced almonds, and bake at 180-200°C (350-400°F) until deeply golden and firm.
Cool completely, then slice the ring horizontally into a top and bottom half.
Make a pastry cream base with the milk, sugar, egg yolk and cornstarch, cooking until thickened, then whisk in the 25g butter and praline paste; chill until completely cold.
Beat the cold pastry cream base in a stand mixer to loosen it, then gradually beat in softened butter until the cream is pale, light, and fluffy (the butter should be at the same temperature as the cream to avoid splitting).
Pipe the praline mousseline generously onto the bottom choux ring, replace the top, and dust with powdered sugar.
Ingredients
- Choux pastry: 125 ml water, 125 ml milk, 110 g butter, 150 g flour, 4 eggs, salt, sugar
- Craquelin: 40 g butter, 50 g brown sugar, 50 g flour
- Praline mousseline cream: 250 g milk, 55 g sugar, 50 g egg yolk, 25 g cornstarch, 25 g butter, 150 g hazelnut praline paste, plus extra softened butter to whip in
- Liquid praline core: 100-150 g hazelnut praline paste, loosened with a little neutral oil if needed to keep it pourable
- Sliced almonds, for topping
Philippe Conticini, one of the most influential modern French pastry chefs, reworked the classic single ring of Paris-Brest into a 'crown' of individual choux puffs piped side by side in a circle, each topped with craquelin for a crisp, evenly domed shell. His real signature, though, is inside: alongside the usual praline mousseline cream, he pipes a pure, flowing praline core into the center of each portion, so the first bite reveals a burst of liquid hazelnut praline hidden at the heart of the cream — a combination other chefs frequently cite as the balance that made his version so influential.
Method
Make the craquelin by creaming butter, sugar and flour into a dough, rolling thin, and freezing; cut into small disks.
Pipe the choux pastry into a circle of individual small mounds, side by side, rather than one continuous ring; top each with a craquelin disk and scatter with sliced almonds.
Bake at 180-200°C (350-400°F) until deeply golden and firm, then cool completely.
Make a pastry cream base with the milk, sugar, egg yolk and cornstarch, cooking until thickened, then whisk in the 25g butter and praline paste; chill until completely cold.
Beat the cold pastry cream base to loosen it, then gradually beat in softened butter until pale, light and fluffy, to make the mousseline cream.
Slice each choux puff in half horizontally.
Pipe a ring of praline mousseline cream onto the bottom half of each puff, leaving a small well in the center.
Spoon or pipe a little of the loosened liquid praline directly into that well, so it stays a distinct pocket rather than mixing into the mousseline.
Replace the top halves and dust with powdered sugar.
