Pastry Cream by Iginio Massari
The pastry cream is one of the most used and most loved bases in pastry. It can be enjoyed on its own or used as a filling in cakes, cream puffs, and millefeuille, and it is perfect for making fruit tartlets, zeppole, and fried desserts. It’s excellent for preparing dessert cups like small glasses with sponge cake, cream, and strawberries, and it’s also used for creating richer creams like Italian chantilly.
The recipe I propose today is by Master Massari, very simple to make, it’s creamy and velvety, and if done correctly, it keeps in the fridge for 4/5 days.
The pastry cream we are going to prepare is one of the many variants created by Iginio Massari. It is not suitable for baking but for filling or making dessert cups.
Even though it seems like a very simple preparation, the pastry cream hides many pitfalls, and I will talk about them extensively in a dedicated article.
Try also the other creams:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: for 1.76 lbs of pastry cream
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 176.03 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 24.61 (g) of which sugars 20.00 (g)
- Proteins 4.65 (g)
- Fat 6.99 (g) of which saturated 3.46 (g)of which unsaturated 3.51 (g)
- Fibers 0.10 (g)
- Sodium 7.58 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 100 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 2 cups cups milk
- 2/3 cup cup sugar
- 7 yolks egg yolks (about 7 yolks)
- 1/3 cup cup rice starch
- as needed lemon zest (half a lemon's zest is sufficient)
- 1 vanilla bean
Tools
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Whisk
- 1 Scale
- 1 Saucepan
- 1 Bowl steel or Pyrex
- 1 Sieve
Procedure
Put the steel or Pyrex bowl in the freezer to cool, make sure to use a material that can withstand temperature changes.
Open the vanilla bean, extract the seeds, and put them in the saucepan with the milk. Add the bean and the lemon zest pieces.
Bring the milk to a boil, turn off the heat, and let it rest while you weigh and prepare the other ingredients.
In a bowl, mix the yolks with the sugar and incorporate the rice starch to create a smooth and homogeneous mixture.
Using a sieve, strain the milk and add it in three parts to the egg mixture, stirring constantly with the whisk.
Transfer the mixture to the saucepan, place it on the stove, and cook the cream for a few minutes, stirring continuously with the whisk; it should reach 183°F. If you don’t make it often, I recommend using a food thermometer.
Remove the steel or Pyrex bowl from the freezer and pour the hot pastry cream inside, quickly stir it with the whisk to lower its temperature; this step will stop the cooking process and give you a perfect cream with a smooth and silky texture.
Cover the cream with cling wrap, making sure it touches the surface, and place it in the coldest part of the fridge.
The pastry cream by Iginio Massari is ready; store it in the fridge at 32°F to 39°F for 4/5 days.
Tips
Storage
The pastry cream by Iginio Massari keeps in the fridge from 32°F to 39°F for 4/5 days.
Do not reduce the weight of ingredients like eggs or sugar to avoid getting an unbalanced and liquid cream.
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