Here at The Amazing Blog we not only enjoy eating delicious food but also finding new ways to simplify and cook it ourselves. We’ve been making sure that we have got a supply of flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda so we can enjoy the current baking craze whilst staying at home. Talking of which, today we’re featuring The Pastry Chef’s Guide which will help ‘to up your game’ and get you onto another level in the world of baking. It also helped satisfy a sweet tooth!
The Pastry Chef’s Guide is written by the inspirational Ravneet Gill for both chefs and home bakers, it’s a reference book that should be on everyone’s cookbook shelf. Don’t be ‘afraid’ of baking is the message! Gill writes about her love of baking and pastry which shines through, it’s easy and fun to read. It shows how to go back to basics and explains the use of each ingredient in detail like butter, gluten, gelatine; so you know how to get it right every time. Having started her love of sweets with chocolate covered raisins and Cadbury’s Fruit & Nut; Gill studied at Le Cordon Bleu before taking over the pastry sections at St John, Llewelyn’s and Wild by Tart. Now a freelance chef, during 2018 she set up an industry networking forum called Countertalk, it’s a job service and community that advises on healthy work environments in the food industry. She has since successfully hosted events that encourage chefs to expand their knowledge outside of their stations by learning directly from other chefs.
The book is a joy to read as well as being straightforward in telling you how to line your tins, boiling points and what equipment you really need. This book is all about the ingredients and taste-making sure it is seasonal whilst producing impressive puddings and pastries, Gill says she learned a lot of that from Fergus Henderson who writes the introduction to the book. The Cherry and Custard Pie that she created here, is still on the menu at St John’s Restaurant. The recipes are seriously good having been organised into sections of Sugar, Custards, Chocolate, Pastry, Biscuits, Cakes and Puddings. There are step-by-step recipes to help you master custard, nail crème patisserie, or bake the ultimate gluten-free chocolate cake. So whether you want to make a fluffy birthday cake, smooth and rich ice creams macarons, or meringues, Gill gives great advice to make it all seem easy, a good pastry chef is all about balance. There are also great tips to help avoid the pitfalls, i.e. for meringues use a clean dry glass, ceramic, or metal bowl to avoid the egg absorbing any smell, colour, grease from a plastic bowl. French, Italian even Swiss meringues are all clearly explained; as are all the uses for custard from ice cream to doughnut filling, delicious. You can buy the book here at the price of £18.99, we think it’s a must for any cook!
For those who want an online course, you can join Ravneet Gill at the Puff Bakery School for pastry online, where there are some great reviews on their courses.