Patisserie: Mastering the Fundamentals of French Pastry: Mastering the Fundamentals of French Pastry - Updated Edition

I bought this book as quite a beginner to pastry. I'd only made a few quiches and a few pies out of basic short crust pastry. 'Patisserie' has taught me the precision, accuracy and discipline involved in making French pastries. I am growing more confident and getting quicker at making tarts. There are obviously a huge amount of different recipes, set out as lessons, and I started off following every recipe through in order, but now I've diverged from this and enjoy choosing which recipe to follow next. The book isn't necessarily set out basic to advanced through all the lessons, but more divided into sections, which makes more sense (Tartes, Les Cremes etc). There are a lot of photos to go along with the steps in the recipe, and these show the important things like how the texture of something should look so that your pastries turn out right! Some things that might be helpful to know are: - A lot of the recipes contain almonds as in traditional French pastry - A lot of these aren't particularly quick recipes, with tart pastry requiring 2 hours chill time although these things don't bother me! Also, I struggled to find all the correct sized pastry rings the recipes sometimes ask for, but the book gives alternatives such as using a tart pan with a removable bottom instead, the same is given for vanilla essence instead of pods, so it is pretty accommodating! The book contains every thing you could want to eat and make in a Patisserie, from tartes to macarons to croissants and pretty much everything in between... I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn 'the Fundamentals of French Pastry', it is a brilliant book, and will keep me busy and happy for a long time!

Fantastic book. It's beautifully laid out, easy to understand and full of inspiration. I loved it enough that I've actually bought two, one for me and one for my dad. The first one I bought, for myself, was a little damaged when it arrived but it was only a superficial dent to the cover. The second one was in the pristine condition, so I really have no complaints as I'm sure it was just a fluke. This book is huge and it needs to be because of all the recipes and the perfect amount of detail. Not only does it include complicated recipes, but it really breaks down the components so that you've got a proper understanding of the fundamentals and are then able to go on and create your own recipes. I haven't tried all that many of them yet as I haven't been able to find the time, but I will say that the french meringue is the best I've ever made/tasted. The pictures are excellent and very clear. I'd recommend this book to anyone with even a slight interest in patisserie.

If you are ever thinking of buying a Patisserie recipe book, being either a professional chef or an amateur, please buy this book. It is utterly brilliant! Every single recipes works, perfectly - and I've tried most! The step-by-step photographs explain everything visually from start to finish. Nothing is left to chance. I have been a patisserie chef for almost 35 years and this book showed to me that I knew nothing. It is now my go to for every single base pastry recipe: pastry, sable, meringue, macaroon, sponge, pastry cream, dacquoise, bavarois, etc. The finishing of each dessert is beautifully simple, precise, yet elegant. It's not cheap, but then in this life you pay for what you get. Honestly, buy this book!

