Pastry Chef Attempts to Make Gourmet Combos | Bon Appétit

I took am beyond that side it seems like you took an ambien this morning yeah one time a min and then I slept for six hours so is it supposed to be worth it's not like eight hours yeah I'm so frustrated by this hey everyone I'm Claire I'm gonna be a petition and today I'm making court hey everyone I'm Claire we're in the VA Test Kitchen and today I'm making gourmet combos the last time I had combos our was probably 12 years old it was at Camp Thunderbird for girls in Bemidji Minnesota I did indeed have a childhood sort of I don't remember them being that good but I also kind of remember liking them my recollection of a combo is it's kind of a pretzel like crispy little tubes filled with cheddar cheese like sounds pretty good to me this to me feels like the standard size and flavor this one just says combos stuffed snacks cheddar cheese right some combos I guess are cracker and some are Presley so we'll try both it has that powder and cheddar cheese kind of scent there's some light flakes of I'm guessing our salt okay right off the bat very good there's a lot of sweetness in the cracker and the filling itself the cracker itself doesn't have a ton of character but the it's very crunchy and kind of tender and that combination with a little bit of creamy salty cheese come back to me very eight in ten of these maybe it won't be so good but the first bite I think these are great let's not to like about combos I'm getting more excited by the minute with this combo thing Oh Delaney talk about combos that much it's not like out there in the culture yeah but people like them right I mean like there's posit there's good people like them they're the world's best gas stations uh how come no one talks about combos ever talks about cheez-its if you're hanging up cold fish what's your favorite kind I mean pizza Oh classic it's so good Annie doesn't seem busy imir Andy I have no idea what these are they are tubular pretzel and crackers filled with cheddar cheese and there when what have you had them that wasn't a combo they look a little like dog treats sorry I know it kind of good Susan I'd like tomato powder unlike ranch powder yeah this is good when you bite in them they are crunchy but they almost become like a little like brilliant doesn't it mm-hmm so I want it to be a little bit more snappy uh-huh you got it make sure you get the filling in with it I'm gonna use a touch more on the filling right yeah I just need like more balance like even just the pencil itself it's just like it's so crumbly yeah it doesn't feel like it has like real snap mm-hmm right now I think the only thing that's distinctive about the cracker part is that it's sweet my hope is that the dough is the same for the pretzel and the cracker and they're just doing the pretzel you know they're just treating it to get the shiny Brown outside I think I already do great yeah I wouldn't be surprised me there was no leavening agent in here at all it just puffs because of the water content looking at the cut surface of the tube I actually think that they're baked individually initially I was thinking like okay they're inmate fee made in a factory maybe it's being baked in a long tube and then cut but actually I think the first time that the cracker part gets baked it's already in this length and that's because of the uniform color around the cut sides if they were baked and then cut it would look more like this it would have a very distinctly cut surface here's the pretzel kind I'm gonna compare it side-by-side to one of the cracker ones it might be that the cracker filling is a little more yellow I guess it does look like it's a slightly different Joe and slightly different consistencies now it's time for my favorite part reading ingredients wheat flour vegetable oil parentheses home kernel oil palm oil corn oil hydrogenated palm oil and/or hydrogenated kernel oil indices way maltodextrin sugar modified corn star salt less than 5% baker and cheddar cheese blend indices milk cultured salt enzymes close friend this leavening pen disease baking soda sodium acid I wrote phosphate close friend appeased extra soy lecithin color and this is yellow 5 like yellow 6 playing with one lake close by the hydrolyzed corn gluten a churro flavor lactic acid eats to extract lactose buttermilk a trick acid so in the dough itself it's mostly wheat flour and oil sugar it's pretty high on the list of ingredients and then it does have a little bit of leavening that's interesting there are some good basic information here it all makes sense but I do want to go over to the computer to really see if there's any information about inside the factory and how they're made this is a very short Wikipedia page I'm concerned by the lack of information and transparency around combos in the internet this can't be right because apparently this guy's saying that a bunch of guys with handheld cough guns load the cheesy filling into the hollow pretzel bits tens of thousands of times every day to a high degree of precision no there's no way that's right but this says combos were developed from a patent purchased in the late 1970s so maybe there's like some highly secret proprietary information I wasn't anticipating not finding anything out so it makes the job a little bit harder on the one hand on the other hand it maybe makes it a little easier because I'm not I don't have a particular set method or approach in my mind that I feel like I have to stick to I can kind of make you know go anywhere with it so my plan is to make a basic cracker dough and then to take some of that dough and treat a pretzel style to make that shiny brown outside and try to form it and and bake it into tubes I'm gonna start with the dough so I'm gonna start out with flour well women add