bake - June 2017 - 41

pastries

Pastry Dough Perfection
Jory Downer, a 2005 winning team member at the Coupe du

"I try to assure our customers that what they purchase here is

Monde de la Boulangerie, known as the World Cup of Baking, is

the best quality baked goods they can ﬁnd," Downer says. "I am

adept at turning sheets of laminated dough into sweet bites of

very critical about the ﬂour we use. I expect it to be from a par-

deliciousness.

ticular mill, with very speciﬁc mill dates. We still make our own
puff pastry dough that is laminated with only butter."

The owner of North Shore landmark Bennison's Bakery in Evanston, Illinois, which will celebrate its 80th anniversary next year,

Versatility is one of his true talents. He is as proﬁcient baking

recently demonstrated a variety of pastries that he produced

artisan breads as he is perfecting pastries. He can read batters

during the ﬁrst-ever Assembly of Extraordinary Bakers held at

and doughs like few others, and knows when it's ready.

Chicago's Kendall College.
That matters because he is able to create a loaf of bread with
Downer made chocolate babka, rugelach, lemon ﬂorentine crois-

the desired qualities he is after (open grain, tight grain) and use

sants, and hand-cut cake donuts during the April 22-23 event.

different fermentation methods to get different aromas in the
ﬁnished loaf. "Being able to troubleshoot when there is a prob-

"When you cut it, you start with a nice rectangular piece, so

lem is important," he says.

it will stay the shape you need," he told fellow bakers while

JOHN U N R EIN

preparing the dough to make rugelach. This dough is made with
2 pounds, 10 ounces each of three ingredients: butter, cream
cheese, and King Arthur Sir Galahad ﬂour.
"This piece is 18 inches wide, which is cut in three strips," he continues. Once the cinnamon sugar ingredients are mixed together,
he sheets the dough and spreads with apricot jam, walnuts
(ﬁnely ground), and the cinnamon sugar mixture. "Then we roll
them up, push together, cut them and put directly in the oven.
This is one of the best things we make."
Chocolate babka is another favorite, and Chicago's North Side
where the family-owned bakery operates is surrounded by a
diverse number of ethnic groups. That's why it is so important
they know how to make Greek pastries, Swedish pastries, French
pastries, Polish pastries and more. And make them well.
There are not many Certiﬁed Master Bakers in the country, but
Downer is one of them. His father, Guy, bought Bennison's in
1967 and Jory joined the business in 1975. Today, Jory's son,
Guy, and daughter, Jordana, work for the bakery, making it three
generations.
Jory Downer credits his father for teaching him how to persevere and "don't ask anybody to do anything I wouldn't do myself." He learned the art of fermentation from Didier Rosada and
studied lamination techniques with Philippe Le Corre.

bakemag.com | JUN 2017 > 41

http://www.bakemag.com

bake - June 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of bake - June 2017