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Fermented Crème Pâtissière
This recipe is from The Sourdough School Sweet Baking book. We re-thought crème pâtissière. The traditional French version is exquisite, but it is biologically dead. To nourish the gut, this recipe takes a classic formula and applies the core principle of including a probiotic with each bake, inoculating it with kefir and letting it ferment overnight.
At the School, we use a particular kefir that has over 14 probiotics in it and includes almost all the bacteria listed on pages 22–23 of the Sweet Baking book. The result is a complex and probiotic-rich filling for doughnuts and pastries. It’s also delicious simply dolloped on the side of any cake or bake. You can replace the malt with sugar if you prefer, or if you don’t like sugar, you can leave it out. You could also replace the kefir with live yoghurt.
Total time: 25 mins.
Makes: around 375ml
Diversity score: 7
Ingredients:
- 3 egg yolks
- 60g (2¼oz) light spraymalt*
- 20g (¾oz) cornflour or custard powder
- 250ml (9fl oz) whole milk
- 1 vanilla pod, scraped out
- 14g (½oz) unsalted butter
- 40g (1½oz) thick live yoghurt or kefir
*A note about Spraymalt: Spraymalt is spray-dried barley malt extract powder with a sweet malt flavour. We have used here ‘Muntons Light Spraymalt’ powder which you can find online. It is an excellent sugar replacement but with a distinct malt flavour. If you don’t have Spraymalt you can replace it with organic or coconut sugar.
Equipment:
- Large bowl
- Whisk
- Medium saucepan
- Small sharp knife
- Food thermometer
- Sterilised container for storage
Schedule:
Day 1 8 pm – Make crème
Day 1 8.30 pm – Ferment overnight
Day 2 8 am – Refrigerate until needed
Method:
In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and spraymalt. Add the cornflour or custard powder and mix well.
Heat the milk in a saucepan over a medium heat. When it boils, pour the milk into the egg mixture along with the vanilla pod. Mix well, then transfer the mixture to the saucepan and bring to the boil again, whisking all the while. It should now be nice and thick. After 4–5 minutes, remove it from the heat and stir in the butter. Now leave the mixture to cool to 30°C (86°F).
Once cooled, inoculate with the yoghurt by whisking it in. Pour the mixture into a suitable sterilised container and cover closely, keeping any air out. Allow to cool completely.
Leave aside overnight at 23°C (73°F) (the ambient temperature of the kitchen at the School), then refrigerate until needed. Use within 4–5 days. This becomes sourer as it ages. Let the fermented crème pâtissière down with a tablespoon of water if it is too thick to pipe.
Photo credit: Nassimer Rothacker from The Sourdough School Sweet Baking