some buttermilk powder why not corn starch maybe 15 grams sugar we're going to do 5 grams salt gonna do a little bit of baking powder now all of these dry ingredients are gonna go into the mixer enough for the liquid it's gonna be a combination of water and oil maybe I'll use an a mixture of avocado oil and refined coconut oil I'm so frustrated by this no scales work on this station they all go all over the place all right we're gonna go measure this over there oh no it's still nope it doesn't it still doesn't work you think it's me wait Sola I'll stand over here and you and I'll tell you what to measure out is it silly it's working there goes that theory let's try it from scale it's working it's you okay just porn I'll tell you when to stop what is it what is 50 grams look like it's 54 can you add 25 coconut oil to that then I'm gonna add it all and just start mixing I do want a pretty dry Joe I'm basically just gonna need it yeah I think I do have to add more water do you know what I'm gonna do next what I'm gonna say this Joe has to rest today's really looking up I took a power nap I had a coffee when Gabi just gave me heat some mortadella and I have a Salter it's a great day and it's a holiday party later yeah totally no you're doing great here's the door that's been resting it's a little greasy can it what kind of a lot of oil I'm gonna try rolling it out and just baking off a slab of it to see what the texture is like Oh Brad do we have any metal shoes moving metal straws metal straws yeah I don't know Abby we need straws to form a hollow tube of dough isn't that a bit thing um like not a big enough circle it's the inside right all right never mind let me ask daddy this little length of the dough on this short little parchment sleeve I'm gonna try to form the dough around the straw and use it as a mold this is the seam I mean this edges meet together want to really pinch to itself this should've been my technique the whole time this is making it really even I just had that thought I always have during gourmet makes it just what if I nail it on a first try trying to really grip this parchment paper oops all right I'm gonna bake it see what happens here's my other idea so these two tubes we've used them enough several times in gourmet makes for Mentos and I don't never the last one they're just metal molds and I slid the whole parchment wrap tube of dough inside and that's to help keep around shape so it doesn't settle onto a flat surface as it bakes and I'm gonna pop it in the oven I'll come back in 10 minutes I check now what I'm looking for is just the heat of the oven to set the dough the dough is so insulated and that and there can't be a lot of moisture loss because of that though let's see it doesn't look that it did shrink a bit so those where the seam was it pulled away from itself a little bit it kind of worked it's the first pass so I only wanted to bake the dough enough to set it and have it be sliceable and then I'm gonna bake it again there's my little pale dough bits I wish the whole world it bigger and obviously it's not centered so I'll do a better job next time of forming it around the straw but before I try to adjust the dimensions I do want to put them back on a baking sheet and put them in the oven until they fully baked through okay looking kind of golden hey maybe they need to be baking a lower temperature but let's just see I mean they got a little bit a little bit golden they actually got kind of little grill marks the way that actual combos have and actually this one thing I didn't really notice when I was looking at them is there's kind of a seam right here they all have a seam Wow I didn't even really pay attention to that I wasn't really doing my job earlier they have a seam now I know it's pretty plain tasting not bad just a little bland okay grab out my grab my notebook again I'm gonna make some changes to the dough formulas I'm gonna double the sugar here really is surprisingly sweet then the baking powder I'm gonna increase to 5 grams I'm gonna do everything else and I'm gonna put together in the mixer years ago didn't quite come together in the mixer same as last time all right now I'm afraid actually we are gonna have a lot of rest of it it's just not gonna hold so well what is that Oh Mike that's weird [Music] seconds so we say did I get a the only people under 30 yes Wow guys this is the most the fun thing I've ever played with I love you okay all right oh that was fun okay all right the dough is hydrated so I'm gonna use that same technique that I was using before where I create leverage with a parchment paper to compress and even out the thickness of the pastry with a baker is top twine it's a cotton I'm trying to thing so here's my idea I'm gonna make pre I'm gonna pre-cut yeah I'm gonna cut all the way through just make sure the twine is positions that I'm pulling pulling fully parallel so I'm pre cutting the combos so that they look more like combos I guess it's like they like they have too much of like a cut face when I do this after the baking the first time and now I'm wrapping it back up putting it in the molds and baking it instead of taking them off of the straw I'm going to leave them on the straw but just separate them because part of what's happening is as they bake without the straw they're kind of closing up into that space and I don't want that to happen I want them to have the full area of the straw cut out if that makes sense and now I'm gonna bake it again at a slightly lower temp and then I'm gonna play with that toy again because it's like does something to my brain [Music] hold on this one is okay no no I hate it but I don't want to use it ever again you're they are they look good they got evenly golden using that method where they bake to the second time still on the