Pastry Chef Attempts to Make Gourmet Cheez-Its | Gourmet Makes | Bon Appétit

which cheese am i maybe I'm white cheddar perpetually has a theory Chris is original liked everything you liked the four of us cool I feel like Andy's hot and spicy post selfies from the back of his limo oh it's been a while since I've pulled my hair out at one of these episodes but I'm I'm getting there hey everyone I'm Claire today we are in the VA Test Kitchen and I am making gourmet cheez-its I don't have like a close personal relationship with cheez-its but I do think that they're very good does it possible they're not as good as I remember what I remember about cheez-its and what I still think is really good is like how tangy they are you're left with this mouth-watering acidity that makes you want to keep eating them I think that we could try to make our version have more cheese flavor I kind of want to try the white cheddar whoa these are incredible this is their jaws line regular cheese head and caramel popcorn in one bag delicious the only real option here anything is to make the original cheddar now we want to analyze the cheese it on a micro-level so I'm gonna get rid of all this stuff and pull in the crackers so I can take a closer look okay first I'm gonna start by measuring it looks like it's exactly one inch one two three four so seven little grooves per side then the other opposite sides only have four there are lots and lots of little air pockets with layers of cracker in between and little even tiny little micro air bubbles on the surface I can tell that they're baked because there's a flat side there is no browning on anywhere that might present a challenge for the way that we're gonna bake them it might involve some kind of dehydration to really get them to be dry all the way through my guests about cheez-its and how they're made is that it's not that complicated it's a dough that's rolled out into sheets cut in two directions to make these squares and then baked if we really want to get those very crispy layers then you would maybe also use a technique called lamination with butter to produce a texture similar to the outside of a croissant with like lots of layers so that might be something to work into this recipe Gabriela do you want a tape okay so you told me earlier this is your favorite snack it's one of your favorites they don't like it don't like it small penis hmm it was kind of like a toasted cheese like it's almost like a little bit like acrid right off the bat I was like the flavor can be improved I could just actually make it more cheddar obviously artificial you call it that's not color I mean to me said that orange cheddar is artificially colored made like a nacho it would be fun not paprika no because I don't want to just have a pepper flavor you know although like a tiny tiny bit of cayenne I think would be good the hole in the middle is like very I think that's the iconic thing about yeah my theory is that the hole in the center is to prevent the cracker from like puffing all the way like doming then the little sprinkling of salt on top how hard can be to make a cracker not hard oh it's time for my favorite part reading the ingredients enriched flour parenthesis wheat flour is a diamond right on nitric acid floats parentheses vegetable oil parentheses soybean and palm oil with TBHQ for friends parentheses she's made with skim milk Fred the Seas way adult he's : Otto extract oil our embassies contains 2% or less of saw every case paprika extract soy lecithin annatto is a seed it does produce like a very very bright yellow color I do think it's interesting that it does have an auto extract color which I talked about and there's paprika and paprika extract color which Molly mentioned so that helps explain the like very orange color so now we're ready to go over to the computer and start kind of like the research base here's their website in 1986 cheese it reveals to the world their secret of how they've been making their crackers so delicious it's all in the hundred percent real cheese it was the year I was born yeah it's a roller that punches out the little ridged rectangle I never thought of it until now but it's like a ravioli cutter there's a tool and the pastry chefs use to cut like strips of dough that are parallel and it's this like set of pastry wheels on kind of like an accordion style this I think is gonna be a faster way of cutting a lot of cheese it's all at once the liquid in the dough comes from like a salty solution rolled out folded over several times so they're punched out in the sheets baked and then broken apart into the individual crackers so I did some research online for cracker recipes I have some ideas about how I'm gonna roll it out and add that flaky texture so I'm actually really excited to start this process I took off my power blazer and put on my apron the apron means that it's time to start cooking my plan is to mix up the dough incorporate the butter cut bake dehydrate so here's what I'm gonna do Gabi found some annatto seed to extract the color from these I'm going to bloom it in some oil this will be our orange food dye I'm gonna start with putting together a dough using the food processor also adding some spices maybe some paprika cayenne add the cheese I bloomed yeast mixture and out of oil and then I'm gonna speed this through the tube the color is looking good I think it could be more orange still let me add one more teaspoon of the oil and maybe another tablespoon of water the overall consistency is nice it's not sticky I mean it's raw flour like which doesn't taste great could have added a lot more cheese to it but I'm gonna carry on and just test out the proofing and the forming so I have this idea for how to create even more flaky layers and it involves the technique called lamination and I'm gonna use the food processor to finely grate butter incorporate these shreds of butter into the dough as I'm rolling it so that it flattens into these micro sheets of butter and in the oven the water in the butter turns to steam there's sort of a separation effect and it creates a flaky texture yeah I think the flavor is not gonna be I already know it's like not gonna be what I wanted to be yeah I love Jesus you do oh yeah a little baguette more in-flight movie contract uh-huh you know oh I feel awful after