Mushroom Rounds
Submitted by bruiser
Mushroom rounds are Polish-style puff pastry appetizer rings filled with creamed mushrooms. A laminated double-dough technique creates flaky shells worth the overnight rest.
YIELD
16 appetizersPREP
9 hrsCOOK
20 minREADY
9 hrsThese are classic Polish appetizers that look like miniature vol-au-vents and earn every minute of their preparation. Two doughs (a sour cream and egg yolk base, plus a buttery butter-and-flour insert) get layered together, folded jelly-roll style, and rested overnight to develop the flaky lamination that defines true puff pastry.
Once baked, the rings get filled with a quick saute of finely minced mushrooms bound in cream and warmed through one more time. The contrast of shattering pastry against creamy savory filling is what makes these worth the effort. Perfect for cocktail parties, dinner-party first courses, or holiday entertaining.
Pro Tips
- Don’t skip the overnight refrigeration. The flour needs hours to fully hydrate and the layers of butter need to firm up. Skipping this gives you tough, dense pastry instead of shattering layers.
- Keep both doughs and your work surface as cold as possible. Warm butter melts into the flour and ruins the lamination, leaving you with a flat cookie instead of a puff pastry shell.
- Brush the assembled doughnut shapes with egg yolk just before baking. The yolk creates that signature golden mahogany sheen on the finished pastries.
- Cool the mushroom filling completely before spooning it into the baked shells. Hot filling melts the delicate pastry layers and your rounds will collapse.
Variations
- Add 1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh dill or chives to the mushroom filling for a Polish herbal note.
- Stir 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan into the filling for extra savory depth.
- Use a mix of shiitake and cremini mushrooms for a more complex earthy flavor than plain button mushrooms.
Ingredients
Directions
DOUGH 1: In a medium bowl, combine flour, egg yolk, sour cream and water. Work into a soft elastic dough. Knead 15 to 20 minutes. Cover, set aside.
DOUGH 2: In a medium bowl, combine flour, butter into a smooth soft dough. Divide dough into 3 balls. Cover dough balls, set aside.
On a lightly floured board roll out DOUGH 1 into a rectangle about ¼ inch thick. Place 1 ball of DOUGH 2 on center of rolled dough rectangle.
Gently press dough ball with your hands or rolling pin until dough ball is ¼ inch thick and covers a circular portion of DOUGH 1.
Fold up both short sides of DOUGH 1 over rolled DOUGH 2 so ends meet in center.
Re-roll resulting dough combination into a rectangle ¼ inch thick. Repeat with remaining 2 balls of DOUGH 2.
Roll dough jelly-roll style. Wrap dough in foil; refrigerate overnight. Halve dough crosswise.
On a lightly floured board, roll out ½ of dough into a rectangle ¼ to ⅜ inch thick.
Using a round 2 inch cutter, cut dough rounds. Arrange 16 rounds on greased baking sheet, allowing room for spreading. Press leftover dough scraps into a ball. Roll to same thickness; cut as many dough rounds as possible.
Repeat process with remaining dough until a total of 48 rounds are cut.
With a 1 inch round cutter, cut out centers of 32 dough rounds not on baking sheets, forming doughnut shapes.
Using a pastry brush, apply beaten egg white to top surface of 1 uncut dough round on baking sheet.
Carefully postion 1 doughnut cutout directly on top of brushed dough round.
Lightly press doughnut cutout down with your fingertips. Brush egg white on top of doughnut cutout.
Place a second doughnut cutout on top of the first. Pat lightly with your fingers.
Repeat process until all dough rounds on baking sheet have 2 doughnut cutouts glued on.
Brush beaten egg yolk on top of doughnut cutouts. Bake 15 minutes or until golden; let cool.
Melt butter in skillet, add mushrooms, sauté until nearly tender. In bowl, combine half and half, flour, salt, pepper; stir mixture into sautéed mushrooms. Simmer 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
FIll each doughnut round with about 1 teastpoon of cooled mushroom mixture. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Serve hot.
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