OK, granted I haven't baked from it yet, I only received it today having pre-ordered it from Amazon, but I couldn't resist sharing my first impressions. At the time of pre-order there was no "Look Inside" available, the write up is fairly bland and there wasn't even a cover photo on the jacket to inspire me. As a keen home baker who's done some semi-professional baking, I was looking for a book which would give me half a chance at reproducing at home, the magnificent and perfectly presented French pâtisserie that I so love. The write up not being the most inspiring I googled Christophe Felder and found a string of accolades and gourmet credentials and decided to take a chance. The book arrived today and having had no great expectations about how good it would be I am bowled over. Entitled the "Fundamentals" of French Pastry, I was expecting a far less weighty tome introducing the basics, this is more akin to a professional pâtisserie course in words and pictures. Whilst this will never be the same as attending full-time Parisienne Pâtisserie School, I'm betting it will be as close as you can get from the comfort of your own kitchen. I've done some Masterclasses at cookery school so whilst a mostly self-taught enthusiast with a few classes under my belt, I've seen and learnt enough to be confident that this book is going to deliver. For a start it is nearly three inches thick, so comprehensive it is. There are 207 "lessons" on 800 pages each illustrated with step-by-step detailed photos complete with guidance on how to achieve the professional standards of presentation and finish which epitomise French Pâtisserie. Thankfully in this case, the publishers have resisted the irritating norm of reducing professionals' recipes onto a single page per recipe by editing out the finer nuances that deny home-bakers the opportunity to recreate truly great cuisine. Bravo to the Editor who granted Christophe Felder the respect of typically four pages per recipe (two of text, two of photos). All those times you've seen beautiful finishing touches and thought "I wonder how they do that?" - it's all here. Divided into nine chapters it covers all the classics of French pâtisserie: Chapter 1: Les Pâtes et Les Tartes (Basic Pastry and Tarts) Chapter 2: Les Crèmes (Creams, Custards and Puddings) Chapter 3: La Décoration (Decorations) Chapter 4: Les Gâteaux Classiques (Classic Cakes and Desserts) Chapter 5: Les Chocolats et Petites Bouchées (Chocolate Desserts and Candies) Chapter 6: Les Gâteaux de L'Avent (Holiday Cakes, Cookies and Other Sweet Treats) Chapter 7: Les Macarons Chapter 8: Les Brioches et Viennoiseries (Brioches and Breakfast Pastries) Chapter 9: Les Mignardises (Petits Fours) In addition to pastry work, there's sugar work (from spun sugar to sugar paste and everything in between), chocolaterie, piping techniques, sponge work, producing layer cakes, syrups, you name it it's here. The index is now available on the "Look Inside" feature so I'll leave the interested reader to peruse the list of classics at their leisure or I'll be here all night. I'll update this once I've had the chance to bake from it but I'll be extremely surprised if I am disappointed. Certainly this book does not have the coffee table beauty of Pierre Herme Pastries or Bouchon Bakery but I'll hedge my bets and predict your dinner party guests will be so busy drooling over the edible works of art this book will enable you to produce at home, they won't even notice the book on the coffee table. Update 1: As soon as I posted this review, two further reviews from Amazon.com (USA) became visible. Since the other reviewer had problems with the Tarte à L'Orange I shall be trying that recipe first to compare my own experience with that of the other reviewer. I've currently given this a four for what it promises but will review my star grading once I've tested a few recipes. Keep you posted! Happy Baking! @Tortepane

Increíble diseño y edición. Miles de recetas, paso a paso, muy buenas imágenes. Dividido en capitulos muestra masas, tartas, macarons, pudines, decoraciones y mucho más

Awesome... detailed and Bible

This is an excellent book for those wanting to create wonderful French pastries. There are some prerequisites, such as buying a stand mixer, a pastry brush and a food thermometer, but once you have those you're all set! I have had this book for over 3 years now and from my experience I can tell you the following: do try to follow the recipe as much as possible. If it says that you need to boil the water to 110°C and keep it there for 3 minutes, then do just that. At first my mind was protesting, saying it's not possible for water to go above 100 degrees, but turns out that it's actually possible if there's sugar in it! Also, if it says you need to put gelatin into the mixture, then don't experiment with agar agar, it just won't work. By following the recipes to the word, over time I slowly progressed and now I can even make the advanced cakes (which sometimes take 2 days to make) and they are done in pastry shop quality! They look and taste like something you would pay a lot of money for. There are many easy recipes in here, but for me the greatest value of this book is that it teaches you how to make advanced cakes, there are pictures and detailed instructions, all you need to do is follow them and the results might surprise even you.

I bought this as a gift for my mother, who loves french cooking and needed a new challenge. After reading the reviews on some Le Cordon Bleu books I was horrified that most people complained the recipes did not work. This book was different and so far all recipes have been marvellous. I have noticed some basic steps in recipes are missing, such as blind baking pastry crusts, but this is not a problem for us, as we know it is required. For the more inexperienced cook, this may not be the best book despite the wonderful step-by-step pictures. I foresee having to buy bigger clothing soon.

La couverture est inversée! tout est à l'envers... Enfin bref, ça ne change pas le contenu alors l'article n'a pas été retourné car trop de démarches...