“Pain Perdu has a perfectly crispy outside with a fluffy custardy inside, and pears and sunchokes are the perfect complement to this delectable fall dish. Sunchokes have a lovely earthy flavour that can be changed significantly from raw to roasted. They also have a lovely savoury note to contrast with the sweetness of this dessert. Additionally, pears are a great canvas for other flavours as they easily absorb spices, alcohols, sugars and whatever else you want to incorporate into the dish. A perfectly poached pear has an amazing, melt-in-your-mouth texture.” –Chef Tracie Zahavich of Fox and Monocle in Sidney
Instructions
Ingredients for Brioche
⅝ cup sugar
10½ cups flour
2 Tbsp & 1tsp salt
2½ cups milk
6 Tbsp fresh yeast
4 Eggs
1¾ cups butter, room temperature
hotel pan (a deep pan)
Method for Brioche
Warm the milk and place in a mixing bowl with yeast and eggs. Then add the dry ingredients on top. Mix until just combined, then add the butter in small chunks. Mix for ten minutes, then round out the dough and proof until it doubles in size.
Deflate the dough and shape it into one large loaf. Proof until the dough slowly rises back when poked, then bake at 375ºF for 12 minutes. Turn the oven down to 350ºF, rotate the loaf, and cook until the internal temperature reaches 85ºF.
Ingredients for Poaching Liquid
4 cups water
2½ cups sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1 cinnamon stick
2 Tbsp vanilla
2 pears
Method for Poaching Liquid
Place all ingredients in a pot and bring it to a boil.
Peel, half and core pears, then poach pears for 15–20 minutes until pears are translucent but still have texture (not mushy). Then remove them from the liquid and let them drain. Once cooled, cut into wedges.
The poaching liquid can be reused three times.
Ingredients for Pain Perdu
3 cinnamon sticks
6½ Tbsp vanilla
2 cups sugar
4 cups water
3 lemons, peeled and juiced
⅔ cup maple syrup
loaf of brioche bread
Method for Pain Perdu
Place all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Remove the crust from the loaf of bread and cut into slices 1 inch thick x 2 inches wide x 4 inches high. Allow bread to dry out for about 30 minutes.
Dip one side of the brioche into syrup and then rest on the non-dipped side. Once you’ve dipped 4 slices, place butter into a non-stick pan, then place the non-dipped side of bread into the pan first. Allow it to caramelize and become golden, then flip. Try to sear off all sides of the bread.
Allow slices to cool on a sheet tray, then transfer to a container and store in the fridge
Ingredients for Sunchoke Velouté
2 cups milk
1 cup (approx. 6 pieces) sunchokes, roasted and skinned
1 Tbsp soya lecithin
Method for Sunchoke Velouté:
Place milk and sunchokes into a pot. Bring to a boil, then immediately place in a blender with soya lecithin and blend for 30 seconds to a minute.
Ingredients for Sunchoke Custard
1 cup (approx. 6 pieces) sunchokes, roasted and skinned
¾ cup milk
¼ cup sugar
2 yolks
½ egg
2 Tbsp cornstarch
¼ cup butter
Method for Sunchoke Custard
Place sunchokes in a pot with milk and bring to a boil. In another bowl, whisk sugar, eggs, yolks and cornstarch together. Then very slowly pour the milk and sunchokes into the bowl mixture while stirring constantly.
Pour the new mixture back into the pot and bring it to a boil. Whisk while boiling until starch has cooked out (at least 30 seconds). Then place in a food processor with butter and blend with salt to taste. Allow it to set and place into a piping bag.
Procedure
Place the pain perdu on the plate, and top with custard and poached pears. Pour the sunchoke velouté on the dish, and enjoy!
