I've watched many baked Brie videos, made several myself and here is my time-saving input. - Chop roasted walnuts/pecans or smoked almonds with a chef's knife to achieve even-sized bits. Food processors produce small and coarse bits and powder. - No need to flour your cutting board. Unwrap the pastry dough and leave it wrap side down on a cutting board. The dough is rectangular and the Brie is circular so place it towards one side evenly and cut squarely away the extra dough to make accents on top. Some doughs come with a parchment paper to bake on. - Cut the Brie cheese wheel along the side with a long knife so you have two thinner discs - Spread half of the chopped nuts on the dough and then place the first Brie disc on it, rind side down - Sauté diced onions or shallots with butter and towards the end as they brown add a pinch of sugar until caramelized. Then sauté chopped mushrooms separately (as they give off moisture) and mix together. You can go further and add wine once the mushrooms have cooked and then reduce it. Even further - roast some garlic cloves with olive oil, chop it up and add to the mixture (for the garlic lovers). Spread all of the mixture on the Brie disc. You can go even further and add some grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese and also strips of Prosciutto. Then place the second Brie disc on top, rind side up (sandwiched) - Add the rest of the nuts on top of the Brie - Beat one egg and brush it on the dough edges to make a "glue" - Fold up the dough on all sides and pinch to seal areas - Place parchment paper on top, then place a baking sheet or pan over it (baking surface downward) - Hold the cutting board and baking sheet/pan and flip over. Now you have an evenly flat surface on top. - You can use a strip of dough to make a border crust along the entire outside of the wheel. Get creative! Use cookie cutters of maple leaves or Yoda heads for the extra dough accents. You can flatten out the dough and cut "linguine" strips to make a braid to put along the wheel's edge. - Brush all the dough with egg and you're ready to bake - Some say to put it in the freezer for an hour before baking, but for me it resulted in cold/unmelted cheese in the center. Regardless of oven temperatures and baking times, the pastry will eventually brown and then burn to a char. - Make sure you cut it with a VERY sharp knife otherwise it will smoosh down with pastry bits falling away, while becoming a sorry-looking mess - Keep it simple as the onions/shallots and mushrooms will give great flavor. Skip the salty-versus-sweet argument - Don't use ingredients like fruit jams/compotes, because it will taste disgustingly sweet and you'll just have leftovers. It's supposed to be a pre-dining hors-d'oeuvre, not a dessert-like apple/blueberry pie. If really needed use dried fruit. DON'T become a sell-out and use bacon!
Make us a video and post it somewhere for us to watch so we can all decide for ourselves whether or not your advice is worthwhile. You sound like a real piece of kitchen work. I read more hard & fast rules and do's & dont''s in your little narrative than I care to address here. LOL In other words, go find some other website to try to convince yourself and others of your skills. And BTW - please respond with the web addresses of your cooking education sites. We're all very interested in finding out more about your teachings LOL
That look's awesome im a young cook looking to try different style in cooking and i think your awesome in what you do it would be a honor if i was taught by you.
is it possible to bake it until a not-that-brown point and keep it in the refrigerator for a couple days in order to have it ready to be finished and served as quick as possible? I'm thinking about have it pre prepared in a restaurant!
Three answers: 1. If you're going to serve a wedge on a plate as an individual serving with some garnish etc., you could completely pre-bake the whole brie and then slightly re-bake / warm up each wedge in a hot oven (not a microwave) for 5-7 minutes, being sure not to forget about it and allow the cheese to melt LOL. 2. If you're planning on serving the whole wheel on a buffet or whatever - yes you could par bake it. Keep in mind, that it's not advisable to serve this item really hot right out of an oven because the cheese is not as desirable when it's runny instead of still being slightly together with some texture. Ideally, I've always pre-baked the whole wheel and then allowed it to come to room temperature (almost) before serving it. 3. Don't forget, that this type of encased cheese can also be effectively done using small individual wheels (4-6 ounces) in a restaurant environment. The individual "a la minute" length of cooking time if drastically reduced vs. the time it takes to bake an entire 2.2 kilo wheel. Also keep in mind that the cheese itself does not need to be cooked and that the cooking of the pastry is really what the cooking job is all about. A hot (425) convection oven can sometimes satisfy the pastry baking for the small versions rather quickly without turning the cheese into mush.
It's a pleasure to watch a real pro working his craft. No foo-foo stuff, just the real need-to-know information. Thanks for your videos.
You're very welcome !!
This was very informative! Beautiful!
Thank you for your time and expertise!
You're very welcome !!
