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French Savarins
1 cake yeast 1/2 cup milk, scalded and cooled 2 tablespoons sugar 2 cups sifted flour 3/4 cup almonds, blanched and shredded 1/2 cup shortening, melted 4 eggs 1/4 teaspoon salt Dissolve yeast and sugar in lukewarm milk. Add 1/2 cup flour. Beat well. Cover and set aside in warm place, free from draught, for 15 minutes. Then add rest of flour, almonds, shortening, eggs unbeaten, one at a time, and the salt. Beat ten minutes. Pour into small well-buttered molds, cover and set aside to rise in warm place free from draught, until double in bulk, about 45 minutes. Bake 15 minutes in moderate oven. Fill center with whipped cream and serve with a hot fruit sauce. Makes 12.
A rich yeast-raised batter rather than a dough, closer to brioche than to bread. The batter is deliberately slack, and the long beating is what gives it structure.
- YeastOne cake of compressed yeast is usually reckoned equal to about 2 1/4 teaspoons of active dry or instant yeast, one standard envelope. Scalded milk must be cooled to lukewarm -- around 95-100F for cake yeast -- before the yeast goes in.
- OvenA moderate oven is generally taken as 350-375F. Small molds bake through in the stated 15 minutes; test with a skewer, as the high egg and fat content keeps the crumb moist and the surface browns before the center sets.
- Beat the ten minutesThis is the hinge. The batter is too wet to knead, so all gluten development comes from beating. A stand mixer with the paddle on medium handles it; by hand it is genuinely ten minutes of hard work, and cutting it short gives a dense, greasy crumb.
- The moldsSavarins are traditionally baked in small ring molds so the hollow center can be filled. Individual fluted brioche tins or a muffin pan will work, but you will have to hollow out the tops after baking to hold the cream. Butter generously and get into every crease.
- ShorteningMelted shortening here means any solid fat; melted butter is the classic choice for a savarin and tastes better. Let it cool to barely warm so it does not scramble the eggs or kill the yeast.
- Eggs unbeaten, one at a timeAdding whole eggs singly and beating between each keeps the batter from breaking. Room-temperature eggs incorporate far more easily than cold ones.
- The missing syrupMost savarin recipes soak the baked cakes in rum or kirsch syrup while still warm. This version goes straight to whipped cream and hot fruit sauce, so the cakes stay dry and bready by comparison. A light brushing of warm sugar syrup improves them considerably if you want the classic effect.
- Yield and servingTwelve small cakes, best the day they are made. Fill only just before serving, or the cream weeps into the crumb.