The Best Pastry Baking Books of All Time

A must-have baking bible from the James Beard award–winning baker and owner of the beloved Flour bakeries in Boston. James Beard award–winning baker Joanne Chang is best known around the country for her eight acclaimed Flour bakeries in Boston. Chang has published two books based on the offerings at Flour, such as her famous sticky buns, but Pastry Love is her most personal and comprehensive book yet. It includes 125 dessert recipes for many things she could never serve in the setting of a bakery—for example, items that are best served warm or with whipped cream on top.

Nothing makes Chang happier than baking and sharing treats with others, and that passion comes through in every recipe, such as Strawberry Slab Pie, Mocha Chip Cookies, and Malted Chocolate Cake. The recipes start off easy such as Lemon Sugar Cookies and build up to showstoppers like Passion Fruit Crepe Cake. The book also includes master lessons and essential techniques for making pastry cream, lemon curd, puff pastry, and more, all of which make this book a must-have for beginners and expert home bakers alike. *One of Food & Wine’s Essential New Cookbooks for Fall*. *One of Food52’s Best Cookbooks of Fall 2019*. *One of Bon Appetit’s Fall Books We’ve Been Waiting All Summer For*.

Pastry is an art but it is also food so remember to stay in touch with your ingredients, reflect the seasons in your food and, for the love of God, don’t use strawberries in December. – Ravneet Gill. This is a book aimed at chefs and home bakers alike who FEAR baking. The message: pastry is easy. Written by pastry chef extraordinaire, Observer Food Monthly 50 and Code Hospitality 30 Under 30, Ravneet Gill, this is a straight-talking no-nonsense manual – THE baking reference book for any cookery shelf.

This is the written embodiment of Ravneet’s very special expertise as a patisserie chef filled with the natural flair and razor-sharp wit that gives her such enormous appeal. Starting with a manifesto for pastry chefs, Ravneet then swiftly moves onto The Basics where she explains the principles of patisserie, which of ingredients you just need to know (gelatine, fresh and dried yeast, flours, sugar, chocolate, cream and butter), how to line your tins, understanding fat content, what equipment you really need, oven temperatures and variables to watch out for. This section alone will give the reader enough knowledge of baking to avoid the pitfalls so many of us take when baking. Chapters are then organised by type of patisserie: Sugar, Custards, Chocolate, Pastry, Biscuits, Cakes and Puddings. So whether you want to make a lighter-than-air birthday cake, flaky breakfast pastries, smooth and rich ice creams, parfaits, macarons or meringues, Ravneet will offer just the right advice to make it all seem easy.

“This book from the famous French culinary institution is the one to buy for anyone who takes their pastry seriously.” A Top Cookbook of 2018. -The Sunday Times. Le Cordon Bleu is the highly renowned, world famous cooking school noted for the quality of its culinary courses, aimed at beginners as well as confirmed or professional cooks. It is the world's largest hospitality education institution, with over 20 schools on five continents. Its educational focus is on hospitality management, culinary arts, and gastronomy.

The teaching teams are composed of specialists, chefs and pastry experts, most of them honoured by national or international prizes. One of its most famous alumnae in the 1940s was Julia Child, as depicted in the film Julie & Julia. There are 100 illustrated recipes, explained step-by-step with 1400 photographs and presented in 6 chapters: Pastries, cakes and desserts; Individual cakes and plated desserts; Pies and tarts; Outstanding and festive desserts; Biscuits and cupcakes, candies and delicacies, and finally the basics of pastry. There are famous classics such as apple strudel, carrot cake, black forest gateau, strawberry cakes, profiteroles... Simple family recipes including molten chocolate cake, cake with candied fruit, hot soufflé with vanilla, Tart Tatin... Delicious and original desserts like yuzu with white chocolate, chocolate marshmallow and violet tartlet, cream cheese and cherry velvet, pistachio cristalline... At the end of the book there is a presentation of all the utensils and ingredients needed for baking and also a glossary explaining the specific culinary terms. This is THE book for pastry lovers everywhere, from beginner to the advanced level and is the official bible for the Cordon Bleu cooking schools around the world in Europe: Paris, London, Madrid, Istanbul; the Americas: Ottawa, Mexico, Peru; Oceania: Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney; and Asia: Tokyo, Kobe, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Shanghai, India, and Taiwan.