Gâteau Breton Aux Pommes Food

GATEAU BRETON AUX POMMES

Steps:

• For salted caramel sauce:.
• Bring sugar and 1/4 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar.
• Boil, swirling pan occasionally and brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush, until mixture turns a deep amber color, 8-10 minutes.
• Remove from heat and slowly add cream (mixture will bubble vigorously). Return to medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until smooth, about 2 minutes.
• Remove from heat and mix in butter and salt.
• Pour caramel sauce into a small heatproof jar or bowl; let cool.
• For cake:.
• Place rack in middle of oven and preheat to 350°F Butter and flour cake pan; set aside.
• Heat 2 tablespoons melted butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
• Add apples, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar, and cook, tossing occasionally, until apples are golden brown, 10-12 minutes.
• Arrange half of the apples in the bottom of prepared cake pan so most of it is covered (a few gaps are okay).
• Whisk baking powder, salt, lemon zest, 1 1/4 cups flour, and remaining 1 cup sugar in a large bowl.
• Whisk in eggs and remaining 10 tablespoons melted butter until smooth.
• Pour half of batter over apples in an 8-inch diameter cake pan, top with remaining apples, then pour remaining batter over.
• Bake cake until top is golden and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 40-50 minutes.
• Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool slightly; turn out onto rack and let cool.
• Serve cake with caramel sauce and creme fraiche.
• DO AHEAD: Caramel sauce can be made 5 days ahead. Cover and chill. Cake can be baked 1 day ahead. Keep wrapped tightly at room temperature.

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.

FAR BRETON AUX POMMES (APPLE PIE)

Steps:

• Peel and slice the apples. Put the apple - slices in a casserole dish, add the butter and 70gr sugar and bake for 15 minutes at 350°F.
• Meanwhile, beat the eggs, with the rest of the sugar. Add the milk and the flour to make a soft dough.
• Allow the apples to cool.
• When apples are cooled, put the batter on top of the apples and bake for 60 minutes at 350°F.