The Pastry Chef's Guide

Book excerpt: 'Pastry is an art but it is also food so remember to stay in touch with your ingredients, reflect the seasons in your food and, for the love of God, don't use strawberries in December.' - Ravneet Gill. This is a book aimed at chefs and home bakers alike who FEAR baking. The message: pastry is easy. Written by pastry chef extraordinaire Ravneet Gill, this is a straight-talking no-nonsense manual designed to become THE baking reference book on any cookery shelf. This is the written embodiment of Ravneet's very special expertise as a patisserie chef filled with the natural flair and razor-sharp wit that gives her such enormous appeal. Starting with a manifesto for pastry chefs, Ravneet then swiftly moves onto The Basics where she explains the principles of patisserie, which ingredients you just need to know (gelatine, fresh and dried yeast, flours, sugar, chocolate, cream and butter), how to line your tins, understanding fat content, what equipment you really need, oven temperatures and variables to watch out for. This section alone will give the reader enough knowledge of baking to avoid the pitfalls so many of us take when baking. Filled with her signature flair and razor-sharp wit, this is the pastry reference book for a new generation of aspiring bakers. 'Desserts are fundamental, and for this reason there should be a little room for a pastry chef to flap their wings like a butterfly, a little leeway for culinary cheekiness. Rav has this in spades.' - Fergus Henderson, St.JOHN, London 'Come for the cakes...stay for the sass.' - The Sunday Times 'Seriously good, and useful and beautiful little book.' - Felicity Cloake, Food Writer 'Everything we love in the world of food right now.' - The Observer Food Monthly 50 '100 Most Influential Women in Hospitality.' - CODE Quarterly