Chef Juliette
Various Almond Preparations
Five almond preparations, one discipline: remove the skins cleanly, dry every kernel through, then cut, toast, or cloak it in pale caramel without letting its fragrant oils escape.
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Savarin Paste
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2371, Savarin Paste, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Pâte à savarin turns flour, eggs, yeast, and generous butter into a fine, springy honeycomb, with sugar held until the paste is elastic and the mould filled only one-third high.
Desserts
French
Dinner Party
Celebration
Make Ahead
30 min
Active Time
25 min cook•2 hr 45 min total
YieldOne 8-inch (20 cm) savarin, 6 servings
Pâte à savarin (savarin paste) teaches that enriched yeast dough is built in an order, not thrown together. The one true thing is simple: sugar goes in last. Eggs and butter already ask the gluten to work hard; sugar added early slackens it before elasticity has formed, while sugar added after the paste gathers into one glossy mass sweetens without stealing the structure.
The original formula assumed a round wooden bowl, strong hands, a pound of flour, and enough moulds to keep a pastry bench busy. This version quarters the batch exactly for one 8-inch ring and uses a stand mixer in place of the long hand-beating. Those changes remove brigade volume and labor, which are scaffolding; the first rise under pieces of softened butter, the salt after that rise, the brisk work to elasticity, and the final addition of sugar stay because they are the dish. One cook, one stove, one evening.
The baked savarin should be butter-gold with a fine, springy honeycomb, sturdy enough to receive syrup without collapsing. The moment that matters comes after the first rise: work the butter into the paste until it can be taken up as one elastic lump, then and only then add the sugar.
Pâte à savarin belongs to Parisian pâtisserie, where the baba family was refined into a smooth ring cake named for the gastronome Brillat-Savarin. Unlike a baba, which may carry raisins and appear in individual moulds, a savarin is classically plain and annular, its open crumb and central hole helping syrup reach it evenly. The preparation passed readily from the pastry kitchen to the bourgeois home because the ring mould did the shaping and the baked cake could wait dry until it was time to finish it.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
unbleached bread flour
Quantity
¾ cup plus 3 tablespoons (225 ml / 113 g)
sifted after measuring
fresh compressed yeast, or instant yeast
Quantity
⅛ ounce (3.5 g) fresh, or ⅜ teaspoon (2 ml / 1.2 g) instant
whole milk
Quantity
3 tablespoons plus ½ teaspoon (48 ml / 49 g)
tepid
large eggs
Quantity
2 (about 100 g without shells)
at room temperature
unsalted butter
Quantity
6 tablespoons (90 ml / 85 g)
very soft but not melted
fine sea salt
Quantity
scant ⅝ teaspoon (3 ml / 3.5 g)
granulated sugar
Quantity
1¾ teaspoons (9 ml / 7 g)
unsalted butter for the mould
Quantity
2 teaspoons (10 ml / 9 g)
softened
sliced almonds (optional)
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 18 g)
lightly toasted and chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| unbleached bread floursifted after measuring | ¾ cup plus 3 tablespoons (225 ml / 113 g) |
| fresh compressed yeast, or instant yeast | ⅛ ounce (3.5 g) fresh, or ⅜ teaspoon (2 ml / 1.2 g) instant |
| whole milktepid | 3 tablespoons plus ½ teaspoon (48 ml / 49 g) |
| large eggsat room temperature | 2 (about 100 g without shells) |
| unsalted buttervery soft but not melted | 6 tablespoons (90 ml / 85 g) |
| fine sea salt | scant ⅝ teaspoon (3 ml / 3.5 g) |
| granulated sugar | 1¾ teaspoons (9 ml / 7 g) |
| unsalted butter for the mouldsoftened | 2 teaspoons (10 ml / 9 g) |
| sliced almonds (optional)lightly toasted and chopped | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 18 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •8-inch (20 cm) savarin ring mould, about 4-cup (950 ml) capacity
- •Stand mixer with paddle attachment and its smallest bowl, or a 2-quart (2 L) round mixing bowl
- •Flexible bowl scraper
- •Digital scale accurate to 0.1 gram
Instructions
- 1
Temper the ingredients
Bring the eggs to room temperature and soften the butter until it yields completely beneath a finger but remains opaque, never oily. Warm the milk to 86 to 90°F (30 to 32°C), then reserve 1 teaspoon. Crumble the fresh yeast, or sprinkle the instant yeast, into the remaining milk and stir until evenly dispersed. Tepid means gentle warmth; hot milk weakens the yeast before the work has begun.