straw it did a good job at keeping a really sharp cylinder through the center I think that's the outsides are a little thick so next time I would roll the dough thinner before I wrap it around the straw so what a great ga doing so fun just like good energy where's that toy nothing until it's time to leave so I don't know what happened to the commas that I actually cooked last night but this is the same dough let me just roll it out I wonder if pasta roll where is it way to go well not great I just shredded the dough into tiny pieces okay I just had an idea based on the pasta roller what if instead of trying to roll a single uniform thickness of dough around the straw I roll i spiral around the straw a super super thin layer of dough until I get the thickness that I like all the way around then I just trim it off and bake it because the combos kind of had Blair's that's what I was thinking about last night like take a look at this not like not like I think that's how they're doing it but like these kinds of flakes and everything I sort of liked that idea but it doesn't mean I have to come up with a dough that has some extensibility and elasticity what I might do is keep the same recipe and then add the water first and then really try to work it I'm increasing the amount of water and I'm not adding sugar I'm adding honey and I haven't added the fat yet because I want the liquid to hydrate all the flour first [Music] oh yeah that's toe that rolls plan is to wind it around the straw until I get to the overall thickness of dough that I like and then to use that same cutting and forming method as before still feels pretty soft disturbed because of the higher amount of hydration probably will need to bake longer the dough has really fused together so now I'm gonna go back in cut them again and pull the pieces apart well they look so smooth and good they're very off-center I'll use a different form a technique but I really like the way that these look I think good progress from today today and from yesterday and today each time it seems like it's getting a little better wow it's really good it's very light in the way that a combo is like well it's very similar the cake flour makes a big difference it is a much lighter textured cracker this would benefit from a seasoning coating on the outside like these have I think this needs more salt in general like a lot more salt good I know I know what I want to do next I'm going to make another batch of dough with these tweaks so I'm working one piece at a time I'll keep the rest of these covered [Music] I made a much thinner so that I wouldn't have such a dramatic difference in thickness all the way around and actually it looks good to me it really does so I forgot to add baking powder to us go I think I did also it's too salty I think I'm start over on the dome but maybe it's just a good time to stop same thing but doing it right this time oh they look great see these definitely puffed alright I think these look great this to me is the best version yet the the hole the hole is pretty well centered they look a lot better they're very smooth the color is nice and uniform they also have nicely placed centers they're pretty in the middle which is good and that was just a matter of rolling the dough thinner and wrapping it more times that worked out really well they look super combo II oh my God look at it so crackly and good so flaky mmm very light well-seasoned I love combos now yeah this feels like a good time to end it this stage at this point the hard part's over Oh kind of smoothly sail the ship into the port on day three no no no it's gonna be fine the only thing is you're enough don't remind me what I did cuz I'm not gonna be back here for a while alright it's a whole new year what day is today the second the second day of 2020 I barely remembered what we had started but it's combos now it's all coming back to me today I'm going to focus on production making more of these turning some into a pretzel coating I'm not literally making pretzel dough because there's like yeast involved and I'm not gonna go through that whole process I'm just using the same cracker dough but I do want to create a shiny very browned pretzel coating on the outside and there's a couple different ways to do that one is to use baking soda to make baking sort of more alkaline which then makes it more effective in creating the pretzel coating you have to bake it at a low temperature and there kind of molecular change that happens so even though I don't really understand that full transformation I do know that I want to get some baking soda baking in the oven because it takes about an hour and we'll make it strong enough to irritate so then I'll have to handle it carefully remind me to not touch this with my bare hands after it comes out before I start putting together the actual dough's I think I'm gonna make a couple of spice mixes that I can use to flavor the different dough's I guess I want one of them to be kind of like an Italian ish type seasoning and then the other one to be maybe more like pretzel II kind of seasoning like with mustard powder in both cases so I'm starting with a base of buttermilk so let me add that now in each of these cayenne onion powder in both for the pretzel flavor garlic powder brown mustard paprika cheddar powder I'm gonna shake this up and give it a taste it's really good now for the Italian seasoning one I have parmesan powder tomato powder dried oregano whole fennel seed hmm really good overall I'm happy with how each of the blends turned out chili label these I'm gonna make the two versions of dough [Music] so this one is za pizza and this one is L for pretzel so I have my dough's here they had a long time to rest and now I'm gonna roll them out in my pasta roller [Music] [Music] that