little pastry master classes They represent the fundamentals and classics of French pastry, the pastries that customers have been telling bakers they love for centuries My students sometimes want to jump ahead and get creative, but I always insist that they master the classics first There is no need to reinvent the wheel, and I want them to show me that they can make a good regular croissant before they create an original one You will not be able to execute the classic recipes in Chapters 2 through 6 without mastering the fundamentals, so it’s important that you begin this book by becoming comfortable with the recipes and techniques in Chapter 1 Do them more than once Each of the recipes is followed by a list of subsequent recipes in the book for which they are required, and this may help you decide what pastries you want to move on to once you’ve gotten some of the fundamentals under your belt One of the most important lessons in pastry is to make sure you give yourself plenty of time Treat each pastry as a project in itself whose successful outcome will be a wonderful dessert for you and your family and friends to enjoy Don’t decide to tackle a pastry with several components, such as religieuses, on the day of your dinner party, when you also have to make the main dish, starter, and sides A religieuse is a wonderful dessert, but it does involve making choux pastry, pastry cream, and fondant, then filling the cream puffs, coating them with fondant, sticking one small puff on top of a larger one, and, finally, finishing them with piped mousseline ... this book by becoming comfortable with the recipes and techniques in Chapter 1 Do them more than once Each of the recipes is followed by a list of subsequent recipes in the book for which they are required, and this may... on to once you’ve gotten some of the fundamentals under your belt One of the most important lessons in pastry is to make sure you give yourself plenty of time Treat each pastry as a project in itself whose... making choux pastry, pastry cream, and fondant, then filling the cream puffs, coating them with fondant, sticking one small puff on top of a larger one, and, finally, finishing them with piped mousseline