Pâte in Haiti

The woman wearing the knotted scarf squatted alongside a small fire. She had a metal bowl filled with white dough. A small crowd was forming around her. A thin line of thin people snaked alongside the banana fronds and island greenery bordering the moto route. Gold gourdes glistened in clenched hands. Slowly people inched forward to receive their pâte breakfast.

Pâte is an empanada, Haitian style — the culinary roots in France fused with West African spices and techniques.

PÂTE FEUILLETÉE VS. PÂTE BRISÉE

Pâte feuilletée literally means sheet-ed paste.

Pâte brisée, on the other hand literally means broken paste/crust because of its brittleness.

Pâte feuilletée recipe

Ingredients:

13 ounces of all purpose flour ( 1- 1/2 cup)

1–1/2 tsp of salt

1 cup of cold water

1–1/4 cold unsalted butter

Directions:

Sift the flour and add salt. Place flour in a large bowl and create a groove in the middle (volcano-like)

Cut the butter into pieces and add them into the middle of the volcano. Work the butter and the flour together until it resembles coarse cornmeal.

Again, shape the mixture into a volcano. Gradually add the water in the center of the volcano, quickly mixing (adding) the flour into the water. Do not knead. Use your fingers to create a sticky détrempé.

Once this is done, place your détrempé onto a floured surface and start kneading into a round ball. Place in the refrigerator overnight.

Rotate the block of dough 90 degrees so that the folded edge is on your left and the dough faces you like a book. Roll out the dough again, repeating the ridging technique. Once again, the dough should be in a smooth, even rectangle of approximately 8 inches by 24 inches (20 centimeters by 60 centimeters).

Fold the dough in thirds again, completing the second turn. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes. Repeat the rolling and folding technique until the dough has had a total of five turns. Do not perform more than two turns without a resting and chilling period. Cover the dough completely and chill overnight before shaping and baking.

Reference: http://homecooking.about.com/od/breadrecipes/r/blbread85.htm

Pâte brisée recipe

Directions

You might want to start preparing the pie crust first since you will need to store it in the fridge after (at least) 1 hour.

First, prepare a nice clean and even surface.

Arrange your 2 cups 1/2 of flour like a volcano (Fig.1)

Cut (or arrange) your butter into little cubes and place them inside of your “volcano”.

Knead the dough with the butter. Going from the most outer to the most inner. It should look a little bristle .

Add one tbsp of water at a time. The water should help the dough stick to itself (consistency-wise). (Fig.2)

The less it sticks together, the more water you should add.

Form 2 disks (Fig.3) with your dough and wrap each one of them inside of a plastic wrap. Leave in your refrigerator for at least 1 hour!

Now, all you have to do is cut your paste into little squares about 2″ x 4″ or smaller and add a filling to it. (just like a sandwich but closed on the corners).

To give the patties a golden appearance, brush them with egg yolk before baking them.