I fly that's why we gotta get first-class tickets on one day you're on your way yeah it was more like you Claire I've seen the numbers what all right I I seen this show Clarett I've never gone further than the Lower East Side for this show for anything anyway Jesus now yeah how you gonna do it well having fun kind of flipping the door around all right I'm just gonna use the the wheel here and a ruler what's just fun I'm really excited to see the outcome yeah but don't get too excited because I think this one's gonna taste bad I'm banking on the fact that we're gonna get those wheel cutters and I don't have to actually do this but I'm gonna try to get an approximate shape I have the smallest round tipped pastry tip I could find and it really looks like it kind of fits perfectly like to the size of the little hole and that she's it so I'm gonna use this to punch a center hole out of each one I'm not gonna bother with those little notches and the sides because I think it's a little premature I just want to get a sense of the texture and taste Suns going down get a little tired of this step I'm just gonna bake the tray and see what happens oh they did get a little brown okay not not ideal they definitely failed a lot like the color like kind of bleached out these brown too much there's really good layer separation I mean it's the one I just bit into but take a look at that it looks very similar though Oh like the profile side-by-side bro tasty I would throw these at a party so these shrunk almost a full eighth of an inch so I have to go up in size a little bit I actually am more encouraged by this initial test than I thought I would be I think I'm just gonna add more cheddar and I would like swap a little bit of the flour for the powdered cheese to try to make them as cheesy as possible and then go from there I'm actually really excited to do a second round feel pretty good about like the changes that I want to make make them cheesy or work on the dimensions a little bit cream to edge and of course that bright orange color so first let me get the oil on the top we're going for something ultra concentrated so I want to use cake flour instead of all-purpose just to try to get something kind of light and texture powdered cheese to try to get more of like a cheddar flavor into the cracker six ounces of cheddar today so orange is time we look at the cutters okay I've never actually used one of these have only seen videos of it yeah so then you just go before I had a lot of shrinkage in the dough I cut it to an inch and it was really more like three quarters of an inch when it came out of the oven so if I have 25 percent shrinkage that I want to set this to about one and a quarter inches know that right hold on Kevin again and it shrinks 25% then it shrinks more than a quarter-inch so I need you're less than what my calculator waitwhat one in the third but how many college degrees to that shake so I want to go to about one and a third inches in between I have to figure out now though first what I'm gonna use to make a little crimps around the edges we need something Forks like but with thinner or closer together tines cake testers would work I need a wire cutter I want to cut seven individual pieces don't tell Gabi I'm doing it so annoy my fingers dog do it there's so much glue so there's my little four pronged tool and my seven and I think I'm ready finally to move into the cutting face I need someone to hold the parts Cristina all right I need your Oh sis can you hold this parchment paper yeah okay because it was moving as I was trying to cut I'll try not to roll over your finger I mean I think we do you do buy it we need a second person hey Kat oh good thank you both okay so now one by one punching the circle out of the center and making my little marks on the sides thinking that while there's a little bit of moisture if I put the salt on it now then it'll stick as it dries so we'll see I tasted the cheese and kraft mac and cheese said another way it's delicious I feel like so cheesy they're a little salty I think we need it out on the salt a bit especially because of that extra sprinkle on top there's still a bit bigger than the original and of course a major different is how much thicker they are it doesn't have this same like extremely bright vivid orange color they need to dry out more I want to leave these in the dehydrator overnight to see what happens but definitely I need to roll them thinner for the next version and I need to make them a little bit smaller you can see that they've definitely kind of raised around the sides but overall I think dimensions look better I want to let them hang out in this 200 degree oven for a little bit and then put them in the dehydrator and let them go overnight so real return to form for for my makes the wire cutters hot glue gun the dehydrator but overall good size there's still a little bit thick the real treatment today was getting a cracker that tastes intensely cheddar II but really it's gonna be about construction and texture for tomorrow on day three all right it's Friday they be a Test Kitchen which means she's Molly's here I'm very curious to see what's been happening in the dehydrator it's been over 24 hours the colour hasn't suffered I don't think they look pretty good I'm really hoping there's a crisp all the way through texture all right hmm so the dehydrator had the desired effect you can see the layers inside go ahead and taste for flavor let me know you think really good they're a little bit firm they taste good right I'm gonna do one fewer lamination because I think they'll be more dramatic separation and like fewer layers which is good using the same dough recipe after I pulled in those flutter bits I'm gonna roll it out and fold it just one time it looks interesting huh so today the dough is a little bit different there was some more cracking while I was rolling it out so you can see parts where the butter is peeking through that's not really good and I'm not really sure what that change was today because we didn't do anything different in the formula but I'm just gonna go with it and see what happens I'm not loving the surface texture where the butter was present and then it kind of melted in the oven and vaporized a little bit so it left just make these little voids there a little flowery because