The Art of French Pastry: A James Beard Award Winner: A Cookbook

The best part about this book are the author's precise descriptions, the whys and the hows, the warnings about what could and usually does go wrong all based on his many years of experience as a teacher. Some of the recipes are unique or include unique presentation but most of them you can find in other books and overall the variety of recipes is not huge. The value of this cookbook is in the instruction to the fundamentals and the approachable way in which it is presented. I have already learned so much. Take for example, the author's recipe and instructions for Italian meringue. I have had two prior failed attempts with making this recipe, once because my sugar crystalized while cooking and the second time because it was cooked before the whites were ready. With Jacquy Pfieffer's detailed instructions I was able to successfully make this recipe and I now understand how to avoid both of the mistakes leading to my previous failed attempts. To avoid sugar crystalization the author tells us that the sugar should be swirled gently so as not to get too much of it on the sides of the pan and to use a wet brush to wash down the crystals. He says to be generous with how saturated the brush is because it doesn't matter if you add additional water to the pan as it all cooks down anyway. This is exactly why I had trouble before - I attempted to brush down the crystals but was fearful of adding too much water which led to inadequate brushing and ultimately sugar crystalization. He also addressed my second problem on timing with very precise instructions regarding sugar temperature at which to start beating the whites and the beating speed. Other basic recipes I've tried with great success were the tart crust and lemon curd. I used Rose Levy's Beranbaum's recipe for pate sucre in the past but got unsatisfactory results due to the temperature being too high. She says to start with a 425F oven, then switch to 375 after 5 minutes. This resulted in a crust that browned way too quickly around the edges and set very hard. Mr. Pfeiffer tells us to bake at 325 for a longer period of time to encourage water to evaporate without browning leading to a perfectly golden and crumbly crust. Outstanding! I like the organization of this book. Each recipe has a list of ingredients in both metric and volume measures at the top and a list of equipment in a box to the side. Some of the basic recipes that are used repeatedly in multiple recipes are included in the beginning of the book. The paper has a nice quality and the pictures are beautiful though there are not pictures for every recipe. I agree with the other reviewer that noted it would be nice to have additional pictures or line drawings of techniques but that is really my only minus for this book. All in all, I am extremely happy with this purchase. I own a lot of baking books but I think this is going to become my go to manual for most foundational recipes taking over Flo Braker's "The Art of Perfect Baking." I understand this book is nominated for the IACP and the James Beard Award and I hope it wins both of them! UPDATE: Generally, all the recipes I have tried from here have been successful (though a bit too sweet for my taste despite the fact that he says he does not like overly sweet desserts). I did have trouble with the flourless chocolate sponge cake. It came out very flat (less than 1 cm high) and you could barely taste the chocolate (and I used good quality El Rey 65% chocolate). Mine looked nothing like the photo in the book, the one for the hazelnut chocolate verrine, which appears thicker and much darker. Something seems to be off with the recipe. The amount of chocolate (85g) just seems too small to produce a truly chocolatey cake. I remade it using a recipe from another book that uses cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate and it came out much better.

This is an absolutely fantastic book on the fine art of French pastry! Chef Pfeiffer gives the reader all the tips and tricks necessary to turn out very fine pastries. As well, he weaves in little stories of his own life as a pastry chef that elevate this book above the basic pastry texts. The stories are the hidden gems in the book! Do not be dismayed that this book seems a little technical. The science presented is in fact very basic and easy to understand, but it is completely necessary in order to achieve consistency and to avoid mistakes. As an example, all recipes have ingredients scaled by weight. Finally, a pastry text that drives home the need for proper scaling! No more cups, teaspoons, etc. Far too many baking books still use flour measured in volume with no explanation of the exact technique, the result being unreproducible results or a failed recipe. Not so this text! I consider myself a pastry hobbyist. I am not an expert and I do not bake every day. However, when I do bake I want consistent results. To that end I have taken a fair number of pastry classes. This book is the next best thing to taking a class from a master. And the best thing about this master is that he knows his audience, because he's taught pastry novices for years. He already knows your potential mistakes and points them out before you make them! So do yourself a favor. If you enjoy French pastries and you want to improve your technique, then buy this book! It is the only book on French pastry that you will ever need.