looks great looks kind of being industrial and like it doesn't have a soul but it's like it's perfect but in a good way but in a good way then it bakes like that why does it bake in the cannoli form just so that it doesn't get a flat side as it bakes it stays really round I know I know where I would be like it it's gonna have a flat bottom but we all can imagine what it would look like without the flat bottom yeah when you take it that next little bit thank you and it's just oh wow we got to make her own fun you know the rest thank you I would say I haven't broken a sweat on this one in general Wow what I want to do next before I make any more of this flavor is figure out the baking soda solution for making a pretzel coating so I'm gonna pivot to that while these are in the oven so it just went back to that Harold McGee article about the baked baking soda the proportion that he gave was about a hundred grams what oh right I forgot it's fine nothing's happening so far all right make a solution dissolve the baking soda in the water it did it did it vaporize oh no really everyone's down under the hood and then I dip the unbaked dough into the solution let it sit there for three or four minutes dry off the excess and bake it and it should get that burnished shiny pretzel coating look I'm sorry does that say 450 degrees on that how hot is this top oven 350 this is a oven that's 100 degrees off it's actually a very beautiful color I wonder if I need to egg wash for shine they don't smell that pretzel ewwww so these are the two it's the same dough the one on my left your right got that dip that dunk in the baking soda solution so obviously it changes the color dramatically the color looks good it looks pretzel like but I am going to try before I put them in for the second round of baking where they dry out brushing them with a little bit of egg white to encourage a shy finish okay well I've done is to done how burnished is to burnish I didn't they look incredible I'm gonna go with they're not burned and they look amazing look at that look at that pretzel coating anyone I'll show you my enthusiasm do we think that they're too dark cuz it tastes very pretzel leave but then you have all like the Italian seasoning it's like kind of weird I think that next time I have to do less of a soak I'm gonna cut it in half and do two minutes where they got a little dark well so much for my less time theory like I'm actually surprised at how well the baking soda works no no I'm sure they're safe so we have Italian pretzel Italian savory and pretzel savory smells really good I'm very happy with the flavor the pretzel thing worked better than I thought it would over all the shapes of all of them look very even and combo like and I'm very pleased no d3 curse and I know that we'll wrap it up tomorrow no one got burned from chemical solution of baking soda so I was going home last night and I had been reading about the baked baking soda and how to pretzel I something I didn't read the last sentence we have said to rinse it after you soak it and before you bake it so that explains why they got really really dark and it's a little bit of a question mark whether or not these are acceptable to eat I ate two of them yesterday I felt fine good I just don't want to do it again what I'm trying to say right it's probably okay I think it's probably okay to I would probably eat it yeah I'd wait twenty-four okay all right so what I hear is I'm not redoing it I don't think so that was the answer I was looking for thank you so much in conclusion Chris said it's fine I'm gonna put these into the dehydrator while I then focus on making the filling filling the combos and then tasting what's that oh god that was too much that's too much that's too frantic this is a block of aged cheddar 18-month I think this is a good place to start flavor-wise I'll do a plain cheddar flavor then instead of jalapeno what if I do Calabrian chili which is very gourmet for the pizza instead of pepperoni I'm a cannon do you filling in Julia is a type of spreadable Italian sausage and it's spicy and it's delicious that is really gonna upgrade our homemade calm those so I like you to have more like a spicy mustard maybe some Dijon maybe some horseradish or something like that with the cheddar oqp i approached us to make one single kind of plain cheddar cheese mixture in the food processor and then divide that into three and then just kind of stir in the flavors for the three kinds of fillings oh you know what I want cheese obviously that is the obvious choice that's gonna be a great bass cue female and then soy sauce the cheese little by little cheddar cheese powder and parmesan powder Calabrian chili oil and garlic powder so I have about 300 milliliters so I'm gonna start with the mustard flavor I'm gonna put in a third of this mixture this is the savory seasoning mix this is Coleman's mustard so English style mustard it really packs a punch now a bit of put the horseradish mustard I also want to add a tiny bit of very very very finely chopped scallion all right I think it's not quite spicy enough so I'm gonna add a pinch of cayenne to this okay mustard is done the next cheese I'm going to do is Calabrian chili which all I'm gonna do is finely chopped up and if you use chillies and then blend them into the next third of the cheese mixture it kind of hits you on the finish and it's subtle it's not these are not incredibly hot Chili's but it's incredibly delicious okay so here is an unopened induye so it looks like salami but then it has a very soft consistency and smooth just like that put this into the food processor you know and I'm gonna add a little bit of the pizza flavoring into it also just a little bit though I don't want to be overpowering there's this hot enough in the food processor to get