[0 - 2] - [Alvin] This episode is brought to you by Danish Creamery.
[2 - 4] Level up any dish with a BCU secret weapon
[4 - 6] that we found in a small batch premium butter.
[6 - 10] Over a century, Danish forms has been perfecting a product
[10 - 11] that unlocks what extra churned rich
[11 - 12] and delicious butter can do
[12 - 14] to take your food to another caliber.
[14 - 17] Today, we'll be making the 243 layer butter toast,
[17 - 20] using Danish Creamery's European unsalted butter.
[20 - 21] For more info on Danish Creamery,
[21 - 53] head to the link in the description. (liquid pouring) (mixer whirring) (light music) (metal clicking) Hello there.
[53 - 55] Welcome back to another episode of "Anything with Alvin."
[55 - 57] This time we're gonna be making
[57 - 60] the 243 layer Melaleuca butter toast
[60 - 63] that I've seen in many, many Taiwanese food videos.
[63 - 64] As a late night food video enjoyer,
[64 - 66] this one has popped up many times,
[66 - 67] and I've always been curious to see
[67 - 69] how it's been made and how it tastes.
[69 - 70] We're gonna need a lot of butter.
[70 - 71] For this kind of food
[71 - 72] where there's not too much other seasoning,
[72 - 74] the butter flavor really needs to come through,
[74 - 76] so it's important to use high quality butter.
[76 - 77] Now, in the reference video that we're using,
[77 - 79] they're not showing exact measurements, so we're gonna have
[79 - 82] to try and guess what kind of dough they're making here.
[82 - 83] After some investigating, we decided to go
[83 - 85] with a brioche-style dough.
[85 - 87] So for a dry ingredients, we're combining four cups
[87 - 89] of all purpose flour, one and a half cups of bread flour,
[89 - 92] one half cup of dry milk powder, which can be seen used
[92 - 95] in the video to add that extra milky flavor in the bread,
[95 - 98] six tablespoons of sugar, one tablespoon of kosher salt,
[98 - 100] and one and a half tablespoons of instant yeast.
[100 - 102] Those first get whisked together,
[102 - 103] and then we're gonna put that in our stand mixer
[103 - 106] and combine that with six whole eggs, half cup of cream
[106 - 108] and stream in one quarter cup of whole milk.
[108 - 110] Once the dough starts to come together,
[110 - 111] we're gonna get our first batch
[111 - 113] of butter ready for this recipe.
[113 - 115] We're gonna take two sticks of salted butter
[115 - 118] and cut them into about one inch little square pieces.
[118 - 120] This butter is now going to get slowly folded
[120 - 123] and added into the mix a couple pieces at a time
[123 - 124] until it is finally incorporated.
[124 - 126] Now, the mixing on this dough is no joke.
[126 - 128] THis took about 10 to 15 minutes of total mixing,
[128 - 131] which did put our mixer in a bit of a heat mess.
[131 - 133] But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.
[133 - 135] Now the dough is nice, sticky, and supple.
[135 - 137] We're gonna go ahead, tuck this into a bowl
[137 - 138] and put that into a container to proof
[138 - 140] for about an hour or so.
[140 - 141] In the butter toast video from Taiwan,
[141 - 144] they use a very similar lamination technique akin
[144 - 145] to croissant making where they laminate the dough.
[146 - 148] So that means we're gonna need to make a big butter block.
[148 - 151] Now this butter is 85% butter fat, European style,
[151 - 153] with a lot more of a richer taste and texture,
[153 - 155] which is going to make this butter block
[156 - 158] and end result butter toast a whole lot more flavorful
[158 - 160] and easier to peel apart like they do in the video.
[160 - 162] So I'm really happy
[162 - 163] that we're using Danish Creamery butter for this.
[163 - 165] Taking four sticks of this unsalted butter,
[165 - 167] putting them onto a sheet of parchment paper,
[167 - 169] placing another sheet of parchment paper on top,
[169 - 171] and slamming it down with the rolling pin until it starts
[171 - 174] to spread out and become one solid mass.
[174 - 176] Once the butter has spread out a bit, we're gonna go ahead
[176 - 177] and even this out with the rolling pin,
[177 - 180] and then eventually transfer this to some Saran wrap
[180 - 182] so that we can go ahead and fold over the edges
[182 - 184] to make more of a rectangle shape.
[184 - 185] Then this gets another push with the rolling pin
[185 - 187] until all the edges happen smoothed out,
[187 - 188] and this butter block is gonna go
[188 - 190] into the fridge to solidify.
[190 - 192] Our dough is back after its first proof, increased in size.