Great book on making the art of French pastries. Great book with pictures and easy to read writing style of author. Excellent on additional information on buying and using best ingredients. Also learn from Chapter 1 because these are the fundamentals, then master them and move on to the next chapters. I was deeply engaged making puff pastry, cream anglaise and detrempe (making croissants and chocolate croissants). Learning Chapter 1 recipes take time and patience. And practice makes perfect. There are even pictures and paragraphs explaining how to pipe pastries, macarons and other fillings and frost your pastries like a pro pastry chef. Excellent book to invest, all you need is desire, passion, patience and preserverance to learn "The Art of French Pastry". Even a home baker can do this. After a year buying a Kindle version of this book, i bought the hard copy and have tried the recipes on this book. Everything here is amazing. this is a book for the adverturous home cooks who want to learn the art of making French pastries, especially in the region of Alsace. The author is a respected teacher all over the world and his stories, passion and his recipes speaks for itself. It offers the readers delight and also the know-how and some tips and secrets of achieving these delicious morsels. So far, I have tried many recipes in this book by going through the pastry fundamentals, and moving on to what I want to make on the succeeding pastries like tarts, cookies, cakes and the last chapter. all of my friends, family and co-workers tell me these are fantastic. Some of the pastries that I have tried were memorable from my earlier years in Hong Kong where my dad's expat friends would bring sweets and gifts when he host parties. But anyway, I highly recommend this book if you want to learn the Art of French Pastry by Jacquy Pfeiffer.

If you want to learn about anything in life, you first have to ask yourself who you want to be your teacher. If I had to sum up my feelings about this book in a single word it would be "grateful". While the shelves of you collection could very easily be stacked with the accomplishments of one chef or another, Jacquy's book is not a demonstration of his vanity. It's a total crash course on pastry. It's not an encyclopedia of French pastry but more of a intro course that gives you a great start. For many home cooks, it may be all you'll ever want. The value of this book lies in the details. Pastry is unmerciful and unforgiving. Make one mistake and your whole project is over. The problem with so many books on the subject is that they assume you understand the technique needed to succeed. This book walks you through that technique and gives you a chance at success. The information in this book is far more valuable than it's price. Read it. Read every footnote, every paragraph leading up to a recipe, and every side note and summary. I own hundreds of cookbooks. This is the cream of the crop. So, do you need a teacher? If you can't be there in person, this is the next best thing. Always learn from the best in their field. Buy it. Try a few recipes and you too may find yourself grateful. Edit 7/27/15: After having tried many of the recipes in this book, I'm ever more impressed with the quality of the recipes, the explanations, and the outcomes. THERE NEEDS TO BE A VOLUME 2 TO FOLLOW THIS ONE UP.

I love this book and can't stop talking about it to anyone who will listen. I have been a keen cook since childhood and own many, many cookbooks but recently I started to feel stuck in a rut and ready to learn something new. After a couple of trips to France in the past few years, I decided I would like to learn how to replicate some of the delicious pastries my husband and I sampled during our travels. A chocolate eclair in Australia is a far cry from one from Fauchon! Unfortunately with a young child, attending a renowned pastry school is just not possible, nor is the cost. Here is where Jacquy Pfeiffer's wonderful book has filled the void. Part manual, part science book, part autobiography, part delicious cookbook - this book is for the cook that wants to learn the proper French way to make pastry. A bit of advice though, if you want the professional results then you need to buy the right tools and ingredients. If you are not sure about this bit, you should take advantage of the Look Inside feature - luckily it has both the ingredients and tools pages so you know what is required before you purchase the book. Since my purchase I have made choux paste, chocolate creme patissiere and chocolate eclairs. I have also successfully made brioche. I am now reading up on puff pastry and waiting for cooler weather because Jacquy knows best! I have gained a lot of confidence in my baking abilities with this book and hope that if you decide to purchase this book that you get as much enjoyment out of it as I have.

