The Catalan TableIngredients
Servings:
4
Ingredients
- 200 gsea bass
- 500 gcake flour (or pastry flour)
- 125 mlcooking liquid cream
- 3 egg
- 175 gbutter (softened)
- 125 gwhite sugar
- 2 iteaspoons fresh pressed yeast from Paris
- salt
- 4 egg yolks
- 500 mlwhole milk
- 90 gsugar
- 20 gweak flour (or pastry flour)
- 20 gCornstarch
- 1 lemon (the peel)
- 1 cinnamon (or vanilla)
- Cake ingredients
- 6 apples
- 450 genriched dough with butter (1)
- 700 gpastry cream (2)
- 200 gbutter at room temperature
- 100 gbrown cane sugar
Nutritional Information
Per Serving (Approx.)
Calories
3622 kcal
Protein
58 g
Fat
267 g
Carbohydrates
240 g
Disclaimer: These values are estimates based on ingredient types and may not be precise.
Step-by-step Guide
Preparation
- Wash and peel the vegetables. Cut them into small pieces of 2 cm to ensure even cooking.
- Heat a large pot over medium heat with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
- Add the vegetables to the hot pot. Cook them for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until they are tender.
- Add 1 liter of vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
- Adjust the salt and pepper to taste before serving. If desired, add fresh herbs like parsley or basil for a touch of freshness.
Prepare the Enriched Dough
- Separate the egg whites from the yolks of 2 eggs. Reserve the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another.
- In a medium bowl, beat the whole egg together with the yolks, one tablespoon of sugar, and the fresh yeast until you obtain a homogeneous mixture.
- In another large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, except the butter. Add the egg mixture and start kneading lightly until all ingredients are integrated.
- Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and let the dough rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.
- Cut the butter into thin sheets and let it rest at room temperature until it is softened but not melted.
- Lightly oil the marble or work surface with a bit of olive oil. Pour out the dough and spread it out slightly.
- Distribute the butter sheets over the dough and knead for about 5 minutes until the butter is fully integrated and you have a smooth, homogeneous dough.
- Form the dough into a ball and place it in a large bowl lightly greased with olive oil. Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator for a minimum of 18 hours or until the next day, allowing the dough to rise slowly.
Prepare the Pastry Cream
- Dissolve the cornstarch and sifted flour in about 50 ml of cold milk until no lumps remain. Reserve the mixture for later.
- Heat the rest of the milk with the zest of a lemon and a cinnamon stick in a pot over medium heat. When the milk begins to boil, immediately remove from the heat and let it rest until it stops bubbling. Repeat this process two more times to infuse the milk with the flavors.
- Carefully separate the egg yolks from the egg whites, attempting not to break the yolks.
- Beat the yolks together with the sugar in a bowl until the mixture turns pale yellow and achieves a smooth, thick texture.
- Gradually incorporate the cold milk with the cornstarch and sifted flour into the bowl with the yolks and sugar, stirring constantly to achieve a homogeneous mixture.
- Remove the cinnamon stick and lemon peel from the hot milk and slowly pour it over the yolk mixture, stirring continuously to prevent the yolks from coagulating.
- Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan. Cook over very low heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon, monitoring the temperature to keep it always below 82ºC to prevent it from boiling.
- Once the cream has reached the desired consistency, remove from the heat and let it cool at room temperature, stirring occasionally to prevent a crust from forming on the surface.
Prepare the Cake
- Line a 25 cm diameter springform pan with parchment paper and generously grease it with butter to prevent the cake from sticking.
- Peel the apples, remove the core using a suitable tool or a small knife, and slice them into thin rings approximately 3-4 mm thick.
- Separate the apple slices into three equal parts, reserving the most attractive and regular ones for the final layer, as they will be visible.
- Divide the enriched dough into three portions of equal weight, around 150 grams each, to ensure even baking.
- Lightly flour the work surface and roll out each portion of dough with a rolling pin until you achieve a shape and size similar to that of the mold.
- Trim each piece of dough to the exact size of the interior of the mold, ensuring that it fits perfectly.
- Place one piece of dough at the bottom of the mold and evenly spread 1/3 of the pastry cream over it, smoothing it with a spatula.
- Cover the pastry cream with 1/3 of the apple slices, and sprinkle a bit of brown sugar over the top to add sweetness and color.
- Repeat the layers two more times: first with cream, then with apple, and finally with the brown sugar.
- Let it rest in a warm place covered with a light cloth for 90 minutes to gain consistency.
- 30 minutes before baking, ensure that the oven rack is in the middle position and preheat the oven to 200ºC. Place the mold directly on the rack, not on a tray.
- Bake at 200ºC for 10 minutes to start browning the surface.
- Lower the oven temperature to 170ºC and continue baking for another 35 minutes. If you notice the cake is browning too quickly, gently cover it with aluminum foil.
- Allow the cake to cool slightly on a rack and, once warm, carefully unmold it. Serve warm for optimal enjoyment.
Recommendations & Tricks
- Prepare an enriched dough with butter the night before: cream the room temperature butter with the sugar until smooth before incorporating the remaining ingredients.
- Use active and well-fed sourdough starter to ensure the dough rises properly and has good flavor; leave it at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before using it.
- Ensure that the cake flour or pastry flour is well sifted to prevent lumps and achieve a finer texture in the dough.
- Use full-fat cooking cream for a richer and smoother dough; the cream should be at room temperature to facilitate incorporation.
- Make sure the butter is at the consistency of pomade (soft but not melted) to easily mix with the other ingredients in the enriched dough.
- Dissolve the fresh compressed yeast in a bit of warm milk with a teaspoon of sugar for about 10 minutes before adding it to the dough to activate fermentation.
- When making pastry cream, beat the egg yolks until they reach a pale color and thick texture, this will prevent the cream from curdling during cooking.