[192 - 194] We're gonna go ahead and reshape
[194 - 196] and proof this one more time covered in Saran wrap.
[196 - 198] Now we do have some more downtime,
[198 - 200] and I thought it'd be fun to actually make a pastry cream
[200 - 202] to go along with this toast.
[202 - 203] So I thought it'd be fun
[203 - 205] to make a brown butter pastry cream.
[205 - 207] Now, one of the things to know about me is that one,
[207 - 209] I'm a huge fan of butter,
[209 - 211] but I am a huger fan of brown butter,
[211 - 214] and using higher quality butter actually results
[214 - 216] in a much more flavorful and rich brown butter.
[216 - 219] So we're gonna go ahead and cube up four tablespoons
[219 - 222] of butter and put that into a pan to melt and brown.
[222 - 224] Now I like to do it over a medium low heat
[224 - 225] as to not get it too dark.
[225 - 227] Once we've gotten that to its correct stage,
[227 - 228] this goes off the heat.
[228 - 230] We make the rest of our pastry cream, combining half cup
[230 - 233] of sugar, three tablespoons of corn starch, half teaspoon
[233 - 235] of salt, and four egg yolks
[235 - 237] until this paste has been nicely whipped and fluffy.
[237 - 239] Then we're gonna slowly stream in two cups
[239 - 241] of whole milk and cook this over medium heat,
[241 - 243] whisking the entire time
[243 - 245] until the pastry cream is started to thicken
[245 - 247] and started to slowly bubble when the whisk is removed.
[247 - 249] Now this pastry cream gets removed from the heat,
[249 - 252] and we go ahead and add in one teaspoon of vanilla
[252 - 254] and the rest of our brown butter.
[254 - 255] After passing this mixture
[255 - 257] through a fine me sieve into a bowl over an ice bath
[257 - 259] to chill this quickly, we gotta give this a taste.
[259 - 262] And yes, the brown butter flavor is strong,
[262 - 264] more aromatic and unctuous than usual.
[264 - 266] This is going to go ahead and get some plastic wrap
[266 - 268] on the top so the skin doesn't form
[268 - 270] and go into the fridge to cool for later.
[270 - 271] Now that our dough is finished proofing,
[271 - 274] we're gonna go ahead and roll that out on our board
[274 - 276] and fold in our butter block, making sure
[276 - 279] that the dough is large enough to receive this butter block.
[279 - 280] After wrapping the dough around the sides of the butter,
[280 - 283] we're gonna go ahead and trim any large portions
[283 - 285] that are probably gonna just gonna get all weird.
[285 - 287] Go ahead and chill this one more time.
[287 - 289] It's important to work with this dough while it's cold
[289 - 291] so that the butter doesn't, you know, create a huge mess.
[291 - 293] So we're gonna go ahead and take this out after it's cold,
[293 - 296] roll it out again and fold this into three
[296 - 297] to start creating those nice layers.
[297 - 299] Hold it over and make sure all the edges are tight.
[299 - 301] Go back in the fridge and repeat this process
[301 - 304] about four times until we go from three layers
[304 - 309] to nine layers to 27 layers to 81 layers to 243 layers.
[309 - 311] Now, there were some patches that got exposed
[311 - 313] during the process, so I patched them up with a little bit
[313 - 315] of flour to make sure everybody is happy.
[315 - 317] Once our layered dough is ready, we're gonna go ahead,
[317 - 319] chill this one more time, take it out,
[319 - 321] cut this into four squares, remove any
[321 - 323] of the non trimmed edges.
[323 - 324] Put two of these squares on top
[324 - 328] of each other into our nice cube pan that we found online
[328 - 331] that seem to be used to make these bread toast things.
[331 - 332] These are gonna go ahead and proof overnight,
[332 - 335] and we're going to come back tomorrow to finish this.
[335 - 336] It is now day two.
[336 - 338] This is what our little toast cubes look like.
[338 - 340] We're gonna go ahead and proof these at room temperature
[340 - 341] to get the rise that they need.
[341 - 343] And while that's proofing, we're gonna go ahead
[343 - 345] and use up all these scraps that we trimmed off.
[345 - 347] Now, I really don't like throwing these away
[347 - 349] after making something that's pastry related,
[349 - 351] and I thought we could make some really fun things with it.
[351 - 352] So we're gonna take this proofed croissant dough,
[352 - 355] essentially, take some granulated sugar,
[355 - 357] sprinkle that all over and roll these around
[357 - 359] until we impress essentially a lot
[359 - 360] of sugar into the dough itself.
