PASTRY BAKERY GELATO CUISINE

P A S T R Y B A K E R Y G E L A T O C U I S I N E
IGINIO MASSARI’S PROFILE
PLATED DESSERT SUGGESTIONS
SAVOURY AND SWEET
GELATO RECIPES
TECHNOLOGY
AND PRODUCT NEWS
issue fifteen-2009
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PASTRY
20
LORETTA'S
magic wand
Interview with Loretta Fanella, former student of Albert Adrià,
who has learned how to make her creativity known
Small physique, blonde hair, and sky-blue eyes, Loretta Fanella looks
just like a fairy. But behind her appearance is an iron will that has given
her a formidable track record even before her thirtieth birthday: two
years at Carlo Cracco's restaurant in Milan, three at El Bulli of the
Adrià brothers, and two at the Enoteca Pinchiorri
of Florence, not to mention Identità Golose's
best pastry chef 2007 award.
She is currently involved in consultancy,
in addition to working
with Caffè Mamà, a
FOUR SEASONS
The Four Seasons faithfully reproduces spring,
summer, autumn, and winter on each of the four interlocking puzzle
pieces. A dessert must not only be good to eat, but also nice to look
at: autumn is seen as a miniature vineyard, with chocolate terrain (in
the form of mousse, meringue, and crushed biscuit), little chocolate
and glucose leaves, and vine rows made by squeezing melted chocolate
in frozen water. For winter, a snow-capped mountain was made
using gelatine and white chocolate (with agar agar and gelatine), decorated
with coconut mouse, siphoned biscuit (an El Bulli trick by
which the mixture is passed through a siphon and cooked in a microwave),
and snowman-shaped meringue. Lots of gelatine, albeit transparent
and with a scent of lemon and peach, also for the summer
sea, which takes on the blue colour of the plate bottom. There is sand
all around, made using crushed black sesame praline, and the rocks
are made of almonds and hazelnuts covered with chocolate and coloured
with silver powder. To conclude, there is spring: a small pistachio
gelato bird with meringue wings and head (I add a dab of powdered
egg white to help the meringue rise, reveals Loretta) resting on a field
of yoghurt cremeux covered with pistachio biscuit crumbs, sprouts
and (real) petals (Photo Francesca Brambilla - Serena Serrani).
2009 - www.pasticceriainternazionale.com - n. 15
coffee-bar (also offering lunch) which her boyfriend opened in Livorno
(Tuscany). Loretta creates breakfast and lunch sweets for the shop,
in addition tuscany to sweets for festivities such as the Easter that has
just passed, for which she made personalised eggs with surprises on
a theme.
Loretta, tell us about your
training and work experience
After studying at the hotel-management school of Fiuggi, I went to
Verona to work with chef Fabio Tacchella for almost two years.
I then spent five months at Cast Alimenti School of
Brescia, where I was part of a team that helped
teachers during courses. Following this
I went to Cracco in Milan for almost
two years. There I was in
charge of the confectionary sector.
While working for Cracco, I returned to
Cast Alimenti for a few days to assist Albert
Adrià on one of his confectionary courses.
On that occasion he invited me to do an
internship at El Bulli's. I accepted the invitation and in
the summer of 2003, I made use of my holiday to spend
one month in Spain. I stayed there for three years taking
care of the desserts. During the winter break I studied and experimented
new techniques and I also had the opportunity of doing
small internships with leading confectioners such as Pierre Hermé.
What happened after your Spanish experience?
They treated me very well, like a daughter, but after three years I felt
the need to change. And so I returned to Italy, where the level of restaurant
confectionary was low and there was a need for new techniques
and know how – someone who could give new impetus. Of the
various offers (Rome, Milan) I decided to go to the Enoteca Pinchiorri
of Florence, where they gave me carte blanche over the management
of confectionary right from the word go. I worked there for just over
two years, helped by three assistants. I always tried to do new things.
Had it been for me, I would have changed the sweet menu every day,
but unfortunately this is not possible in a restaurant.
As a dessert specialist, to what extent has your knowledge of
cooking helped?
It has been crucial in many ways, not least with regards the organisation
of work and the collaboration with the kitchen. Cooks and pastry
chefs of a restaurant form a team that must stick together.

