Stage 21 | Paris Finale

Paris-Brest, one final stage and the road reaching its destination

We’ll let Tom Pidcock off for today. What a result Tom, Top 10 finish!

He did give us a perfectly good excuse to begin this journal late.

And somehow, the road has now carried us all the way to Paris.

Yesterday belonged to Richard Carapaz.

After a huge day in the Alps, he won at Alpe d’Huez, secured the mountains classification and completed an extraordinary final week.

Remco Evenepoel finished second.

Sepp Kuss finished third after twice crashing late in the stage. What a hero.

Tadej Pogačar arrives in Paris with a lead of 6 minutes and 26 seconds.

Tom Pidcock is ninth overall and on course for his first Tour de France top-ten finish.

Today, the mountains are gone.

The Tour reaches Paris.

Today’s Ride

Stage 21 was originally planned to begin in Thoiry and cover 132.5 kilometres.

That route has now been shortened to 89 kilometres.

French security and emergency personnel have been redeployed to assist with the devastating wildfires affecting south-west France, and the competitive stage will therefore take place within Paris.

The Montmartre circuit remains.

The Champs-Élysées remains.

But the circumstances surrounding today’s finale are far more serious than the race.

The riders will still enter the capital.

They will still race through Montmartre.

They will still reach the Champs-Élysées.

But today begins with an acknowledgement that some things matter rather more than sport.

Today’s Kitchen

For the final day, there could only be one choice:

Paris-Brest.

A ring of choux pastry filled with praline cream.

Created in the Paris region in honour of the Paris–Brest cycling race.

Shaped like a wheel.

A pastry that owes its existence to cycling, served on the day the Tour reaches Paris.

It is also a fitting final recipe.

The choux must be cooked until properly dry.

The pastry cream must be completely cold.

The butter must be soft.

And everything has to come together at precisely the right temperature.

Simple enough to describe.

Far less simple to execute well.

Stage 21 Recipe | Paris-Brest

Ingredients

Serves 8.

Choux pastry

• 125ml whole milk
• 125ml water
• 100g butter
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 150g plain flour
• 4 eggs
• Flaked almonds

Praline mousseline

• 400ml whole milk
• Vanilla
• 4 egg yolks
• 80g caster sugar
• 35g cornflour
• 200g softened butter
• 140g hazelnut-and-almond praline paste

Method

Bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil.

Beat in the flour and cook until the dough leaves the sides of the pan.

Cool briefly, then add the eggs gradually.

Pipe the pastry into a large wheel-shaped ring.

Scatter with almonds and bake until deeply golden and dry.

Make a thick pastry cream from the milk, egg yolks, sugar and cornflour.

Cool completely.

Beat the softened butter until pale, then add the pastry cream gradually.

Finish with the praline paste.

Split the choux ring and pipe in the praline mousseline.

Replace the top and dust lightly with icing sugar.

A little precision.

A little patience.

And considerably more butter than a professional cyclist would admit to eating.

Why This Dish?

Sometimes we take inspiration from brilliant cooks such as @jhbfoodiecyclist.

Sometimes we simply let the road decide.

Today, the road reaches Paris.

And Paris-Brest is a pastry created for cycling.

There was no need to look any further.

Its shape is the wheel.

Its name is the race.

Its purpose is celebration.

In the Workshop

Over the past week, we have followed the Tour through food.

Mushrooms and Comté.

Tarte flambée.

Croziflette.

Diots.

Perch.

Gratin dauphinois.

Tourtons.

Oreilles d’âne.

Blueberry tart.

And now Paris-Brest.

Different regions.

Different ingredients.

Different traditions.

But the same recurring principles:

Start with proper materials.

Take your time.

Do the work by hand.

Do not hide poor workmanship beneath decoration.

And make something worth keeping.

Our complimentary yellow hand-stitching offer ends with Le Tour.

The road reaches Paris today.

The workshop continues tomorrow.

Food from the road.
Handmade in England.
Inspired by Le Tour.