I use a lot of flour to roll them out they're not at all crisp so that's I don't think that this is a batch it's gonna make our cheese it's I want to complete put together another dough just do the exact same thing over again to try to get just a more solid lamination basically it's an abject failure very have old texture on the surface I'm mixing another batch of dough more elasticity and extensibility less cracking theoretically I'm gonna use one seamless layer of butter bad today something bad is happening today it's really bad energy it's all messed up it looks so much different much worse than it did yesterday I don't know why usually at least have some idea what the problem is look at that that's really bad okay just as a final test it's kind of pointless but I just want to see what that dough is like if I can even roll it out to a thickness and then cut it and just bake it off I don't know it's just seems pointless but so 15 minutes come back and check it I was feeling good no now I feel terrible bread's at the BAFTAs this is version 2 version 3 and version 4 not in a good place please Brad's in London right now in a fluid business class yeah I blame you Brad that's his fault yeah where are you read I think probably make me feel worse I don't want talking about it alright I did there's heartbreak okay I'm gonna look at the crackers that went in one of them looks great look how good that one looks no the rest of them are disasters I can't blame anyone and it's frustrating I blame you know what I blame Brad oh but it's weird because I did not change anything between today and yesterday so now I'm pivoting on the dough I'm pulling out the yeast I'm switching back to all-purpose flour yeah yeah I'm going down on the amount of cheese I think that's doing a lot I think there's so many things in here that aren't flat that isn't flour they're very cheesy like it's not the flavor isn't the issue it was time for you to have a challenge yeah I know you know I mean yeah like Reese's Cups it's you're saying it's karma they're gonna fall good kitchen which is why Gabi's covering everything in black garbage bags so I'm gonna get out of here you'll have a drink take my mind off of cheez-its and then put my background cheese's over the weekend and try to think about it figure out what's happening what's going wrong and then come back and maybe you know what maybe it needs like a full 180 pivot like somewhere else go in the other direction I don't know it's day four I'm sad to say did not think this one was gonna take me into four days I'm gonna pivot and change the method a little bit and I want to try a version that's not Ystad because the yeast is really slowing us down and I want to finish today I want to do a technique that's closer to like pie dough where I'm going to add the butter into the food processor after the cheese and then bring everything together with some water chill it roll it out bake it see what happens it definitely feels more wet [Music] I'm excited and a little nervous all right they look good they looked nice and puffed I see some really nice little air bubbles so I'm pretty pleased and there's a little bit of browning on the bottom I'm going to immediately get this tray into the dehydrator so they can fully dry out they look great I'm very happy with how uniform they are the color looks nice actually I'm very very happy with these well those look like Jesus Yeah right there girls are very close so crisp and light that's crispy mmm and salty and the cheese flavors nice I feel like I did a good job so what I hear you saying is I nailed it the size is super super close I mean there's maybe a couple millimeters difference and flavor the whole way through has been really good so I'm not even worried about that there's many more layers and they're definitely finer in texture in the homemade yob overall pretty close chittering nobody's good store team yeah like potato chips salty so yeah I certainly not anticipate having that really frustrating day on Friday but I do think it made the final version better than it would have been if I had just kept going down that path so happy no regrets about the process I love the flavor really great texture I think I'm a great here's how you make gourmet cheese it to make the anata o oil combine 1/4 caponata seeds 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 2 teaspoons of paprika in a small saucepan bring to a gentle simmer and remove from heat let cool and then strain to make the dough pull 7 ounces all-purpose flour 2 ounces powder cheddar 1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 2 tablespoons buttermilk powder 1/4 teaspoon sugar quarter teaspoon smoked paprika 4 tsp sweet have and a pinch of cayenne in the food processor at four ounces finely diced sharp yellow cheddar and four tsp annatto oil and pulse until cheddar has almost disappeared into flour and the mixture isn't even orange you add 1/2 cup diced butter and pulse again until butter pieces our piece eyes are smaller transfer to a large bowl and slowly add 7 tablespoons water tossing to combine need make stir gently to bring together into a dough and wrap in plastic pressing into a flat square chill for at least an hour roll out on a floured surface to his eighth inch thickness cut dough into one and a quarter inch squares crimp all four sides using a custom-made hot-glued comb thingy and use a small round pastry tip to punch out the center hole sprinkle with crushed flaky salt bake at 300 Fahrenheit until puffed and firm but not browned about 20 minutes transfer to a dehydrator and dry until crisp all the way through do you believe that she's gives you weird dreams no I don't know I think cheese gives you a weird dreams I think melatonin gets you weird dreams this is a personal factor about myself but I'm really when I was younger and today was really into Buffy and there was like this whole episode where it was like a whole dream sequence and like cheese popped up and like Ford it was like everyone in everyone's dreams there was like Oh weird cheese moment that was never explained so I guess but I never have weird dreams when I eat cheese you guys ever watched Buffy it's the best show ever but you know it but you know it's a great show as long as you know that okay yeah I still have a question on cert Michelle Gellar