Update on January 18, 2014 I added a star since the original review. I have now tried several of the recipes in the book, and I am pleased to report that the results were fantastic. The most significant discovery for me was the pie crusts. That alone was worth the price of admission. Two pie recipes - wild blueberry and lemon -- were very successful, although I cheated and left out the complex meringue topping on the lemon pie and used lime instead b/c that's what I had handy, the results nonetheless were amazing. Be aware that the chef's approach to technique can be daunting and overly precise, but I prefer that to too lax and imprecise. You can always adjust (as I did witht the lemon pie) thanks to his detailed explanations of the ingredients and reasons for the techniques used. As for the Kindle version, I discovered that when using the desktop computer Kindle app, navigation works nicely. So, the problem is with the software on the Kindle iPad app. Can't fault the book publishers for that. I still stand by my original criticism about the lack of instructive photos, video links, and the overload on Alsatian-based recipes including pretzels. In the bigger scheme of what the book actually delivers -- beautiful results - those are just nitpicking details. Just ironic for a book called the Art of French Pastry. Funny how a title can effect expectations. Anyway, I look forward to learning more proper pastry technique. I would have given this four and a half stars if that were possible. The Original Review: I pre-ordered the Kindle version believing that there would be a savings in pre-ordering. Hmm. wrong. Within a few days of the release, the price plunged six dollars. So much for pre-ordering. But that's no fault of the authors, so no penalty in the stars for that. Just a lesson to be learned. As for the Kindle version of the book. Disappointed. Having seen the preview, "Look Inside" which showed intricate diagrams of how to pipe pate a choux, I was eager and excited to get my hands on this book. Dreaming of learning the right way to make French pastry with the aid of respected and talented French chef, helpful diagrams, photos and other visual aids. Wrong again. I was literally shocked by the scarcity of illustrations. As for the chef, I was mildly annoyed by his inclusion of Alsatian pastry such as Black Forest Cake, tarte flambee (which I love), Beer Quiche, Warm Alsatian meat pie, Alsatian cinnamon rolls, etc., etc, to the exclusion of classic French pastry such as Madelaines, financiers, to name a few. Not that Alsace is not French or good, but there are no other French regional recipes presented such as canneles from Bordeaux or anything from Provence, so I'm thinking that next edition, put in the missing French classics, add some other regional classics, and of course keep Alsace. As it is now, I'm sorely missing those French classics. The good news is that the text is excellent and actually gives precious technical details on the fundamentals of French pastry so the book delivers in that way. But unfortunately, for each technique and recipe, the text describes what something should look like rather than show it. In the case of the tuiles, the photo is confusing. the text explains that to get the right shape, you must place the still pliable tuiles on a rolling pin. The one picture shows tuiles in a special, tuile shaping mold, I think that's what it is. What was the editor thinking? I want to know how to properly place these thin delicate pastries on a rolling pin. Instead I get a coffee table picture that is for all practical purposes, useless. Sorry, slipped back into the bad news. This book deserved more. I would have paid more money to get the same text but accompagnied with more illustrations and visual aids to help the understanding of the techniques and the desired results of the recipe. ALso, the navigation is rudimentary and damning. Link to a recipe but try to find your way back to text that contained the link. This is another example of a Kindle after thought rather than a made for Kindle product. I wish I could give this more stars.

There are reasons why this book won a James Beard Award. Clear directions and it has weight measurements as well. The author shares his wealth of experienced knowledge without holding back. He introduces each recipe with recollections and includes many professional hints. He has also altered some recipes to suit the American homebaker: like readjusting a recipe to incorporate sour cream instead of fromage blanc. It also makes the ingredient list less expensive. A very thoughtful book with a perfect amount of photographs - not too many, and no food porn. The directions are very detailed without leaving room for mistakes. I sold my Professional Pastry textbook - which was used more as a reference - and without a doubt, highly recommend this one instead for everyone who -without the time or money to attend a course- wants to add French Pastry to his/her talents. Some cookbooks will only inspire me to eat the food at the restaurant or bakery, but this one definitely inspires me to try these recipes at home.

