The Art of French Pastry

producing good apprentices. I said to myself, “If I quit, God knows where I’m going to end up,” and I k ...

worked in big bakeries in Alsace, and was even a pastry chef in the French navy when I did my obligatory m ...

world. In 1991 I moved to Chicago to run the pastry operation at the Fairmont Hotel, but by then I knew for s ...

an operation in Saudi Arabia where my production team consisted of thirty-five workers from the Philippines, Indi ...

ending story. With every subsequent job, from Brunei to Hong Kong to Palo Alto to Chicago, I’ve train ...

School, the only school of its kind in the United States and now recognized as one of the most prestigious pastry sc ...

nonetheless. Like my apprenticeship, it is the crucial beginning of a profession for many and it is vital that ...

predict with certainty the mistakes students are likely to make. A great cookbook can inspire an enthusiast ...

students understand, and that is what I will show you in the pages that follow. Along the way I’ll ...

rolling pin when you roll out pie dough, and that you’re using a whisk, not a spatula, when you add the flour ...

lesser-known but equally delicious pastries I grew up with in Alsace. With each recipe I’ll make it ...

goal is to do much more than present you with beautifully illustrated recipes for the perfect sponge cake or ap ...

French Pastry School to become. Whether you are cooking at home or professionally, you will be mastering a new cra ...

• INTRODUCTION • THE CRAFT OF FRENCH PASTRY HIS IS A BOOK DESIGNED TO ...

T TEACH YOU the beautiful craft that I learned as a teenager and that it has been my great joy to teach ...

much more information in them than you’ll find in recipes that professionals and even the students at t ...

better cook in general. I believe that it is possible to master a craft or a skill at home as long ...

and persistence to work at it—is just as important. Many of you have learned to play an instrument, to kni ...

practiced scales, then played the piece and practiced it over and over and over again. When you learned to kn ...

and pastry cream before you can make good éclairs. Some—perhaps most— pastry skills, like piping those éclairs ...