Chiffers Martin - Bake off - crème de la crème

www.hodder.co.uk This book is published to accompany the television series entitled Bake Off Crme de la Crme, first broadcast on BBC TWO in 2016 Executive Producer: Anna Beattie, Richard Bowron and Richard McKerrow Series Producer: Tara Jang Series Director: Emma Reynolds Food Producer: Vic Proctor Home Economists: Sam Head and Becca Watson Production Manager: Claire Jackson Commercial Director: Rupert Frisby Commissioning Editor: Clare Patterson First published in Great Britain in 2016 by Hodder & Stoughton An Hachette UK company Text and recipes copyright Love Productions Limited 2016 Design and photography copyright Hodder & Stoughton 2016 Additional photography by Mark Bourdillon Love BBC and the BBC logo are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence. BBC logo BBC 1996. The right of Martin Chiffers and Emma Marsden to be identified as the Authors of the Work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library Ebook ISBN 978 1 473 61567 0 Editorial Director: Nicky Ross Project Editors: Caroline McArthur and Patricia Burgess Designer: Nathan Burton Photographers: Liz and Max Haarala Hamilton Food Stylists: Emma Marsden and Martin Chiffers Assistant Food Stylists: Angela Nilsen, Sam Dixon and Dara Sutin Props Stylist: Alexander Breeze Production Manager: Claudette Morris Art Editor: Kate Brunt Art Director: Alasdair Oliver Hodder & Stoughton Ltd Carmelite House 50 Victoria Embankment London EC4Y 0DZ www.hodder.co.uk CONTENTS The Great British Bake Off has been delighting audiences with the exploits of home bakers since 2010, so Love Productions and the BBC decided it was time to give professional pastry chefs an opportunity to showcase their amazing skills.

Bake Off: Crme de la Crme invited fifteen teams of top professional pastry chefs to Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire to take part in the first-ever professional pastry team competition in the UK. The teams, each with three professional chefs, came from famous hotels, Michelin-starred restaurants and high-end patisseries. And they came from some unexpected places too, such as the development kitchen of a leading supermarket, the Armed Forces and the exclusive private dining rooms of the City of London. In five heats and two semi-finals the teams faced two big challenges designed to test a range of sophisticated pastry skills. The Miniatures test required them to make high-volume, fine patisserie with a strong emphasis on uniformity, while The Showpiece asked them to reinvent popular desserts and present them as elaborate and eye-catching centrepieces. The series tells the story of how these fifteen teams got on and which three made it to the final, where one really big challenge stood between them and the Bake Off: Crme de la Crme title.

This book, featuring some of the best recipes featured in the series, shows ambitious home cooks how to make patisserie and desserts to professional standards. Good luck home chefs! Your time starts now A few steps from the frenzy of a main restaurant kitchen lies the patisserie kitchen. In contrast to the urgency of producing exquisite plates right now, here is an ordered, methodical arena, where forward planning is key. Its a world of wonder and fun, where a handful of ingredients is stirred together with extraordinary artistry and transformed into an edible piece of art. Like the BBC series, this book takes you behind the scenes of the patisserie kitchen to show you a wealth of magnificent creations. Here we share the tips and tricks of the pastry chefs trade.

We also show you how the ingredients, skills and chemistry of the recipes work to create this high-end patisserie so that you too can make them at home. Many years of experience, dedication and passion are required to learn the art of professional patisserie. Pastry chefs understand the technical and scientific relationship between different ingredients, harnessing all their creativity to design, craft and produce stunning patisserie. For budding pastry chefs, weve broken down the skills to their simplest elements so that you can achieve these delights at home, and hopefully go on to create your own. Whether making a croissant for breakfast or an eye-catching petit gteau for afternoon tea, its important to add your own personal touch. Be patient.

You have to wait for the right time to complete certain stages or it can drastically affect the finished product. When youre waiting for bread to prove, for example, its ready when the dough springs back to the touch, not before bake it too early and the loaf will be dense. Have a steady hand and a calm attitude when it comes to the finer details. Piping buttercream or attaching small garnishes and delicate pieces requires a delicate approach to achieve perfection. Theres an element of mathematics involved too. Sometimes youll be working out ratios to scale up ingredients for a big order.

At other times you might not need so many, but a quick recalculation will help you do this. All the recipes in this book have been adapted from those used in professional kitchens. Weve made the quantities more convenient for the home cook and used ingredients that are easy to get hold of. All the equipment youll need is listed alongside each recipe, and weve included lots of tips to help you along the way. Patisserie is all about the big reveal, the ta-dah moment when you present your masterpiece to family and friends. Every satisfied mouthful and gasp of amazement reflects the time and care its taken to produce.

We hope you have as much enjoyment making and eating these recipes as we have had producing this book. MARTIN CHIFFERS & EMMA MARSDEN Martin Chiffers is a renowned patisserie chef and chocolatier, and the expert consultant on the BBC series that this book accompanies. He has written most of the recipes, and helped ensure exacting patisserie standards in the photographs. Emma Marsden is a food writer, stylist and former cookery editor of Good Housekeeping magazine . She worked closely with Martin on the recipes and oversaw the photography in this book.

BENOIT BLIN Master of Culinary Arts, Chef Patissier at Belmond Le Manoir auxQuat Saisons and Chairman of the UK Pastry Club I grew up in Normandy in France, surrounded by a strong food culture.

There were two bakeries and the owners each had sons around my age. From a very young age I would play among the flour bags in the bakery kitchens while the loaves were laid out, rising, proving and baking. Of course, my mother would also cook. My father owned a shop and his generous spirit meant that we regularly had twenty people around the table for lunch, as my mother provided not only for the family, but for his employees too. Those early days were inspiring from the age of eight, all I wanted to do was work as a baker or in patisserie. At 14 I began a baking apprenticeship.