the engineer to incorporate so I'm gonna do it by hand it's gonna work it in with a spatula and then I'm gonna very very very finely dice some of the pepperoni and put that in so it'll be a little tiny cubes of pepperoni in the filling as well all that finely chopped pepperoni is in here I think this looks good I'll give it a little taste very very good I'm really happy with the flavors of all of them but these will go now into the refrigerator to set up a little bit before we pipe them last thing we'll be filling and tasting hopefully no one dies from the pretzel I'm gonna grab the crackers from the dehydrator smells very good they look great okay so I picked out this pastry tip I'm gonna feel it like I'm would feel like cannoli if you've ever seen that done I decided that I'm actually just going to film I'm gonna make every combination possible so there will be 12 total cuz three fillings times four different shells do you think are we gonna label these do you think so I'll know what's what this is all the Arts and crafting I get to do in this I enjoyed that so I'll start with favori pretzel + spicy mustard just savory + spicy mustard and then Italian pretzel wait it looks so similar look almost the exact dimensions same color filling ok now I'm gonna go on I'll do the Calabrian chili and also my favorite part of this so far is just complete the second filling is done I just couldn't be more into this whole symmetry and everything I love it [Music] I'm making a twister board so that people can spin the wheel to figure out which one they're gonna try Chris know it works okay okay what do we call this one to make our own fun on this show oh okay good one savory pretzel and spicy sausage that's a good one we think you're gonna be fine you eat it this is quite far better than a thank you I wish the bar was higher but thank you anyway yeah just a quick oh there we go good one okay what's in the middle you got savory and spicy sausage filling Thanks Hey look like a mandala this prosperity now it's a board game okay oh you won you got the one where there's only one left it's Halle and pretzel and Calabrian chili mm-hmm no I know it I'm watching wait I see I see the bite part oh so that looks pretty good Asia the camera oh it's so good like delightful it's like pasty it's creamy but the shatter to that pretzel and it even tastes like a pretzel like it really has been a nap on the outside mmm the monster my good time I'd open it up in over a little bit they look great I think the pretzel ones look much more appealing than the pretzel originals and overall there's a lot of fun use a lot of different techniques a lot of fun equipment and I got to make this little board this little combo game board I think combos more than the average for me makes I could simultaneously nail the look and make it was much higher quality than the original you can't always achieve both but I think in this case it was kind of movie on both counts so that is certainly a win here's how you make gourmet combos bake baking soda at 275 Fahrenheit for an hour to alkalize it then let cool dissolve two-thirds of a cup of baking soda in two cups of water and set aside to make a savory powder combine 2 tablespoons buttermilk powder 2 tablespoons brown mustard 2 tablespoons cheddar powder 2 teaspoons onion powder 2 teaspoons paprika 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper set aside to make the Italian seasoning powder combine 2 tablespoons buttermilk powder 2 tablespoons parmesan powder 1 tablespoon tomato powder 2 teaspoons onion powder 2 teaspoons powder dried oregano and 2 teaspoons ground fennel seeds set aside for the dough combine 240 grams cake flour 10 grams kosher salt 15 grams cornstarch 8 grams baking powder and 30 grams savory or Italian seasoning powder in a bowl make a well in the center and for and 100 grams water and 30 grams honey mix just to hydrate then add 50 grams avocado oil eat until the dough is smooth then cover and let the dough rest for 10 minutes roll out small portions of dough in a pasta roller until very thin does lightly with flour as necessary to prevent sticking and cut into rectangles measuring about 8 inches across and 2 and 3/4 inches wide tightly roll the dough around a straight metal straw then use thin thread to pre-cut the length of dough into crosswise segments dip some of the tubes of dough in the baking soda and place the straw seam-side down in a metal cannoli tube and set on a wire rack in a small room bake machine and bake at 350 Fahrenheit until the dough is set about 10 minutes cut along with same Qudsi made with a thread and separate the links of dough sliding off the straw onto the rack and bake again until the dough is light golden and dry all the way through about 15 minutes set aside to cool to make the cheese filling process 4 ounces cubed room temperature cream cheese 1/4 cup Kewpie mayonnaise a dash of Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and a food processor until very smooth add 3 ounces grated white aged cheddar cheese 5 tablespoons yellow cheddar powder 3 tablespoons parmesan powder 1/2 TSP Calabrian chili oil and garlic powder to taste and process until very smooth divide the mixture in thirds to 1/3 of the cheese filling stir in savory seasoning coleman's mustard horseradish mustard finely chopped scallion greens and cayenne pepper to taste to another third stir in very finely chopped Calabrian chilies and to the final third stir in softened induye Italian seasoning powder add finely chopped pepperoni transfer the fillings to a piping bag and fill each the combos individually and all possible combinations of filling in cracker what do you know what it is I'm not a show my thing you no one ever actually realizes I'm not a chef no I'm not do I work in a restaurant making pastries

