Pâtisserie at Home – Will Torrent

This is one of the books I bought when I decided to learn to make French pastries.  My normal practice when embarking on learning a new subject is to buy two or three books on it, knowing that the first book usually turns out to be a dud.  Not This Time.

Will’s grandfather was a chef.  His family owned a pâtisserie in Paris. Better yet, Will has the unique gift of being able to explain techniques in simple easy-to-follow terms.

He starts with the basic building blocks: recipes for Pâte à Choux, Pâte Sablée, and the other basic pastry doughs upon which everything else is created.  Each recipe is short, easy to follow, and uses no exotic hard-to-fid ingredients.

I’ve made the Choux Buns.  I’ve made the Eclairs. I’ve made the Lemon Tarts. I’ve made the Madeleines.  All were easy. All were roll-your-eyes delicious.  Framboisiers is next on my list.

If you want to make little pastries that are deceptively easy to make yet cause your guests to go “Oh” and “Ah” then get this book.