Patisserie: Mastering the Fundamentals of French Pastry - Updated Edition

Absolutely beautiful instructional cookbook. I love that the recipes are given in lesson form, with gorgeous step by step photographs!Every spring at my daughter's school they have what is known as an "Inquiry Fair". It is a grade appropriate project for all grades (Kindergarten included)where they choose a subject they want to learn more about, then write a report along with giving an oral and visual presentation for the staff, students, and parents. After looking through this book, my little girl decided to do her report on French Pastry. Her visual presentation will include homemade cream puffs and croissants.My older daughters in the Navy want to go through each lesson as a family whenever they are home. Another way to spend quality family time together!UPDATE:My daughters French Pastry "Inquiry Fair" project was a great success. She made Cream Puffs and Croissants. It was a challenging and fun. Even though we are novices to the French techniques, they treats turned out well and were absolutely the best tasting croissants we've ever tasted (including traveling through Europe), and the Cream Puffs, wow. We made over 100 puffs and it wasn't enough!Our first dough for the puffs didn't turn out. Still don't know what we did wrong, but subsequent batters worked. The croissant recipe doesn't let you know how to flatten out the butter into a "sheet" for incorporating into dough. Watched a video on youtube that shows how to deal with the butter. Minor issues of confusion probably from our lack of experience with patisserie, but we easily overcame.Only other slight issue is that the book is very large and heavy that it does pull on the binding some. Overall, we love this and am looking to buy another one for a friend of my son who loves to bake and even creates her own recipes.

This cookbook makes me very, very happy. It is a book of dreams - things I am going to make one, by one. There are plenty of photos and step by step instructions for all things pastry. It's a big, weighty book with lots of explanation. Even though I seriously want to make everything in it I doubt I have the skills to do so but that is what a book like this is for - to make you want to stretch and experiment. Then fail and try again until you finally master the skill.

I have many books written by Chirstophe Felder. I am huge a fan. I have his Chocolate book, that is fantastic, his Macaron books (sweet and salted) and now I am in heaven! Patisserie is a step by step book from one of the masters of the trade. You will learn proven techniques that will allow you to do the most savory traditional french desserts with no stress nor fear! I am finally got the confidence to try the Kouing Aman pastry, thanks to Christophe amazing book! He guides you by the hand all the way! If that is not enough for you, Christophe has very good reviews from Dorie Greenspan and David Lebovitz, two Baking wizards (and that is enough recommendation to buy this book). Trust me, you won't regret! Your baking knowledge will improve 100%!

Hard to find book with tremendous detail necessary for the best outcomes. Organized by recipe rather than pastry type. We started with the first recipe and are working our way all the way through, we are skipping around a lot, but that’s expected! Though novices can certainly start here, I’d not recommend a novice pastry person choose this unless really committed. Now my go-to resource for pastry work.

Fantastic recipes and great step by step illustrations. Everything I have tried tasted and looked great. So glad I am able to bring back a taste of France in my house. Recipes are not easy and take time, but all worth it!

This is a very comprehensive book and a great introduction to french pastry for someone who is an already moderately-advanced baker. I've tried many many recipes from this book now & most have turned out really delicious. Some of the recipes didn't taste that good or work out quite right, but I've also found this is just a really great book to get some ideas on where to start & then google for more advanced/ tastier/ more appealing recipes. The most valuable resources in this book is the step-by-step pictures: this is life changing when making obscure recipes that you've never heard of. It's nice to see what different components of the recipe SHOULD look like along the way to make sure you're on the right track. This book is huge & even if you don't use all of the recipes, you will definitely be referencing it because it has a lot of great general resources about techniques, ingredients, types of dough/ pastry, etc.

This is the second book of Christophe's that I own and he's already one of my favorite pastry authors. Comprehensive enough for more advanced bakers but accessible enough for those just starting out, each of his recipes includes multiple photographs guiding you through the steps. Recipes are broken out into components (ie dough, filling, frosting) so you can use just one if you want to venture out into making your own creations. A great survey of classical French pastry recipes and techniques.

I've used this so much in the last 8 years the binding is falling apart. Too many good recipes to list. Great for everything from classic French pastry staples to traditional Alsatian advent treats.