The brief vacation is often best, and Jory Downer’s will be brief indeed: 8 hours, during which he will produce 90 precisely calibrated pastries and help construct 160 minuscule salted rolls and cocktail sandwiches.
It’s a full, if not to say frantic, schedule, and Downer has been planning his itinerary for some time-just over a year. He and his traveling companions, William Leaman of Seattle and Jeffrey Yankellow of San Francisco, approach their excursion with seriousness befitting the Bread Bakers Guild Team USA 2005.
Dressed in NASCAR-style uniforms, under the supervision of coach and manager and French tutor, the bakers have been training to perfect their product and improve the choreography that allows the three to share a cramped kitchen without anyone getting smacked by that longest and hardest of baking implements, the wooden peel.
Today, in Paris, they bake for the greater glory of the United States at the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie, loosely translated as the Olympics of Baking or, appropriately, the World Baking Cup.
Downer, co-owner of Bennison’s Bakery in Evanston, is charged with viennoiserie, yeast pastry. Yankellow handles bread; Leaman commands artistic design, including the sculptural, edible, if not necessarily palatable, “your country’s emblem through bread.”
Long hours, searing critiques and demanding coaching have honed Downer’s five heretofore top-secret entries. Each speaks classic French, with an American accent: dulche de leche danish with fresh mango and papaya, lemon and pinenut croissant-dough tart, cranberry-filled pastry leaf, and two versions of buttery brioche, one dressed up in chocolate praline, the other dressed down in strawberry/rhubarb jam.What is the point of brioche, asks Downer, a cupcake man himself, if not sticky filling?
During the competition, a sumptuous spread of savories will be available to maintain the crew. Though no one who hopes to finish with seconds to spare would consider a pause.
Afterward, there will be time to feast. And, perhaps, to savor the taste of victory.
COMPETITIVE BRIOCHE
Makes 24 2 1/2-inch brioches
1/2 cup whole milk
2 packages active dry yeast
4 eggs at room temperature
3 1/3 cups bread flour
14 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, plus about 2 tablespoons to butter brioche molds
1 teaspoon granular sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup strawberry or strawberry-rhubarb jam
Confectioners’ sugar
Streusel:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons granular sugar
Pinch of salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1. Proof: Heat milk until just warm to the touch. Pour over yeast in a medium bowl. Let stand 5 minutes.
2. Knead: Mix in eggs, then flour. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until very, very smooth, about 10 minutes. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest 15 minutes.
3. Enrich: Work butter into dough in 4 additions. This is a sticky job, but impressive in its buttery excess. Once the dough is smooth and soft, but not overly sticky, work in granular sugar and salt.
4. Rest: Transfer dough to a clean bowl and cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Let rest for 40 minutes at room temperature. Punch down, shape into a large loaf and transfer to a glass baking dish. Cover the dish with plastic wrap. Chill until firm, about 1 hour.
5. Toss: To make streusel, mix flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Melt the butter and drizzle it in, tossing first with a fork and then with your fingers. Mixture should be crumbly.
6. Roll: Turn the cold dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll with a rolling pin to 1U4-inch thick. Cut out 24 circles with a 3-inch cookie cutter. Settle the rounds into buttered brioche molds, pressing against the bottom and sides to release any air pockets. Classic molds offer fluted edges and good lift. But a muffin tin will do in a pinch.
7. Fill: Fill each brioche with 1 heaping teaspoon strawberry or strawberry-rhubarb jam. Top with about 1 tablespoon streusel. Let rest at room temperature until brioche start to rise, about 15 minutes.
8. Bake: Slide into a 350-degree oven and bake until the exposed edges have turned golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on a rack 15 minutes. Dust lightly with confectioners’ sugar. Indulge, with coffee.
-Adapted from Jory Downer
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leskin@tribune.com
