Bostock Pastry Recipe French Almond Pastry

Bostock is an underrated, super easy and delicious French pastry to make. Buttery brioche soaked in citrus and almond flavors, and baked to perfection! Bostock is a pastry that is made with a rich vienoisserie pastry base. The popular options are either brioche or croissant. Both options work well since they are buttery and rich pastries. Another reason why I love bostock is because it’s a delicious way to use up stale brioche and croissants that are 1 – 2 days old. It’s such a great pastry to make with leftover brioche and croissants, and it’s likely pastry shops created this recipe as a way to utilize leftover vienoisseries.

Why I love this recipe

A great way to utilize stale brioche bread, or even croissants. This recipe elevates the stale bread to a whole new flavorful pastry! So easy to make, and tastes just like from a French bakery! Easy to adapt with other flavors. Perfect to make for a crowd, for afternoon tea / coffee, or brunch. And fancy enough for a dinner party.

For my recipe here, I’m using thick slices of my own homemade brioche bread loaf. This homemade loaf is different from store-bought brioche because it’s much richer in flavor, and softer in texture. The high egg and butter content in the homemade version makes this loaf a classic French brioche, that is a cross between cake and bread. Bostock is quite an underrated and relatively unheralded pastry, and I don’t know why! While French toast is a great way to use up stale bread, I feel like bostock does more justice to leftover brioche and croissants. It is also a fantastic way to use up any leftover bread in your house. But if you’re like me, you will be making brioche JUST to let it get a little stale, so you can make bostock pastry!

Ingredients to make bostock pastry

Pastry base

Brioche bread – make sure to use thick slices of brioche bread (about 1 – 1.5 inch). Croissants – sliced in half, length-wise.

For the syrup

Water Cream – adds richness to the syrup Sugar Cognac or amaretto or rum

For the topping

Butter Sugar Eggs Almond flour Cornstarch Orange zest Cognac or amaretto or rum Sliced almonds

How to make bostock pastry

The first step is to prep the bread slices.

You cannot make bostock with thin slices of bread because the syrup will just make the bread too soggy. You want nice and thick slices of bread to make this pastry. If you’re using brioche, I recommend slicing the brioche into slices that are at least 1 inch, or preferably 1.5 inches thick.
Croissants can also be used. But cut the croissants in half length-wise in half and make sure the croissant half is at least 1 inch thick. Also make sure the bread is at least a little stale. Stale and slightly dry brioche slices will absorb more of the delicious syrup.

Make the frangipane / almond paste

Once you’ve made brown butter, let it cool to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe. First, cream the butter (or brown butter) and sugar together to form a smooth paste. It doesn’t have to be very fluffy, but make sure the paste is soft and spreadable. Next, mix in the egg, vanilla, and other extracts and flavoring. The mixture should loosen up more with the addition of eggs. Finally add the almond flour and AP flour and fold them in to form a batter-like paste. Cover and set aside until needed. You can even refrigerate this overnight if you want to make the almond paste ahead of time. However, you will need to let it come to room temperature so that it’ll be easily spreadable and pipeable.

Make the sugar syrup

Place all the ingredients (except for the cognac) for the sugar syrup in the pot. Bring the syrup to a simmer while stirring, to dissolve the sugar. Let it simmer for about 1 – 2 minutes after the sugar has dissolved, and then stir in the cognac. You can leave out the alcohol if you prefer. The reason why I add the cognac at the end is so that the alcohol kick is more pronounced. But do keep in mind that this is just a little bit of alcohol, so do not expect this to be like a rum baba.

Assembling bostock pastries

Preheat the oven to 375 F / 190 C (conventional oven). Line a baking tray with parchment paper (make sure it’s a good non-stick brand). Place the brioche slices on the lined baking tray. Brush each of the bread slices GENEROUSLY with the sugar syrup. Flip the bread slices over and brush the syrup on the other side as well. Use up as much of the syrup as possible, so that the bread absorbs a generous amount of it. Next, spread or pipe a thick layer of the almond paste on top, and finally sprinkle the almond slices on top. Gently press them in, so that they stick to the almond paste. Bake the assembled bostock in the preheated oven for about 15 – 20 minutes. The pastries are done when the bottom of the bostock turns golden brown in color as well. An optional step is to dust the tops of the almond slices generously with powdered sugar before baking. The sugar will dissolve and create a shiny, sweet coating on the sliced almonds. Then remove the pastries from the oven and let them cool slightly. Dust more confectioner’s sugar on top and serve while warm OR at room temperature.

How to serve bostock

I do love cutting into this pastry while it’s still warm! But bostock is so good at room temperature too.
The bread is soaked in a citrusy, sweet sugar syrup with a subtle kick from the cognac (or any other brandy or rum). The almond paste on top is baked until just set, and is a great contrast to the bread on the bottom. If you want to dress up this bostock pastry for a fancy dinner party, then you can serve this with,

A scoop of ice cream (vanilla ice cream or cereal milk ice cream would be perfect!), or gelato A dollop of whipped cream Dollop of mascarpone cheese A berry coulis or jam on the side (like strawberry jam, plum jam, grape jelly etc.) You could also drizzle some salted caramel sauce OR chocolate sauce on top, but I think that might be a little too rich and sweet.