Channel: Bon Appétit

Views: 5,300,111

Rating: 4.9434447 out of 5

Keywords: claire saffitz, pastry chef, gourmet makes, cheese it, cheez it, cheez-its, claire bon appetit, claire makes, claire makes cheez it, gourmet cheez it, gourmet recipe, how to make cheez it, how to make cheez its, cheez its recipe, cheez it recipe, homemade cheez it, claire gourmet cheez it, gourmet oreo, gourmet cookie, cheez it bon appetit, bon appetit cheez it, making cheez it, cheez-it, gourmet cheez-its, how to make cheez-its, claire makes cheez-its, food, bon appetit

Id: 2IFYt20QON8

Length: 21min 56sec (1316 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 26 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/redditsoaddicting]

"It's weird because I did not change anything between today and yesterday."

This keeps reminding me more and more of programming...

[u/AevnNoram]

It isn't Gourmet Makes if Claire isn't suffering

[u/RoaldDahling]

I can't read the name Cheez-Its anymore without instantly thinking of the David Blaine street magic parody

[u/IthinktherforeIthink]

Cheezus, Reddit woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. I thought this was great as were all her videos. People be so nit picky

[u/spitouthebone]

i have no interest in baking, i don't have the skills to even think about doing these but every time a new gourmet Bon Appetit video comes out i watch it...its like the Tom Scott of baking

[u/AyekerambA]

"How hard can it be to make a cracker?"

And it was then I knew that she cursed herself.

[u/DoctorBritta]

Anyone else getting the sense that Claire is getting more frustrated with this gig? After her brief absence, there’s been this undertone of stress or dissatisfaction in her videos.

[u/filemeaway]

"I took off my power blazer and put on my apron..."

OMG i love her

[u/[deleted]]

"cheez-its cheez-its cheez-its, big whoop!"