Hazelnut Gâteau Breton Recipes

GATEAU BRETON

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9-inch springform pan.
• Mix 1 teaspoon egg yolk and water in a small bowl. Set aside for glazing the cake.
• Combine remaining egg yolks, flour, butter, sugar, and cornstarch in a large bowl. Mix with an electric mixer until dough is stiff and sticky, similar to cookie dough. Knead dough a little bit to bring it together.
• Press dough into the prepared pan with your hands. Brush glaze on top.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking until golden brown, about 25 minutes more. Cool for 10 minutes. Slice cake crosswise.

GâTEAU BRETON

Steps:

• In a small pot over medium-high heat, combine prunes, rum and 2 tablespoons water. (Use 1 cup/240 milliliters water if using dried apricots.) Cook until most of the liquid has been absorbed (about 5 minutes for prunes, 10 to 15 for apricots). Use a fork to mash into a thick purée. Cover and chill.
• In a food processor, pulse to combine flour, sugar and salt. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add 5 egg yolks and pulse until mixture comes together as a dough. Divide in half, form into disks, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill at least 2 hours or until firm.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line an 8-inch round cake pan with parchment paper. Between two sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap, roll one of the dough halves into an 8-inch circle. Transfer dough to prepared cake pan, pressing into edges. Spread prune or apricot purée across dough, leaving 3/4 inch border around outside edge. Roll second piece of dough into an 8-inch circle, transfer to cake pan, press around outside edge to stick the pieces together and seal in fruit purée.
• In a small bowl, combine remaining egg yolk with 1 teaspoon water and beat lightly. Brush over top of cake, then use a fork to score a crisscross pattern into the dough. Bake until golden brown, about 50 minutes (cover with foil if cake is browning too quickly). Cool in pan 15 minutes. Flip onto a plate, then invert onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

HAZELNUT GâTEAU BRETON (BRITTANY FRANCE)

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 325 degrees, and butter a 9-inch springform pan.
• Mix the sugar with the vanilla extract to make vanilla sugar. Make sure to break apart any lumps that form.
• Now mix 2 tbsp of the vanilla sugar with the hazelnuts. Add them to a food processor or grinder and blend until the nuts form a fine powder.
• Mix the 6 egg yolks with the rest of the vanilla sugar and whisk for 2 minutes. Then add the hazelnut mixture, then gradually add the melted butter. Keep whisking.
• Now sift the flour over the batter and stir gently until just blended. Don't overmix; this is a thick batter and you don't want it to turn out rock hard.
• Put the batter in the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Brush the egg glaze over the top, then draw some cross hatches with a fork.
• Bake at 325 for about an hour, or until the cake is golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes, then loosen the springform pan and allow to cool completely. Serve with whole strawberries.

GATEAU BRETON

Steps:

• Place the flour on the counter and make a well. Cut up the butter and place the sifted sugars, butter, yolks, rum, and vanilla powder in the well. Work the well together.
• Work in the flour then "fraisage" the dough, pushing it away from you on the counter with the heel of your hand. This helps schmear the butter into thin layers to make the cake flakey in the end. Chill the dough 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 360 degrees F.
• Butter an 8-inch cake pan and line the bottom with parchment and butter the paper. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to an 8-inch disk about 1/2-inch thick. Flip it over onto your hand and brush off the excess flour then place it in the pan. Brush the top with egg wash; then egg wash it again to get a thicker coating. Using a knife, decorate it with the traditional cross-hatching, or for restaurant presentation you carve a map of Brittany on the surface and do some angled lines all around the edge. Bake until golden brown, about 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool in the pan and serve in wedges.
• I kept this recipe in the original metric measurements I was taught it in to show the relationship between the ingredients. Quatre-Quarts (meaning "four quarters") is a French cake shaped like a rectangle and all the ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, and eggs-oooo that would make a good book title, don't you think?) are of equal weights. My teacher, Chef Claude at La Varenne said you weigh the eggs and then match that measurement with the other ingredients.
• If you look this up in the dictionary, Quarte-quarts translates to pound cake, the American version of a pound of 4 equal ingredients, but with air whipped in for leavening. This cake is dense and buttery with a big crumb, more like a shortbread than a cake.
• You can do the mixing in a food processor but this recipe is the traditional way.

GATEAU BRETON

Steps:

• Oven@ 375 Mix the egg white and the 1 tablespoon of water together and then set aside.
• Mix the rest of the ingredients with a hand or stand mixer until creamy.
• Gently pat the dough mixture into a greased 10-inch springform pan.
• Brush the cake with the egg white/water mixture.
• Bake for 15 minutes and then turn the oven temperature down to 350 and bake for an additional 25 minutes.
• Cool before unmolding.
• Cut into wedges or diamond shapes and enjoy!
• Good as is or with some lemon or lime curd!

GâTEAU BRETON

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 1 1/2-high sides; dust with flour. Grind nuts finely in processor. Sift flour, cornstarch, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into medium bowl. Add 1/3 cup ground nuts; reserve remainder for garnish.
• Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Set aside 1 teaspoon yolks for glaze; gradually add remainder to butter mixture, beating until fluffy. Mix in peel and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix until jut blended. Transfer to pan, smoothing top.
• Mix milk into reserved 1 teaspoon yolk. Brush atop batter for glaze. Draw tines of fork across top of cake in crisscross pattern. Top with reserved nuts.
• Bake cake until just firm to touch, about 45 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool. Turn out cake from pan; arrange top side up on platter. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap tightly; store at room temperature.)