Fantastic! Great recipes that are easy to follow. Well planned and presented.

The Art of French Pastry a good book for learning about patisserie

Excelente libro si estas iniciando en la repostería o si tienes duda sobre cómo funciona la química en la repostería

Most books on classic French pastry assume far too much knowledge – this one explains properly how to make everything, from basic sponges to elaborate entremets. It's full of tips and tricks to improve your baking, and it also offers gorgeous illustrations and funny stories. It's now in my top 10 baking books, and I have at least a hundred baking books. Really warmly recommended for ambitious bakers.

best ever book...must be in book shelf of a baker

Meine große Leidenschaft ist das Backen, ich backe regelmäßig und habe schon sehr viele verschiedene Rezepte, Backbücher und Tipps ausprobiert. Jetzt war ich auf der Suche nach einer großen Sammlung von Rezepten für Standard-Teige. also zum Beispiel ein gutes Rezept für Sandteig, Zuckerteig, Blätterteig, Mürbeteig, für Brandteig und so weiter. Ich habe dann einige Bücher miteinander verglichen, Patisserie-Standardwerke, dabei war mir die äußere Aufmachung ebenso wichtig wie die Gestaltung der Seiten, außerdem wollte ich Gramm-genaue Rezepte und eindeutige Angaben zu Zutaten, Vorgang und Backzeit. Mir war ebenfalls wichtig, dass es in dem Buch nicht nur Rezepte gibt, sondern auch Tipps und Tricks, schöne Bilder mit Anleitungen und Vorlagen. Nach gefühlten 2 Wochen war ich mir dann sicher, es sollte The Art of French Pastry von Jacquy Pfeiffer sein! Das Buch ist gut gegliedert, am Anfang gibt es alle Rezepte die ich gesucht habe (Blätterteig, Mürbteig, Sandteig etc...) außerdem gibt es ebenfalls Rezepte für Streusel, für Pastry Cream, für Schokomousse, für Ganache mit weißer und dunkler Schokolade etc.. es sind wirklich viele gute Rezepte enthalten, alle mit einem Verweis auf Rezepte die man damit machen kann, die auch im Buch stehen. (Weiter hinten gibt es dann eigene Rezepte, gefüllte Brandteigbällchen, Kuchen, besondere Kunstwerke, etc...) Ein weiterer Pluspunkt sind die exakten Angaben zu den Zutaten, es sind nicht 2 große Eier gefordert, sondern genau 60 gramm und so weiter.. Das war mir persönlich wirklich sehr wichtig, da solche Einheiten wie 2 große Eier, 2 Cups Mehl etc oft nicht ganz richtig sind, bzw. in verschiedenen Regionen anders gemessen werden. Ich habe schon einige Rezepte ausprobiert und mit anderen Rezepten in anderen Büchern verglichen, und die Rezepte aus diesem Buch hier sind JEDES MAL so geworden wie ich sie wollte, selbst beim 8ten Nachbacken war das Ergebnis leicht, fluffig, genau so wie es sein sollte! Im Buch findet man schöne Bilder zu den fertigen Produkten, aber es gibt auch genügend Anleitungen, zb. wie man Brandteig spritzen kann, wie man einen Turm aus Brandteigbällchen zusammensetzt (croque en bouche), wie man Schokolade anständig schmilzt, es gibt auch eine ganze Seite mit ca. 9 Fotos auf denen man sehen kann, wie es aussieht wenn man Eischnee 1,2,... Minuten lang schlägt. Außerdem gibt es jede Menge Tipps, wie man etwas verbessern kann, was man tut wenn etwas nicht gescheit aufgegangen ist etc.. Wer schon immer einmal ein Buch haben wollte, in dem so gut wie alle wichtigen französischen Rezepte enthalten sind, in welchem es gute Tipps und Tricks gibt, schöne Bilder und Rezeptangaben, die TATSÄCHLICH immer funktionieren, der sollte hier unbedingt zuschlagen und sich dieses Buch kaufen!