Channel: Bon Appétit

Views: 3,520,107

Rating: 4.950603 out of 5

Keywords: claire saffitz, pastry chef, combos, claire makes, claire, gourmet makes, claire bon appetit, claire gourmet makes, claire makes combos, claire combos, combos recipe, make combos, making combos, how to combos, how to make combos, gourmet combos, diy combos, homemade combos, combos bon appetit, make combos at home, how combos are made, combos snack, combos food, combos snacks, what are combos, bon appetit combos, claire saffitz combos, food, bon appetit

Id: 4l5i53fDpzo

Length: 33min 42sec (2022 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 25 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/steveofthejungle]

I don't remember them being particularly good, but I also remember liking them? Yeah that's an accurate description of combos

[u/smudgy-inkblob]

When playing with that wood spiral thing: "Did I get an A?" Never change, Claire!

[u/scottjergenson]

Listen I love everyone involved at BA, but if we don’t get Cadbury Cream eggs this year I’m going to be bitterly disappointed in everyone in that test kitchen.

Edited because in my wishing to speak a GM makes into existence my horrific spelling got the best of me.

[u/BraumsAway]

It’s nice when Claire doesn’t have to replicate a process because she gets to MacGyver her way through an episode.

Also, the multiple flavor and shell options were so choice. We stan our gourmet legend.

[u/reekhadol]

"They don't have a soul, but in a good way"

Chris was on fire in this episode.

[u/TheShipEliza]

a very good friend calls combos "dog treats for people" and it is perfect.

also i've been wanting Claire to make these for a long time. very excited to get home and watch this.

[u/BobaFettCat]

As usual, now I want to go get some Combos. This is always the result of a GM episode.

(I don’t even know the last tine I got Combos. I want to say that the cheese in the middle was super gross?)

[u/maybesethrogen]

"I love when I'm good at stuff!"

Me too.

[u/TheColonel]

Just over 30 minutes... promises to not break her mind or spirit too bad.

Edit: Aaaaaand they're delicious.