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WORDS Cissy Difford Wow, I’m exhausted just from
reading that. It’s confusing, right! But oh, so worth it! Not only this, our ingredients and their temperature play a vital role. Firstly we have our flour. This needs to provide us with an extensible, strong and flaky dough, something around 12% protein content. Side note, the protein percentage tells us how our flour is going to act. For example, strong flours with high protein contents are most suited to making bread because they can absorb more water and trap more Co2 which makes for a loaf with greater volume, a chewy texture and open crumb. Shout out to Gerry who, I’m sure, will be able to talk about this in much greater detail than me! For this pastry 12% is our sweet spot. It allows us to roll out our dough multiple times without it springing back but importantly, it also gives us that super flaky, melt in the mouth texture we are after. Recently, I’ve been playing around with using wholegrains like Emmer and Einkorn in my puff recipe. At high percentages, these flours totally disrupt the structure and texture of dough but give a delicious, nutty flavour. I’m still working on finding that happy medium and when I do I’ll be sure to deep dive into it! Next, we need water. Without water, our flour will not be hydrated and will not form that gluten matrix. Salt is incorporated to provide flavour but also to tenderise the gluten. Vinegar also helps tenderise the dough but also helps oxidisation. Finally, butter. Butter brings the most flavour, mouth feel and hydration to the dough. It’s important to use a butter high in butterfat (around 82%) and of good quality, because when the dough is pretty much butter, you want it to taste good! With galette des rois, we need two discs of puff pastry to encase a disc of frangipane, which is a creamy paste of almonds (I like toasted best), butter, eggs, sugar and salt (recipe below). Of course, you can switch this up and play around with alternative nuts but this is the traditional method. When assembling your galette it’s key to keep everything super super chilled so that the butter doesn’t start to melt. The fridge is your friend, ALWAYS! When you have your discs neatly sealed together, you can score it with a decorative pattern before egg washing and baking. Et voila! Orwell Road FRANGIPANE RECIPE 200g butter 60g icing sugar 200g almond paste 100g egg 40g cornflour 200g ground almonds, toasted 60g amaretto 8g salt 1. Using a stand mixer or stick blender, cream the butter, sugar and almond paste until pale and fluffy. 2. Slowly add the eggs in three parts, scraping down the bowl as you go. 3. Once incorporated, fold in the cornflour, almonds, amaretto and salt. 4. Refrigerate before use (this is stable in the fridge for 1 week or can be frozen for up to 3 months). Top tip: use room temperature ingredients to ensure the mixture doesn’t split or add 1 tbsp of weighed cornflour to butter and sugar before adding the eggs. Using toasted nuts will provide a more rich and flavorful product but they must be cool before adding to the mixture. w Cúán Greene is a chef and author of the Ómós Digest Newsletter which expounds upon topics relevant to food culture, sharing insights, positing questions and meeting people who are adding to the collective pot. Each month, we share an edited highlights from recent posts. To sign up for a more comprehensive deep-dive, visit omos.co A new local restaurant in Rathgar Now open at 8 Orwell Road is the latest restaurant creation by Marc and Conor Bereen. Together with Chef Dan Hannigan, they have created a modern Irish restaurant, offering casual fine dining, with one aim – everything must be delicious. Orwell Road aspires to use as many local, Irish producers and ingredients as possible. Only sourcing from further afield when an Irish alternative is not available. Conor Bereen designed Orwell Road as a contemporary local restaurant. As with sister restaurant Charlotte Quay, the result is a bright, crisp, fresh space with lots of comfort and warmth. The glass panelled frontage inspired various design elements throughout the interior with the sea green Venetian plastered walls adding depth and texture . This is a space that lends itself well to convivial eating, and while stylish and elegant, the focus is on what’s important – the food! Orwell Road 8 Orwell Road, Dublin 6, DO6 H2Y5 www.orwellroad.com • E:info@orwellroad.com +353 1 621 3524 • instagram.com/orwellroad/ Opening Hours: Monday Closed Tuesday 5-10PM Wednesday 5-10PM Thursday 5-10PM Friday 12-3PM/5-10PM Saturday 12-3PM/5-10PM Sunday 4-9PM 35