unsure

variation

4s

smoked

pseudo choc

sable… i think

“i wonder if I could make a white chocolate sable”

“… but if I put white chocolate in the oven it will burn”

“… well if I can roast white chocolate why can’t I roast it with flour in it?”

I wanted to explore the idea of substituting fats in different products.  this idea was to use the fat in white chocolate to replace the butter in sable.  my theory is that all product can be controlled by manipulating their components.  here is a perfect opportunity to find out.

since i first read about it i have been fascinated by michael laiskonis’ chickpea sable.  if i keep the amount of fat, sugar, and solids similar will it still work.  lets get out the calculator and see.  michael’s sable is 26% fat, 25% sugar and 49% chickpea flour.  i stuck with this formula for my test

i started with the fat.  michael’s recipe used oil and butter.  i like the idea of white chocolate and olive oil sable so i kept the oil and used the same amount.  my sable needs to have 26% fat and the olive oil contributed 105g of fat, 8.6% of the 26% needed.  the white chocolate needs to add the rest or 17.4% (215g).  the white chocolate i am using contains 35% cocoa butter so: the amount of fat needed  / the amount of fat in my product, will tell me how much of the product i will need to obtain that amount of fat.  215/.35 = 614g of white chocolate.

sugar was next.  we need a dough that contains 25% sugar (300g).  white chocolate contains sugar and will contribute a large portion of sugar, but how much sugar is in there. white chocolate=cocoa butter+sugar+milk solids.  about 27.6% of white chocolate is sugar depending on the brand.  614g white chocolate X .27.6 = 170g. we need 300g of sugar total, 300 – 170(from white chocolate)= 130g sugar.

For the flour i did not change the ratio only the type of flour.  i have been told that rice flour substituted for a small amount of flour in pastry gives you a more tender crumb and the chickpea flour that michael uses contains no gluten (like rice flour).  thinking about both of these led me to using rice flour.  the flour = 49% or 600g

when i was finished making the mix it looked like a mess.  i put it in the fridge and wished for the best.  when i pulled it out it was a solid block of chocolate, a knife could not cut it without the “dough” shattering.  i thought no way it would work, but there is only one way to find out.  it baked off beautifully!  the only problem was that is was too sweet.  simple fix, the next batch used less sugar and a small amount of salt.  we had some roasted white chocolate in the shop and though about trying that as well as the normal white chocolate.  the normal white chocolate was still a little too sweet but the roasted white chocolate came out nice.

the application of this remains to be seen.  using the dough can be a little tricky.  out of the fridge it is like a rock. immediately after mixing it is a sticky mess.  i let some rest overnight at room temperature and was successful at rolling it with a pin.

after all this work the question occurred to me “is it still a sable?”  I had plenty of time to debate this idea with myself as I walk a mile and a half to and from work each day.  i came to this decision: “sable” means sandy, so if the final texture is sandy then yes it is a sable.” then another debate began. most french pastries are a tribute to something else… tuile = roof tiles, paris breast = a bike race, dacquoise = a meringue from dax.  is this pastry the result of final product or tradition.  if the final product is comparable but it does not suit the tradition is it still the same product? anyway, this is a debate for another day.

roasted white chocolate sable

roasted white chocolate 614g

olive oil 105g

sugar 40g

rice flour 600g

salt 2g

blend dry ingredients in robocoupe

add solid rwc and blend until sandy

add oil and blend

leave to rest

bake at 180C

Tags: component, roasted white chocolate, sable, writing recipes