Timbale à la Favart

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •18 cm (7-inch), 1.5 litre deep fluted brioche or charlotte mould
• •Stand mixer with dough hook, or a broad unfloured work surface
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Food processor or stick blender
• •Wire cooling rack
• •Serrated bread knife
• •Pastry brush

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the brioche

   Combine the bread flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the eggs and lukewarm milk, then mix with the dough hook on low speed until no dry flour remains. Knead at medium-low speed for 8 minutes, scraping the bowl once or twice, until the dough becomes elastic and begins pulling cleanly from the sides. It will remain sticky. Don't bury it under extra flour, because that gives the timbale a dry, heavy shell.

   No mixer is required, but the dough demands patience by hand. Slap and fold it on an unfloured work surface until it becomes elastic before adding the butter.
2. 2

   Work in butter

   Add the softened butter one tablespoon at a time, kneading until each addition disappears before adding the next. Continue kneading for 10 to 12 minutes, until the dough is glossy, supple, and thin enough to stretch into a translucent sheet without tearing. If it becomes greasy and slides around the bowl, the butter has grown too warm. Stop and chill the bowl for 10 minutes, then continue. Ça se rattrape. The finished dough should cling to itself, not leave a slick of butter behind.

3. 3

   Rise and chill

   Gather the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly buttered bowl. Cover and leave it at comfortable room temperature for 1 to 1½ hours, until visibly swollen but not necessarily doubled. Press out the accumulated gas, cover again, and chill for 1 hour. Chilling makes this butter-rich dough firm enough to shape and gives the baked shell a close, even crumb that can be hollowed without tearing.

4. 4

   Vanilla the chestnuts

   While the dough chills, combine the sugar, water, vanilla bean, and its scraped seeds in a wide saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer and stir only until the sugar dissolves. Slide in the chestnuts, keeping the intact ones in a single layer, and simmer at the barest tremble for 5 minutes. Cover, remove from the heat, and leave them in the syrup for 30 minutes. Lift out the intact chestnuts with a slotted spoon. Any that break have volunteered for the purée, which is precisely how the original kitchen used its chestnut remains.

5. 5

   Mould and proof

   Butter an 18 cm, 1.5 litre deep fluted brioche or charlotte mould generously, then dust it with the measured flour and knock out the excess. Shape the cold dough into a taut ball, set it seam-side down in the mould, and cover loosely. Leave it to proof for 1½ to 2 hours, until light, tremulous, and within about 2 cm of the rim. If a fingertip pressed gently into the surface springs back slowly and leaves a shallow mark, it is ready. A mark that vanishes immediately means it needs longer.

6. 6

   Bake the shell

   Heat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Bake the brioche for 35 to 40 minutes, turning the mould once for even colour, until the crust is deep butter-gold and the centre reaches 88 to 90°C (190 to 194°F). If the top darkens before the centre is ready, cover it loosely with foil. Rest the brioche in its mould for 10 minutes, turn it onto a rack, and cool completely for at least 1 hour. Hollowing warm brioche compresses the crumb into paste, so let it become entirely calm first.

7. 7

   Drain the fruit

   Set the pear halves, apricot halves, and whole cherries on a rack over a tray for at least 45 minutes. Blot their undersides gently with a clean towel, keeping every piece whole or halved. Do not dice them. Their recognizable shape is the point of the Favart garnish, and proper draining keeps their packing syrup from loosening the chestnut binding.

8. 8

   Build the binding

   Purée 150 g of the broken vanilla chestnuts with 3 to 5 tablespoons of their syrup, using only enough to make a perfectly smooth, thick purée measuring about ¾ cup. In a clean saucepan, combine the apricot preserves with the reserved fruit syrup and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes, until glossy and heavy enough to coat a spoon. Pass it through a fine sieve, reserve 3 tablespoons of the clear apricot syrup for glazing the shell, and let the remainder cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the kirsch, then fold in the chestnut purée. The binding should fall from the spoon in a broad ribbon. If it is stiff, loosen it with vanilla syrup one spoonful at a time; if it is loose, return it to gentle heat and reduce it before any fruit goes in.

9. 9

   Hollow and finish

   Trim the base of the cooled brioche only if it rocks. Cut a lid about 2 cm thick from the top with a serrated knife, then pull out the inner crumb with your fingers, leaving walls and a base about 1½ cm thick. Work slowly around the flutes. If you make a small hole, press in a piece of reserved crumb brushed with apricot syrup; once glazed, the patch will hold. Brush the exterior lightly with the reserved clear apricot syrup and set the shell on its serving platter. Keep the lid beside it.

10. 10

    Bind and fill

    Just before serving, fold the drained pear halves, apricot halves, whole cherries, and intact vanilla chestnuts through the apricot-chestnut binding with a broad spoon. Turn the pieces rather than stirring them, so they remain themselves. If syrup collects at the bottom, lift out the fruit and reduce the binding alone for a minute, then cool it briefly and reunite them. Tip the glossy garnish gently into the brioche shell, set the lid at a jaunty angle, and bring it straight to the table. Cut the shell into wedges and spoon fruit beside each one. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Good fruit packed in light syrup is the correct home larder for this timbale, especially when fresh pears and apricots are not at their best. Choose firm, intact halves and drain them with real attention; tired fresh fruit collapses where preserved fruit keeps its shape.
• •Buy more whole cooked chestnuts than the garnish strictly needs, because some will break. Select the handsome pieces for the filling and send every broken one into the purée. Nothing is wasted, and the two textures taste of the same vanilla syrup.
• •Use dry kirsch, the clear cherry eau-de-vie, not a sweet red cherry liqueur. Kirsch should sharpen the apricot and chestnut, not turn the binding into confectionery syrup.
• •Serve a demi-sec Champagne or a gently sweet Chenin Blanc. The acidity and bubbles clear the richness of brioche and chestnut without competing with the kirsch.

Advance Preparation

• •Bake the brioche shell one day ahead, cool it completely, and keep it uncut and well wrapped at room temperature. Do not refrigerate it, because cold stales brioche quickly.
• •The vanilla chestnuts and apricot-chestnut binding may be prepared up to two days ahead and chilled separately in covered containers. Bring the binding to room temperature before judging its consistency.
• •Drain the fruit several hours ahead and refrigerate it on its rack. Hollow and glaze the brioche earlier on the day of service, but don't combine the garnish or fill the shell until the table is ready.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 260g)