Rosemary Asiago Savory Sables - #baketogether

It’s been way too long since I participated in a #baketogether. My last one was in October, gasp! How’d that happen. I guess the end-of-year insanity got the best of me and they just didn’t happen. I have gone back to look at these recipes and oh what I’ve missed! I think I be doing a make up on them at some point throughout the year.

Okay so Abby Dodge has given us something entirely different this time: Spicy Parmesan Sables! In addition, a technique called “fraisage” was employed in this recipe and it’s new to me. As she explained, “this simple method of smearing the just-mixed dough with the palm of your hand creates layers of butter and dough (think laminating) from the crumbly mixture which makes for a tender, flaky texture”. Oh how I love learning new things.

For my take on the sables, I decided to swap out the parmesan for Asiago, one of my favorite cheeses on earth, and rosemary for the thyme. I love the combination of Asiago cheese and rosemary.

It occurred to me that since I was playing with Italian flavors, I would see what would happen if I turned these into olive oil sables. Well, they didn’t brown the same, they were a bit greasy to the touch and the oil flavor was way too strong. Not to mention they were way too fragile. FAIL!

I really did want the olive oil flavor because despite all of the above, I could tell I was onto something. I decided to do a half butter, half oil version and this turned out much better! And the fraisage technique worked better the second time around as well…but that could have been me. You get the flakiness from the butter and the richness from the oil. Yum.

Baketogether is a lot of fun and Abby is a very gracious host. It’s open to all so head on over to her site and join the fun.

So here is my version of Abby’s Sables:
Adapted from Abby Dodge

Rosemary-Asiago Olive Oil Sables

Ingredients
1 1/3 cups (6 ounces) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Asiago cheese
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 7 slices, well chilled
2 ounces olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons very cold water
Kosher salt for sprinkling (optional)

Instructions
1. Put the flour, cheese, salt and rosemary into a food processor and pulse just enough to combine.
2. Add the butter and pulse until it just starts to break up, about 4-5 times. Then add the olive oil and pulse another 6-7 times, or until you see butter pieces that are slightly larger than a pea.
3. Add the water a little at a time and pulse until the dough starts forming moist crumbs, maybe 5 or 6 more times.
4. Dump the flour mixture onto an unfloured counter and gather into a pile. Here’s the fraisage technique: “With the heel of you hand, push and gently smear the crumbs away from you until they start to form a cohesive dough.” Gather the dough together and turn 45 degrees; fraisage 1 or 2 more times.
5. Form the dough into a rectangular log, about 7 1/4 long by 2 1/4 wide. You can use a bench scraper to make the sides straight (Abby’s great idea!).
6. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic and refrigerate until very firm, about 3 hours or up to 2 days.
7. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375°F. Line two sheet pans with silicone liners or parchment paper.
8. When the oven is up to temperature, take the dough out of the refrigerator and using a thin straight-edge knife, cut the dough into 1/4 inch slices; place the slices on the prepared sheet pans about 1 inch apart. They won’t spread.
9. Bake one sheet at a time until slightly browned, about 18-20 minutes.

Abby’s Notes
The dough can be shaped and frozen for up to a month, thawed on the counter for an hour or overnight in the fridge.
Baked and cooled sables can be wrapped and frozen. Thaw at room temp and refresh in the over for a few minutes at 325°F.

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