Éric Kayser shows the recipe of our childhood’s favourite afternoon snack.
A buttery bread sprinkled with pearls sugar to be eaten up at breakfast or for an afternoon snack.
Plain, spread with jam or filled with a chocolate bar, a multi-faceted sweet.
The ingredients:
500g of T65 flour.
230g of whole milk.
20g of fresh baker yeast.
35g of sugar.
10g of salt.
80g of soft butter.
1 egg (for the glazing).
Pearls sugar (for the decoration).
The utensils:
An electric stand mixer.
Bowls and mixing bowls.
A brush (for the glazing)
Scissors (for the decoration).
An oven and its greaseproof papers.
A dough scraper.
The timings:
The kneading: a dozen of minutes.
1st rising: one to two hours.
The pre-shaping: a dozen of minutes.
The resting of the dough: 30 minutes.
The shaping: a dozen of minutes.
2nd rising: 2 hours.
The baking: 13 to 15 minutes at 200°C.
Pour the milk at the bottom of your mixing bowl and add the baker yeast.
Cover with your flour in order to avoid the yeast touching the salt or the sugar (or it would damage it).
Finish with the salt on one side and the sugar on the other.
The butter can be added at the beginning of the kneading or in the middle of it (for such a small quantity, it won’t have any effect).
Start your mixer at first speed till you get a homogeneous ball of dough.
Speed up the pace to incorporate some air for a dozen of minutes.
Get your dough out of the mixer. Dust your table with flour and form a pre-ball of dough. You can make a cross with your dough scraper to accelerate the fermentation.
Cover with a cloth or a plastic wrap and leave it to ferment for one to two hours. If it is too hot, you can place it in the fridge for two to three hours.
Divide your dough in 150g loaves.
Form balls if you are used to it, or just sausage forms.
Slightly flatten the dough with your hand, be careful to not degas it too much. And stick the seam edges-to-edges.
Leave your loaves to rest for 30 minutes, seams underneath.
Take your loaves and form the final sausage forms.
Once again, slightly flatten your dough. Avoid degassing it too much by just slightly pressing it. Stetch your loaf and form a pointed sausage by rolling it on itself. Check that your seams are stuck. And pinch the edges if they are not.
If your loaf were in a form of a ball, lightly degas it. Fold the dough on itself, two, three times. And roll it on itself until it forms a pointed sausage. Check that the seams are stuck.
Place your loaves on a baking tray covered with greaseproof paper.
Leave a 4 fingers space between your loaves because they will double, even triple their sizes.
Leave your loaves to rise for two hours.
Beat an egg.
Moist your brush with a bit of water to loosen its hair a bit.
Dip your brush in the beaten egg and glaze the top of your loaves.
Dip your scissors in water or the rest of your beaten egg.
Cut your loaves with the scissors, point toward the bottom. Keep moving your scissors on the loaf to avoid the scissors to stick.
Dip your scissors in liquid between each loaf.
Sprinkle your loaves with pearls sugar.
Place in the oven for 13 to 15 minutes at 200°C, until your pains au lait (Paris buns) get a nice caramel colour.
Savour sweet breakfasts or afternoon teas with your own freshly made pains au lait (Paris buns).
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