Paris-Brest by Cyril Lignac:a generous and delicious recipe to delight all gourmets!

The Paris-Brest is one of the great classics of French pastry ! With its crown-shaped choux pastry, its praline mousseline cream and its slivered almonds, a single bite is enough for gourmets to be totally won over. Originally this dessert was created by Louis Durand in 1910, a young pastry chef from Maisons-Laffitte, to celebrate the famous Paris-Brest-Paris cycling race, organized by Pierre Giffard from Petit Journal . Its round shape refers to a bicycle wheel. Since then, this delicacy has become essential, so much so that today there are various variations .

Cyril Lignac's secrets for successful choux pastry the first time around

Making a Paris-Brest requires a bit of technique, especially for the choux pastry . Fortunately, chef Cyril Lignac has his tips and willingly shares them every Wednesday at the microphone of RTL . For him, a choux pastry is successful if it is soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside and if it is well pushed. In practice, this magic trick works through some crucial steps. The first is to take care to dry out the dough . Clearly we work it to evaporate all the moisture and make it ultra soft. Then you have to add the right amount of beaten eggs little by little to the preparation so that it has the right texture. Finally, the chef's final touch:place a cracker on each cabbage to make it delicious.

Ingredients to make Cyril Lignac's Paris-Brest

To make Cyril Lignac's Paris-Brest cracker you need:71 g unsalted butter, 90 g wheat flour, 90 g caster sugar and 17 g praline.

Ingredients for the choux pastry :3 eggs, 87 g unsalted butter, 69 g wheat flour, 60 g whole milk, 6 cl mineral water, 2.5 g caster sugar and 2.5 g fine salt.

For the praline mousseline cream you will need:3 egg yolks, 250 g whole milk, 50 g full cream, 65 g unsalted butter, 37 g caster sugar, 37 g cornstarch and 72 g praline.

Ingredients for the praline feuilletine :55 g of all-butter lace crepe flakes, 11 g of butter, 60 g of milk chocolate and 112 g of praline.

For dressage you will need:12 whole roasted hazelnuts, 25 g of praline and 50 g of icing sugar.

The preparation steps to make Cyril Lignac's Paris-Brest recipe

Preparing the cracker:

1. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients and form a ball, before spreading it thinly between two sheets of baking paper.
2. Place the mixture on a baking sheet. Remove one of the two leaves and form small circles using a cookie cutter 2.5 cm in diameter. Reserve in the freezer.

Preparing the choux pastry:

1. In a saucepan, pour the milk, water, sugar, salt and butter cut into small cubes. Let everything melt, remove the pan from the heat and add the flour. Mix vigorously for several minutes then dry the paste.
2. In a bowl transfer the dough and gradually add the beaten eggs. Mix until smooth then pour the mixture into a piping bag with a plain nozzle.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
4. Place a sheet of baking paper on a baking sheet and pipe the choux in staggered rows. Place a cracker on top and bake the cabbage for 12 minutes. Once cooked, let them cool.

The preparation for the praline mousseline cream:

1. In a bowl, mix the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch. Reserve.
2. In a saucepan, boil the milk and cream then pour the mixture into the other mixture. Stir and pour everything back into the pan. Bring to the boil before letting the cream cool down to add the praline.
3. Put the preparation in a mixer bowl, add the cubed butter. Whisk then pour the mixture into a piping bag. Refrigerate.

Preparing the praline feuilletine:

1. In a saucepan, melt the milk chocolate and butter.
2. Add the broken crêpes Dentelles and the praline, then mix.
3. On a plate covered with cling film, pour the mixture to a thickness of 3 mm.
4. Place the sheet in the freezer for 20 minutes, before cutting into small 10 x 1 cm sticks. Store in the freezer and take them out 10 minutes before assembling.

Dressing:

1. Cut out the caps of the choux and add the praline mousseline cream using the piping bag.
2. Add a hazelnut to each puff, a stick of praline feuilletine in the middle, then place two puffs on each side.
3. Poach a small dab of praline again and close the choux with their caps. Sprinkle with icing sugar. Enjoy!

Also read:

Cyril Lignac's rice pudding:his ultra creamy recipe with a sensational taste ("It literally melts in your mouth!")

Cyril Lignac's chocolate tart:an easy-to-make and truly delicious recipe ("Le gourmand-croquant à son paroxysme"!)

Cyril Lignac's lemon tart:his "ultra-easy" and absolutely delicious recipe ("It's so soft and moist!")