Download - "Edible Crafts"
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at the table
Edible
CraftsMacarons, MinimaSalads and Artisan Bag
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at the table
acacrons are the chink
in my pastry armor. It's
with resolute convic-tion that I've applied
my palette to the vitals of Paris' arrondisse-
ments, and with invariable consistency I'm
nticed by the pastel charm and signature fla-
vor that is the pistache classic.
Le Macaron on St. Armand's Circle concocts
masterful pistachio macaron, the essence of
which is imported from the Lentre pastry
chool in France. "It's the same recipe and
ngredients that we used in Paris," says chef
Didier Saba. "If you go to the Champs Elysees,
you will find the same thing. Its very expen-
ive, but thats why its good. Saba says he
hips everything in to ensure the ingredient's
onsistency with his expectations.
Didier and his wife Audrey demonstrate
how they assemble the dainty treats. One
batch makes 160 macarons, and the process is
plit up by shell and filling, with the latter com-
ng first since it sits overnight before applica-
ion. The filling is made from Sicilian pista-
hios, almond and pistachio paste imported
m
from France, eggs, butter and a dab of kirsch, a
colorless fruit brandy made from cherries.
These are mixed until heated to roughly 65degrees Celsius, then refrigerated overnight.
The shell is where the expert's touch sepa-
rates consistency and quality from humdrum
efforts. At this stage, the alchemy of the mac-
aron hangs in a subtle balance requiring preci-
sion, and every variable plays a factor. It
depends on the weather outside, on the humid-
ity, if a gust of wind comes through the
kitchen," says Didier. If you keep the macarons
out too long before you put it in the oven, its
not good. Every time, the macarons change.
The nuances in the ingredients can have an
altering effect as well; the shell is simply pre-
pared with white eggs, blanched almond butter
and confectioner sugar, but even the butter,
which is shipped from California, can vary by
season and throw of the intended balance. Hes
a perfectionist," says Audrey. "He has to be very
careful of the products he chooses. Theyre so
delicate and difficult to make." Didier reevalu-
ates his recipe every three months.
The batter for the macaron shells is whirled
by hand onto sheets for the rotating oven,
where baked 25 minutes at 150 degrees. Didier
says his secret is applying a swab of water to
the sheet just under each dollop, so when heat-
ed, humidity is applied to the interior of the
shell. Once out of the oven and briefly cooled,
the filling is sandwiched between shells by
hand, and a new batch is born. "It has to be
first crispy but soft on," says Audrey. "When
you have the softness, you have the filling. Its
a different flavor and texture. Then, you have
the creaminess from the paste, and you have
an explosion of flavor from the macaron."
Minimalist Salads
Over a decade ago, Chef Stefano Sasso of
Cafe Epicure ferried the Italian's insalata, orsalad, philosophy to produce a minimalist
alignment of pairings. A sit down with Sasso
illuminates the greens and why, counter to
popular salad belief, less is more.
The ingredients are the first part of every-
thing you do. When you use good quality food,
you dont have to play too much. Others think
by putting more ingredients, the plate
becomes tastier. Its not that way. If you eat a
good piece of beef or fish, you dont need to
CLOCKWISE: CAFE EPICURES WATERCRESS SALAD.
CHEF STEFANO SASSO. LE MACARONS PISTACHIO
MACARONS. PASTRY CHEF DIDIER SABA.
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I use the Boston lettuce that goes with
tuna salad; you see the flavor isn't
strong. It doesnt influence the other fla
on the salad. Thats why we use the tun
stronger and brings the flavor out."
In the United States, bread and salad
common meal, often with a substantial d
ing, but in Italy, insalata isn't a stand-a
"We eat salads, but we eat salads much
with pastas. They look for a main course
it, and at lunchtime, they dont eat as h
They will eat the carbs early to work iand theyll eat the protein at night. A c
ry glance through Sasso's menu reveals
two to three salads, depending on se
paired with poultry or seafood and al
exclusively with faint dressing of oliv
white balsamic or some kind of vinaig
When you put some heavy dressing in
salad, youre messing up the flavor of
greens. I look for lighter food. Its bas
how we eat in Italy.