When are you most inspired?
There are no special moments. Some desserts came to mind just like
that, without warning, while others started out as the memory of a
journey, such as Giardino Zen, which was the result of a trip to Japan.
I am inspired by everything that surrounds me. The source of inspiration
might be a landscape, so I look at the panorama, the colours, or
else an object, like a watch, or a game, such as a puzzle.
Do you seek to innovate or are you more attached to tradition?
Some of my sweets come out of tradition. For instance, I had to make
a sweet using white truffle, so I started off from tiramisù and reworked
it, but always keeping the basic ingredients: mascarpone and coffee.
I also try to respect classical combinations. To those who expect
to see me use the techniques acquired at El Bulli, such as spherification,
I always answer yes, I use new techniques, but I try to remain
simple.
Do you choose ingredients according to some special criteria?
First I respect their seasonality. In winter I use chestnuts, persimmon,
and pomegranate. In summer, strawberries, watermelon, and melon.
For you, what characteristics do restaurant desserts need
to have?
In a restaurant, the sweet always comes after many courses. It is ordered
not out of appetite, but out of greed. It is something extra, so
the pastry chef needs to create light desserts that are not too sugary.
Ingredients should be natural and seasonal, and combinations not too
harsh or confused. It is important that the whole sweet be eaten, and
to do this you need to be good at making it. When I can, I go to the
washing area of the kitchen to see the dessert plates returning from
the dining room, because I like to see them empty – it is a sign that
the sweet went down well.
Lemon marshmallow
egg whites g 40
lemon juice g 100
gelatine sheets n. 5
caster sugar g 250
water g 120
Cook the sugar and water at 117°C. Cool to 80°C. To one side,
beat the egg white, add the cooked sugar and lemon juice previously
heated to 30°C with the gelatine. Beat for almost 10 minutes.
Mulberry puree
fresh mulberries g 100
sugar g 20
Grind with a mixer and pass through a sieve.
Lemon sorbet
water g 150
sugar g 150
glucose g 80
invert sugar g 50
lemon juice g 250
water g 300
Heat the water, sugars, glucose and stabilizer to 80°C. Remove from
the heat and add the lemon juice and water. Let it stand for 24 hours
and then pass it through the gelato machine.
Mulberry pearls
fresh mulberries n. 10
Freeze the raspberries well and close them between two sheets of
oven paper. With a rolling-pin, crumble them for as long as they remain
frozen. Keep in the freezer at -20°C.
KEY INFO
CastAlimenti, www.castalimenti.it
Cracco, www.ristorantecracco.it
2009 - www.pasticceriainternazionale.com - n. 15
Fabio Tacchella, www.fabiotacchella.com
Elbulli, www.elbulli.com
Pierre Hermé, www.pierreherme.com
Identità Golose, www.identitagolose.it
Enoteca Pinchiorri, www.enotecapinchiorri.com
Other than the ones you prepare, which sweet do you consider
to be perfect and which is your favourite?
Hot apple pie is my favourite; the perfect sweet is cream millefeuille
with crunchy flaky pastry.
Rossella Contato
SOTTOBOSCO Plate-sculpture with meringue micro mushrooms,
sprout tufts, a miniature chocolate trunk complete with
twigs and moss (made with green tea biscuit). Making the flavours
and forest aromas even more realistic is a spoonful of myrtle mixture
and some pieces of eucalyptus caramel (Photo Michele Tabozzi).
LEMON AND MULBERRY SPIRAL WITH LEMON SORBET
Assembly
At the centre of the plate draw a spiral with the lemon marshmallow. Fill
the empty spaces with the raspberry puree. Cover the sorbet ball with
the raspberry pearls and finish the decoration with fresh fruit petals and
dabs of mint.
21

PASTRY
22
Coconut mousse
coconut milk g 100
coconut rapé g 40
cream g 190
sugar g 30
whipped cream g 150
gelatine g 3
Boil the milk with the coconut and coconut rapé. Let it stand for ten minutes;
pass through a sieve. Add the sugar and gelatine. After about 10
minutes, stir in the whipped cream.
Hemispheres of frozen cream
fresh cream g 100
Cool a small ladle with liquid nitrogen. Immerse the exterior part inside
the cream for 5 seconds. Wait five more seconds and remove the cream
hemisphere. Repeat the operation for the number of hemispheres required,
allowing for two pieces per person. Keep in the freezer at -20°C.
Yoghurt almond brittle petals
fresh yoghurt g 150
Isomalt g 50
icing sugar g 30
yoghurt powder g 20
citric acid g 2
THE WHITE PEARL
2009 - www.pasticceriainternazionale.com - n. 15
Mix all the ingredients together with the Turmix. Spread out the mixture
on a sheet of Silpat, giving the shape of a petal using a template. Bake
at 80°C for five hours, so that they keep their white colour. Once cooked,
curve them slightly.
Fresh raspberry puree
fresh raspberries g 120
sugar g 35
Grind everything with a mixer and then pass through a sieve.
Assembly
Fill a hemisphere with chocolate mousse, leaving the central part empty
so you can fill it with raspberry puree later. Cover again with coconut
mousse and close with another hemisphere. Arrange five yoghurt almond
brittle petals around the sphere.
Loretta Fanella