Will Torrent - Pâtisserie at Home

ptisserie at home food photography byJonathan Gregson WILL TORRENT ptisserie at home step-by-step recipes to help you master the art of French pastry From being a very keen, and I mean very keen, young student to becoming a very professional pastry chef I have watched Wills progress with great interest. Now, Will is the teacher and this book allows all of us to look like professionals at home. A great book from an energetic, accomplished and skilled craftsman you cant help but enjoy it! BRIAN TURNER DEDICATION To my Grandad and my Nans for being my inspiration; for Mum, Dad and Sophie for supporting and believing in me. x Senior Designer Megan Smith Commissioning Editor Cline Hughes Production Manager Gordana Simakovic Art Director Leslie Harrington Editorial Director Julia Charles Prop Stylist Liz Belton Food Stylist Will Torrent Food Stylists Assistants Rosie Reynolds, Emily Kydd, Kathryn Morrissey, Alistair Birt Indexer Hilary Bird First published in 2013 by Ryland Peters & Small 2021 Jockeys Fields, London WC1R 4BW and 519 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York NY 10012 www.rylandpeters.com Text Will Torrent 2013 Design and photographs Ryland Peters & Small 2013 ISBN: 978-1-84975-354-8 E-ISBN: 978-1-78879-325-4 Printed and bound in China 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The authors moral rights have been asserted. 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, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. US Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for. NOTES All spoon measurements are level, unless otherwise specified. Recipes containing raw or partially cooked egg should not be served to the very young, very old, anyone with a compromised immune system or pregnant women. Unless otherwise stated, all butter is unsalted, eggs are UK medium or US large, and sugar is caster (UK) or granulated (US). Chocolate described as dark for the UK is bittersweet for the US.

When a recipe calls for the grated zest of citrus fruit, buy unwaxed fruit and wash well before use. If you can only find treated fruit, scrub well in warm soapy water and rinse before using. PICTURE CREDITS All photography by Jonathan Gregson apart from: Richard Nebesky / Getty ImagesFrank Wing / Getty ImagesTerry Vine / Getty ImagesJeffrey Becom / Getty ImagesGueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum PhotosAnton Dijkgraaf/taverneagency.com Contents Foreword I first met Will about ten years ago, when he was fifteen and came to do a weeks work experience at the Fat Duck. Even then it was clear he had an old head on young shoulders: he was determined, thoughtful about food and showed a really good understanding of the necessary technical skills. Somehow, a week working at the Fat Duck didnt put him off cooking, and hes gone from strength to strength, becoming the first British pastry chef to win a Medallion of Excellence at the WorldSkills competition in 2007, gaining the Craft Guild of Chefs Young Chef of the Year award a couple of years later, and a prestigious Acorn Scholarship in 2010. Will has said that his week at the Fat Duck changed his life, so Ive followed his career with a certain amount of pride.

I was delighted to discover that he had become a pastry chef and ptisserie development consultant for Waitrose, which means that, a decade on, things have come full circle and we are working together again. Among other things, he now has the unenviable job of developing some of my projects for the company. Wills the perfect person to do this, because hes curious, imaginative, adaptable and a great technical craftsman. Like me, he likes to push boundaries and do things differently, and hes a bit of an obsessive. (He has those 3am moments where he wakes up and scribbles down some idea thats come to him in his sleep.) Despite all his achievements he has kept his feet on the ground and remained admirably committed to sharing what he knows and encouraging others. These traits make him exactly the sort of guide you need to navigate the intricacies of pastry-making.

His book, Im sure, will become an instant classic. It explains with great clarity all the basics, from puff and choux pastry to crme chantilly and ganache. It covers dozens of the mouthwatering classics of the dessert world rum baba, millefeuille, tarte au chocolat and tarte au citron, tuiles, madeleines, meringues, Black Forest gteau, sachertorte, macarons. And there are plenty of twists among these pages to keep you on your toes, fire up your culinary imagination and impress the hell out of whoevers lucky enough to come round for dinner. Heston Blumenthal Introduction When I was growing up, I was surrounded by food, baking, sweets and family. My Grandad trained as a chef and practised his trade in some of the most famous hotels and restaurants in the seaside town of Bournemouth.

Whats more, his uncle owned a ptisserie in Paris (see right) so all this cooking and pastry really is in the blood. My Nans also baked the most amazing cakes chocolate, fruit and Welsh cakes so from an early age I understood how food can bring families together and enjoyment to the table when hard work and effort go into a meal. Nans Welsh cakes were brought home with giddy anticipation beautiful crumbly little things full of sugar, butter and raisins. Just writing this, I can smell them baking in the kitchen and then hear the unwrapping of the foil and greaseproof paper they were wrapped in. I have three very vivid memories from my childhood that conjure up nostalgic tastes, aromas and wonderful memories. The first is of making peppermint creams with my friends at infant school and being stunned at the strength of minty flavour.

The second is of baking chocolate fudge cake with my Nans for many a birthday celebration I couldnt quite reach the worktop but I did my best to get stuck in and of course I ate the raw cake mixture from the sides of the bowl and the spoon. We always looked forward to that much more than the traditionally iced fruitcake that Mum always asked for. The third is of a Greek salad made by my Grandad. I must have been about nine or ten years old and I had never tasted feta cheese before! I had always loved cheese on toast but this sour, salty cheese with its unusual texture and smell, chopped in a salad with tomatoes, cucumber and olives, really fed my imagination and I soon caught the cooking bug. With that kind of heritage, its no wonder I ended up training to be a pastry chef.