Edd Kimber - Patisserie Made Simple

To Simon, Nicola and Neil

Edd Kimber

From macarons to millefeuille and more

Photography by Laura Edwards

Edd Kimber is a baker, food writer and TV personality. He fought off competition from 4,000 applicants to become the first winner of The Great British Bake Off on BBC2. Since then Edd has appeared on many TV shows including Sunday Brunch and The Alan Titchmarsh Show as well his own show on Food Network UK John and Edds Christmas Bakes. Edds recipes are regularly featured in magazines such as BBC Good Food Magazine, Olive and Waitrose Weekend and he has also appeared in numerous national newspapers including the Independent and the Sun. He is a regular at food festivals across the country including the BBC Good Food Show Live. Edd is the author of two cookbooks: The Boy Who Bakes and Say It With Cake. www.theboywhobakes.co.uk

Edds desserts taste as good as they look...these delicious recipes inspire the baker in all of us. Philippe Conticini

Kyle Books

INTRODUCTION Ive had a love affair with France since I was a small boy, after spending many very happy holidays in Bordeaux and Brittany. I have memories of stopping by the side of the road after my parents had driven through the night to enjoy a simple breakfast of croissants and jam, or using my rather rusty primary-school French to try to buy some canels in Saint-Emilion. Im sure I only succeeded because that was all the shop sold!

Many of my memories of France are intertwined with memories of food: the time the owner of a wine shop allowed my brother and me to join in with a wine tasting, even though we were far too young, or the trip where every morning we would walk to the bakery for a pain au chocolat fresh from the oven. For me, France is Food.

The first time I truly fell in love with France was while I was studying at university in Lancaster. It was my first term and my first student loan had just been cashed. With the money burning a hole in my pocket, three friends and I decided, on a whim, that we really needed to visit Paris. We stayed in a dingy hotel miles from anything, but we had the best time. Within hours of arriving we were sitting across from the Eiffel Tower as it started its nightly light show, enjoying the cheapest bottle of wine we could buy, accompanied with what I remember as copious amounts of cheese. But what made me fall in love with French baking was stumbling across Pierre Herms Saint-Germain boutique. I had been baking since I was little, but it was always very homely, humble recipes that I had grown up with. I had never seen the art that pastry could be, so refined and beautiful. This was also the first time I tried a macaron, which became an obsession and is a recipe I credit with making me think I could make a living out of baking. Shortly after this trip, I decided that even though I might not make much money I would try to make a career out of my passion for baking what better way than to make a living doing what you love!

Over the years, I have visited France on a regular basis, at least once or twice a year, eating my way around the country: salted caramels in Brittany, kougelhopf in Alsace and tarte Tropezienne in Saint-Tropez. In this book I want to take you on a tour of France and pass on the love I have for this country and its delicious recipes. Some of the recipes are classic and traditional, some are my interpretation of an idea and some are inspired by the modern influence that can be seen on the counters of ptisseries around France. Above all, the recipes are all achievable in the home kitchen. This is not meant to be a professional ptisserie book that will sit on your shelf and never be used. I want you in the kitchen, making beautiful cakes and sharing them with your friends and family.

I have, where possible, avoided using equipment that is either hard to get hold of or a speciality item that you might only ever use once or twice. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, but only because the alternative makes an inferior result. I have also tried to use widely available ingredients with only a few that are not available in supermarkets, although they can be purchased online (see ).

After reading and baking your way through this book, I hope you will fall for France as I have, and I also hope that one day you will visit there, if you havent already, and enjoy some of the best baking in the world.

BON APPETIT!

Edd Kimber

This book is aimed at people like you and me home bakers so I have tried, where possible, to use equipment that is easy to get hold of and that you may already have in your cupboards at home. Where I have suggested specialised equipment, I have endeavoured to give an alternative because, most of all, I want these recipes to be baked and enjoyed.

For the recipes in this book I have used tart rings 8cm and 23cm in diameter, but in most recipes these can be replaced with equivalent loose-based tart tins. These have fluted edges, so the look will be a little different but the taste will be the same.

Some of the mousses and cakes are assembled inside a cake ring a simple ring of metal used to help construct cakes. Although you can buy these from any good kitchen shop, you can also use the ring from a springform cake tin with no problem.

This book has a few recipes that use specialised moulds, including the madeleines and the canels. Generally, I prefer metal versions of these moulds, but there are also silicone versions available, which are generally cheaper and which I would recommend if you wont be baking the recipe often. The only exception to this is the canels, which I would always suggest baking in the traditional copper moulds. You can, of course, use a silicone mould, making sure you buy high quality, but I have never been able to get quite as good a finish as when I use the copper. As with all bakeware, when buying silicone, make sure to buy good quality; if the mould seems cheap and flimsy, it is best avoided. Look for sturdy versions with well-defined shapes.