The Art of French Pastry - or "how to nail it"

[Brandon]

Earlier this year Techbrau recommended a book, "The Art of French Pastry" (http://www.amazon.com/Art-French-Pastry ... ge_o07_s00) as a great guide to baking French desserts. So I bought a copy for my wife. Over the past two days she worked on a Rhubarb Tart. Following the process directions and attention to detail to precisely measure ingredients, monitor butter temps, weighing egg yolks (usually measured by volume), etc. When we tasted the results, it was outstanding! Appearance, flavor, texture was French bakery quality. While the flavors were familiar to other desserts she's made, the character of the crust and it's ability to hold up on its own (as opposed to an angled pie pan), the strussel, and the subtle differences in flavor put it over the top. Difference of 80% there to 90%+.

Now, same flour, same eggs, same sugar, same kitchen, same rhubarb out of the garden. same baker. Change in process and attention to detail (temps, timing, handling). We've encountered the same thing with bread. A loaf kicked out of the bread machine is dramatically different than the EXACT SAME ingredients even made no-knead. (OTOH, maybe it's all confirmation bias).

Time spent over two days to make a dessert we consumed in 20 minutes may seem crazy, like brewing a fine Helles or Pilsner, but it's so satisfying and rewarding . The results as well as the pride of creating something so rich and full of character. Yes, 80% can be great, but pushing higher is that much better.

Thanks Tech for the book recommendation, my wife is having great fun with it! I highly recommend the book to anyone who loves to bake.

[lhommedieu]

Thanks for the recommendation. I adore croissants and fortunately the Korean bakeries in the neighborhood have the recipe down. Lately I've been wondering if I can possibly make my own.

I made struedal once and you could read fine print through the pastry that was stretched out across the table. Can Frfench pastrry be far beind?

[Owenbräu]