For it to have the desired lightness, this paste should ferment for from ten to twelve hours. However, at the end of five or six hours, the process is arrested by the working of the paste; that is to say, by turning it out upon a flour-dusted board and beating it with the palm of the hand.
It is then returned to the basin to ferment afresh, for five or six hours; and then it is once more beaten just before being used.
[2369—MOUSSELINE BRIOCHE PASTE]
[Mousseline] brioche paste is made from the ordinary kind, combined with a little butter and developed in the mould by fermentation before the baking process—which procedure makes it exceedingly light and delicate.
This paste is used in the preparation of certain timbales for fruit sweets, and it is prepared as follows:—
Take the required amount of ordinary brioche paste, and add to it, per lb. of paste, two oz. of best butter, softened to the consistence of an ointment, that it may thoroughly mix with the paste. Roll the paste into a ball, and put it in a liberally-buttered mould, only filling two-thirds of the latter with it. The remaining third of the mould gets filled by the rising of the paste. Place the mould in a temperate room, until the paste has risen to the edges of the mould; besmear the surface of the paste with a brush dipped in melted butter, and bake in a moderate oven.
[2370—ORDINARY BRIOCHE PASTE (For Rissoles, Small Patties à la Dauphine, and Various other Preparations)]
Quantities: one lb. of flour, seven oz. of butter, four fair-sized eggs, salt, a pinch of powdered sugar; one-third oz. of very dry, fresh yeast, and a little tepid milk.
(1) Make the leaven with a quarter of the flour, the yeast and the lukewarm milk, and set it to ferment while the paste is being prepared.
(2) Prepare the paste as already directed, and keep it fermenting as before for ten hours, taking care to arrest the process once.