[360 - 361] We're gonna take these strips
[361 - 364] and do almost like one of those origami folds
[364 - 367] and place them into a large muffin tin type vessel,
[367 - 369] and essentially make quima, a version
[369 - 372] of caramelized French style pastries that are made
[372 - 374] with sugared laminated dough.
[374 - 375] Perfect for this kind of scrap,
[375 - 376] because I think the best part
[376 - 378] is that they don't need to look pretty.
[378 - 379] Once these go into the pan, we're gonna go ahead
[379 - 383] and bake these at about 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes
[383 - 386] until they're beautifully risen, golden brown, caramelized,
[386 - 387] and quite awesome.
[387 - 389] These are one of my favorite pastries in the world,
[389 - 390] and I learned that the best part about these
[390 - 392] is actually the bottom where all the sugar
[392 - 394] and butter collects and turns into a caramel
[394 - 396] that beautifully coats the glassy surface.
[396 - 398] Let's go ahead and tear one of these open
[398 - 400] for a little inside look, shall we?
[400 - 401] It tastes quite delicious.
[401 - 403] You got caramelized crunchy pastry on the outside,
[403 - 405] soft, fluffy rich dough on the inside.
[405 - 407] This is looking quite promising.
[407 - 408] Now onto the main event.
[408 - 410] Our dough has fully proofed in our cube trays.
[410 - 412] You can see that the level has risen quite a lot.
[412 - 414] So we're gonna go ahead and sprinkle a little bit
[414 - 416] of sugar on top as the final touch
[416 - 419] before putting these in the oven at about 425 degrees,
[419 - 421] which is what they converted from Celsius to Fahrenheit,
[421 - 423] based on the original reference video.
[423 - 424] They baked it pretty hot.
[424 - 427] They had like a 240 to 260 range in their oven,
[427 - 429] so I think that converts to about the same temperature.
[429 - 431] After baking for about 45 minutes,
[431 - 433] we're gonna go ahead and unveil these things.
[433 - 434] Now, to be honest,
[434 - 435] I definitely think we over baked these a bit.
[435 - 437] Whether it was too hot or too long,
[437 - 439] the sugar on the edges got a little too dark
[439 - 441] for my kind of taste, so I think we could
[441 - 443] have definitely lowered it the whole time.
[443 - 445] Maybe it was because of the high fat content in the dough.
[445 - 447] Maybe it was because of the sugar I sprinkled on top.
[447 - 449] This came out extra dark and crusty,
[449 - 451] which not exactly is a bad thing.
[451 - 453] It might have prevented the full rise that we wanted
[453 - 455] because we baked it super hot,
[455 - 457] but I'm still curious to see how these layers turned out.
[457 - 459] On the inside, I think it's still very, very beautiful.
[459 - 461] If you cut it open, you can see a lot of the layers,
[461 - 463] even though not as clearly as defined
[463 - 465] as the ones from the source video.
[465 - 467] But if we go ahead and try to peel off a layer, yep,
[467 - 468] we can still do that.
[468 - 471] Here's another cross section just to examine those up close.
[471 - 473] I think using a brioche dough might have been too much fat
[474 - 475] for the actual recipe itself.
[475 - 477] We should have used more of a bread-like dough,
[477 - 478] that way the butter folded in
[478 - 480] could have a more springier texture.
[480 - 482] But hey, you live and you learn.
[482 - 484] The best thing is it smells like butter, tastes like butter,
[484 - 486] and I think that is really cool.
[486 - 487] And we also get to serve it
[487 - 489] with this brown butter pastry cream,
[489 - 491] which actually makes this extremely delicious.
[491 - 493] Now, this is really fun to eat with your hands.
[493 - 494] You just peel off a layer, go ahead
[494 - 496] and dunk it in some pastry cream.
[496 - 499] This gives me the same satisfaction as taking a tortilla
[499 - 500] and dipping it in a huge chunk
[500 - 501] of guac when no one's looking,
[501 - 503] except people are looking this time,
[503 - 506] and it's not tortilla or guac, it's butter toast
[506 - 508] and pastry cream, which I could argue is better.
[508 - 510] What's surprising is that the brown butter pastry cream
[510 - 513] actually makes this taste light, which is an oxymoron
[513 - 515] because 80% of this recipe is butter
[516 - 516] and you can really taste that,
[516 - 518] but somehow it feels like I'm on a diet.
[518 - 520] Now, for the best part, I gotta share this
[520 - 522] with everybody else in this studio.
[522 - 524] Thanks again to our sponsor, Danish Creamery,
[524 - 526] for bringing you this episode of "Anything with Alvin."
[526 - 528] If you're looking for a dish game changer,
[528 - 529] consider Danish Creamery butter
[529 - 534] and check on the link in the description. (upbeat music)