Bay Leaf Cream Concha

Pastry Chef Thessa Diadem of All Day Baby | Los Angeles

Tasked with making a pastry inspired by Chef Jonathan Whitener’s favorite childhood treat, All Day Baby’s pastry chef, Thessa Diadem, decided on a concha that’s only kind of a concha. It might look like a concha—plump with a brittle vanilla topping draped over its head—but the chewy bun hardly resembles its namesake. It all starts with the roux, a milk and bread flour combo that Diadem credits as the tangzhong method for making Japanese milk bread. She brings milk to a simmer then adds in bread flour, whisking continuously. As soon as the mixture is homogenized, she trades the whisk for a spatula and scrapes at the bottom of her pot until it thickens into a paste-like consistency. She chills the roux overnight and uses it as the base for her yeasted dough, enriched with milk powder for added savoriness. Once baked, the milk bread bun is light with a slight QQ bounce. For this particular concha, Diadem infuses bay leaf and vanilla into milk to make a pastry cream, reminiscent of horchata, to fill each bun. Neatly scored like a tic-tac-toe board, the crisp topping stays fairly true to the original concha and is mostly composed of shortening and powdered sugar. The sweet bun doesn’t need to be dipped into cafe con leche or a glass of milk; it’s got dairy packed into its very core.

Adapted by StarChefs | June 2021

INGREDIENTS:

Roux:
300 grams whole milk
120 grams bread flour

Dough:
672 grams bread flour, plus more for shaping
16 grams kosher salt
128 grams sugar
20 grams milk powder
20 grams instant dry yeast
2 whole eggs
160 grams cream
60 grams butter, softened

Bay Leaf Cream:
650 grams whole milk
½ teaspoon salt
6 whole fresh bay leaves, torn
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
160 grams sugar
50 grams cornstarch
120 grams egg yolks
60 grams butter

Concha Topping:
250 grams shortening
265 grams powdered sugar
150 grams all-purpose flour
160 grams cake flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 vanilla pod, scraped

METHOD:

For the Roux:
Bring milk to a simmer. While whisking continuously, slowly add the flour. When mixture is combined, switch to a rubber spatula and constantly scrape the bottom of the pot while cooking the roux. Cook until thick. Chill overnight.

For the Dough:
Whisk bread flour, salt, sugar, milk powder, and yeast. Add the dry ingredients to a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add Roux, eggs, cream, and 200 grams water and mix on a low speed. Once the dough looks shaggy, increase the speed and slowly add the butter. Mix until the butter is incorporated. Lower the speed and mix the dough for an additional 10 minutes. The dough should look smooth and will pull from the sides of the bowl. Cover dough and let proof until doubled in size. Portion the dough into 70-gram pieces and shape into balls on a lightly floured surface. Place on a silpat-lined sheet tray with enough room for the dough balls to grow. Lightly cover with plastic wrap and proof until they double in size.

For the Bay Leaf Cream:
In a heavy saucepan bring milk, salt, bay leaves, vanilla extract, and 80 grams sugar to a simmer. Turn off the heat and let the mixture steep for 1 hour. Whisk cornstarch, egg yolks, and remaining sugar. Bring the bay leaf milk back to a simmer. Temper in the egg mixture. Cook the custard until thick and all the starch is cooked off. Remove the bay leaves. With an immersion blender, add butter and blend until emulsified. Place in an ice bath and chill.

For the Concha Topping:
In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix shortening and powdered sugar until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flours, salt, and vanilla then add to the shortening mixture. Mix until combined, careful not to overmix. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill. Once the dough is chilled, divide into 4 pieces. Place the dough in between 2 pieces of parchment paper and roll to about ¼ centimeter thick and freeze overnight. Repeat with the rest of the dough pieces. Once frozen, punch the sheeted dough with a 3-inch round cutter. Keep in the freezer until ready to use.

To Assemble and Serve:
Place the Concha Topping on top of the proofed conchas and score carefully. Bake the conchas in a 325°F oven for 12 minutes, rotating halfway through. When they’re finished baking, immediately move the buns to a cooling rack. Let cool before filling. Gently poke a hole in the concha and create a hollow interior. Put the Bay Leaf Cream in a piping bag with a bismarck piping tip and fill the conchas.

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