- 2
Mix the first paste
Sift the flour into the mixer bowl and hollow out the centre. Pour in the yeast mixture, add the eggs, and stir lightly with a fingertip to draw in some flour. Fit the paddle and mix on low speed for 2 minutes, then on medium speed for 4 to 5 minutes, stopping twice to scrape every adhering piece back into the whole. Add the reserved milk a few drops at a time only if dry flour remains or the paste is too stiff to fall from the paddle in thick strands. It should be very sticky, never firm enough to knead like bread.
- 3
Lay on butter
Distribute the soft butter over the paste in small pieces, covering the surface as evenly as possible. Do not work it in yet. Cover the bowl and leave it in a temperate place, about 75 to 78°F (24 to 26°C), until the paste beneath the butter has doubled, 45 to 75 minutes. The butter should remain soft and visible. If it melts into clear pools, move the bowl somewhere cooler and chill it for 5 to 10 minutes before continuing.
- 4
Build the elasticity
Scatter the salt over the risen paste. Beat on low speed until the butter begins to enter the dough, then increase to medium and work it briskly for 7 to 10 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed. It will first look greasy and broken. (It is exactly right.) Continue until the butter is fully absorbed and the paste becomes smooth, glossy, and elastic enough to gather around the paddle in one soft lump. If the butter remains oily after several minutes, stop and chill the bowl for 10 minutes, then resume beating. Ça se rattrape. Do not add flour, which would change the formula instead of repairing it.
The paste is ready when a lifted portion stretches into a thin, translucent sheet before tearing. That elasticity is what holds the fermentation and gives the baked savarin its fine honeycomb. - 5
Add sugar last
Sprinkle in the sugar only after the paste has gained its full elasticity. Beat on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until the grains disappear and the paste again falls from the paddle as one coherent, glossy mass. The sugar will loosen it briefly because sugar slackens gluten. Keep working and it will recover; if it turns greasy as well as loose, the bowl has grown warm, so chill it for 5 to 10 minutes and finish the mixing without adding flour.
- 6
Fill and proof
Butter every ridge of an 8-inch (20 cm) savarin mould. If the ring will later receive syrup, scatter the lightly toasted almonds through the mould so they cling in a thin, irregular layer. Transfer the paste with a buttered scraper and arrange it as an even rope, filling the mould to no more than one-third of its height. Cover lightly and proof in the same temperate place until it reaches about two-thirds of the mould and feels pillowy, 35 to 55 minutes. The rise takes the remaining space, so don't steal it by overfilling. After the first 20 minutes, heat the oven to 375°F (190°C), or 350°F (180°C) with convection.
- 7
Bake to deep gold
Bake on the centre rack for 22 to 28 minutes. The savarin should rise near the rim, turn a full butter-gold with darker ridges, spring back beneath a light touch, and pull slightly from the mould; its centre should reach about 195°F (90°C). If the surface colours before the centre is set, cover it loosely with foil. Don't underbake it. A pale, damp crumb collapses or turns gummy when it later meets syrup.
- 8
Unmould and cool
Rest the savarin in its mould for 5 minutes, then invert it onto a wire rack. If it resists, return it upright for 2 minutes and loosen the edges gently with a thin flexible spatula; forcing the ring while hot can tear it. Cool completely before soaking, filling, or keeping it dry. Wrap it only when cold. The pâte à savarin is now ready for its finished use. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Use a scale if you have one. This quarter-batch preserves the source formula exactly, and tiny amounts such as 3.5 grams of yeast and salt are more dependable by weight than by spoon.
- •Fresh compressed yeast is the form assumed by the source. The smaller quantity of instant yeast is its equivalent by fermenting strength, not an equal-weight substitution.
- •Strong bread flour is the honest home equivalent for the flour an elastic savarin assumes. All-purpose flour can work, but hold back the final teaspoon of milk and expect the paste to need longer beating.
- •The small amount of sugar is deliberate. This entry makes the absorbent yeast paste, while the finished savarin receives most of its sweetness later; increasing the sugar here weakens the structure the formula works so carefully to build.
- •A broad bowl and sturdy scraper can replace the mixer. After the first rise, lift, slap, and fold the paste briskly until it clears the bowl in one elastic mass; expect 12 to 15 minutes of honest work.
Advance Preparation
- •Bake the savarin up to 1 day ahead. Cool it completely and keep it loosely covered at room temperature; a slightly dry crumb receives syrup more evenly than a cake still tender from the oven.
- •The unsoaked baked ring can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw it unwrapped on a wire rack before finishing so surface moisture can escape.
- •The raw paste is best mixed, proofed, and baked in one session. For a dinner party, make the baked ring ahead rather than interrupting the formula with an overnight raw-dough rest.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 57g)
Calories
230 calories
Total Fat
16 g
Saturated Fat
9 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
7 g
Cholesterol
95 mg
Sodium
260 mg
Total Carbohydrates
16 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
6 g
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