AT Treat yourself to your own favorite flavor
acaron at Le Macaron, 382 Saint Armands Cr.,
rasota, 941-552-8872. Enjoy the philosophy behind
e crafted salads at Cafe Epicure, 1298 N. Palm Ave.,
rasota, 941-366-5648. Remember the process of
king the artisan bagels at Jims Small Batch
kery, 2336 Gulf Gate Dr., Sarasota, 941-922-2253.
put too many
things." Sasso buys
his products by cre-
ating relationships
with local farmers
and fish houses; he
can interact with
them, and they
know what he's
looking for to
achieve the desired
taste. "Im interested in keeping things simple,and I dont mix light ingredients. Thats why peo-
ple come back, because the food is not so heavy.
A challenge in Florida is that we don't have
the full four seasons, and the imminent
effect of the weather on the robustness of
ingredients means Sasso had to alter his
approach. Sasso says he tries to stay in the
same parameter that he learned back in Italy,
however the flavor potency is lighter there.
Every lettuce has a different flavor. Lets say
Try it
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Artisan Bagelames Plocharsky, owner of Jim's Small Batch
akery in Gulf Gate, is an artisan breadmaker,
nd on Saturdays, he rolls out a fresh batch of
ourdough bagels made to order by the dozen.
The way he learned to make bread at
ohnson and Wales in the mid 80s is not the
way bread is being made now, he says. "They
were adding sugar, oil or butter to the dough
o enrich it. Nowadays with the modern arti-
an methods, they evoke much of the flavor so
hat you dont have to add sugar or fat." The
agels begin in a five-gallon bucket with a
ourdough mother starter that has to be fedvery three days. "You either feed it or throw
t away. Thats the minimum time cycle the
east needs to replicate and grow. If it doesn't
et a refreshment of nutrients in the flour, it
ills itself by becoming too acidic." The com-
osite encourages good bacteria, and the yeast
xpels waste that is flavor.
We are preparing a batch and half that
makes 60 bagels, and ironically, the American
locharsky uses a hodgepodge measuring
approach that's majority metric. He's ready-
ing the allotted ingredients, first the wet then
the dry in the industrial mixer: 1.5 kilos of
water, 2 percent of the dough weight in olive
oil, three kilos of flower, instant yeast and a
pour of non-diastatic malted barley syrup for
flavor. He turns on the mixer and explains the
protein levels of flour, and that his mentor
felt unbleached bread flower at 11 percent
gluten made better bread than high-gluten
flower. After the gluten has developed and
the flour is hydrated, he pours 84 grams of
salt because it works against the flourishing
of the protein. The dough is finished mixing
when it passes the "window pane test:" it's
translucent when stretched.
Plocharsky rolls the dough into 60 four-
ounce bulbs and incorporates my help to
round the dough into balls that are smooth.
We first work Mr. Miyagi-style with wax-on
wax-off movements, and he shows me how to
pull the dough for it to stick to the table and
remain tight. As we're stretching the dough
and placing it in pans, I can feel the yeast get-
ting lighter. "This working is activating the
at the table
gluten, making it stretchy. In 20 minutes
relaxes and thats when we put the hole in.
When the doughy bagels float in cold wa
they're ready to sit in the refrigerator overni
where the yeast becomes dormant. Long, c
slow fermentation is one of the secrets to a
san bread. That allows sourdough variation
develop better tasting profile, because the b
teria prefers that environment."
The next day, while the oven is heating to
degrees, a pot of water with food-grade ly
boiled stovetop, and the bagels are poached
45 seconds on each side. "The acid reacts w
the starches in the dough and gelatinizes in
oven to create a shiny surface and crisp
crust." Plocharsky tops his bagels with
desired ingredients before baking them six a
time for 8 to 10 minutes. Being a living th
when the dough is ready to bake, you have
bake it or you lose it." He wants the bread to
75 percent before it hits the oven where he w
account for oven spring and fill out to its fi
form. They're swooped out piping hot when
ished, separated from the baking sheet by ha
and served to customers fresh.
JAMES JIM PLOCHARSKY. SMOKED SALMON AND CREAM CHEESE BAGEL AT JIMS SMALL BATCH BAKERY.