I've watched many baked Brie videos, made several myself and here is my time-saving input. - Chop roasted walnuts/pecans or smoked almonds with a chef's knife to achieve even-sized bits. Food processors produce small and coarse bits and powder. - No need to flour your cutting board. Unwrap the pastry dough and leave it wrap side down on a cutting board. The dough is rectangular and the Brie is circular so place it towards one side evenly and cut squarely away the extra dough to make accents on top. Some doughs come with a parchment paper to bake on. - Cut the Brie cheese wheel along the side with a long knife so you have two thinner discs - Spread half of the chopped nuts on the dough and then place the first Brie disc on it, rind side down - Sauté diced onions or shallots with butter and towards the end as they brown add a pinch of sugar until caramelized. Then sauté chopped mushrooms separately (as they give off moisture) and mix together. You can go further and add wine once the mushrooms have cooked and then reduce it. Even further - roast some garlic cloves with olive oil, chop it up and add to the mixture (for the garlic lovers). Spread all of the mixture on the Brie disc. You can go even further and add some grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese and also strips of Prosciutto. Then place the second Brie disc on top, rind side up (sandwiched) - Add the rest of the nuts on top of the Brie - Beat one egg and brush it on the dough edges to make a "glue" - Fold up the dough on all sides and pinch to seal areas - Place parchment paper on top, then place a baking sheet or pan over it (baking surface downward) - Hold the cutting board and baking sheet/pan and flip over. Now you have an evenly flat surface on top. - You can use a strip of dough to make a border crust along the entire outside of the wheel. Get creative! Use cookie cutters of maple leaves or Yoda heads for the extra dough accents. You can flatten out the dough and cut "linguine" strips to make a braid to put along the wheel's edge. - Brush all the dough with egg and you're ready to bake - Some say to put it in the freezer for an hour before baking, but for me it resulted in cold/unmelted cheese in the center. Regardless of oven temperatures and baking times, the pastry will eventually brown and then burn to a char. - Make sure you cut it with a VERY sharp knife otherwise it will smoosh down with pastry bits falling away, while becoming a sorry-looking mess - Keep it simple as the onions/shallots and mushrooms will give great flavor. Skip the salty-versus-sweet argument - Don't use ingredients like fruit jams/compotes, because it will taste disgustingly sweet and you'll just have leftovers. It's supposed to be a pre-dining hors-d'oeuvre, not a dessert-like apple/blueberry pie. If really needed use dried fruit. DON'T become a sell-out and use bacon!
Make us a video and post it somewhere for us to watch so we can all decide for ourselves whether or not your advice is worthwhile.
You sound like a real piece of kitchen work. I read more hard & fast rules and do's & dont''s in your little narrative than I care to address here. LOL
In other words, go find some other website to try to convince yourself and others of your skills. And BTW - please respond with the web addresses of your cooking education sites. We're all very interested in finding out more about your teachings LOL
Planning on baked brie for a Holiday party... absolutely LOVED your decorating. I will be doing mine the same... lovely! Thanks!!!
You're very welcome !!
That look's awesome im a young cook looking to try different style in cooking and i think your awesome in what you do it would be a honor if i was taught by you.
If you watch enough of these videos you are/will be being taught by me LOL !!
Quite a kitchen!
Can something clever be done to divide a large Brie into multiple serving-size portions encased in pastry?
Thank you on the kitchen.
Yes. You can cut the large brie into wedges and individually wrap each wedge.
is it possible to bake it until a not-that-brown point and keep it in the refrigerator for a couple days in order to have it ready to be finished and served as quick as possible?
I'm thinking about have it pre prepared in a restaurant!
Three answers:
1. If you're going to serve a wedge on a plate as an individual serving with some garnish etc., you could completely pre-bake the whole brie and then slightly re-bake / warm up each wedge in a hot oven (not a microwave) for 5-7 minutes, being sure not to forget about it and allow the cheese to melt LOL.
2. If you're planning on serving the whole wheel on a buffet or whatever - yes you could par bake it. Keep in mind, that it's not advisable to serve this item really hot right out of an oven because the cheese is not as desirable when it's runny instead of still being slightly together with some texture.
Ideally, I've always pre-baked the whole wheel and then allowed it to come to room temperature (almost) before serving it.
3. Don't forget, that this type of encased cheese can also be effectively done using small individual wheels (4-6 ounces) in a restaurant environment. The individual "a la minute" length of cooking time if drastically reduced vs. the time it takes to bake an entire 2.2 kilo wheel. Also keep in mind that the cheese itself does not need to be cooked and that the cooking of the pastry is really what the cooking job is all about. A hot (425) convection oven can sometimes satisfy the pastry baking for the small versions rather quickly without turning the cheese into mush.
Can you substitute wonton wrappers or puff pastry instead?
Theoretically, you could use filo or pie dough and large won ton wrappers for individual versions. Why? No puff pastry at your supermarket??
mmm
I agree !!