Paste for Small Gummed Tea-cakes

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Large mixing bowl
• •Sturdy spoon and flexible bowl scraper
• •Rolling pin
• •Parchment paper
• •Two half-sheet pans or four small trays

Instructions

1. 1

   Temper the butter

   Let the butter soften only until a finger leaves a clean indentation. It should bend without looking oily. Line four small trays or two half-sheet pans with parchment, and clear enough refrigerator space to hold the rolled paste. A warm, glossy butter will make the dough smear; if yours has gone that far, chill it for ten minutes before beginning.

2. 2

   Mix butter and sugar

   Work the butter and caster sugar together in a wide bowl with a sturdy spoon until smooth and completely combined, but do not beat them fluffy. Air is useful in a cake and troublesome in a paste meant to hold precise shapes. Scrape the bowl thoroughly so no hard streaks of butter remain.

3. 3

   Add eggs gradually

   Mix the beaten whole egg, yolks, and orange-flower water together. Add this mixture to the butter in four additions, blending each one fully before adding the next. The gradual mixing is part of the source method: too much liquid at once makes the butter separate. If the mixture looks curdled, add one tablespoon of the measured flour and stir gently until it closes again. Ça se rattrape.

4. 4

   Mass the paste

   Draw in the remaining sifted flour in three additions, folding with a flexible scraper rather than beating. Stop when the mixture forms large, moist crumbs. Turn it onto the work surface and press those crumbs together with the scraper and heel of your hand until they become one mass. Do not knead. If loose flour remains, cover the paste for three minutes so the flour can absorb the egg, then press again; adding water would change the book's proportion and toughen the result.

5. 5

   Roll thin twice

   Divide the paste into four equal portions and place each between two sheets of parchment. Roll each portion from the centre outward to an even 5 mm thickness. Peel back and replace the top parchment to release any tension, rotate the sheet a quarter-turn, then make the second rolling pass to about 3 mm. Keep the pressure light and even. If the paste sticks or leaves butter on the paper, chill it flat for ten minutes; if an edge cracks, let it stand for three minutes, press the crack closed, and continue.

6. 6

   Roll and rest

   Using the lower parchment as a guide, roll each sheet loosely from a short edge into a scroll without compressing it. Wrap the scrolls well and refrigerate for at least one hour. This is the source's rest in the cool, translated to the home refrigerator, and it cannot be hurried: the flour hydrates, the butter firms, and the paste relaxes enough to hold a clean cut.

7. 7

   Ready the paste

   Set a chilled scroll on the counter for about five minutes, then unroll it slowly. If it begins to split across the fold, pause for another two minutes rather than forcing it. The paste is now ready to be cut and finished according to the small gummed tea-cake preparation that calls for it. This entry supplies the paste alone; baking and gumming belong to that finished preparation and are not invented here.

Chef Tips

• •Weigh the flour, butter, and sugar if you can. Their near-equal weight is the architecture of this paste, and a tightly packed cup of flour can make it dry before the rolling pin ever reaches it.
• •Orange-flower water should smell floral and faintly bitter, not like sweet orange extract. The two are not interchangeable. Use the measured spoonful and resist adding more, because its perfume strengthens while the paste rests.
• •Roll between parchment instead of dusting the bench with extra flour. Added flour makes each rerolled scrap tougher, while parchment keeps the source ratio intact.
• •Cool and pliable is the correct butter texture. Cold butter leaves lumps that tear the sheet; melted butter makes the paste greasy and destroys its clean edges.

Advance Preparation

• •The wrapped paste can rest in the refrigerator for up to two days. Let each scroll stand at room temperature for five to ten minutes before unrolling, just until it bends without cracking.
• •For longer keeping, freeze the wrapped scrolls for up to one month. Thaw them overnight in the refrigerator, then give them a brief rest on the counter before unrolling.
• •Scraps may be pressed together once, rolled between parchment, and chilled again before cutting. Do not knead them, or the second batch will lose the first batch's tenderness.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 48g)