Pastry

Despite being written by a professional patissier it is clear, straight forward and easy to follow. There is a good range of recipes which seem achievable. Much as I love opera cakes etc I know my limits are far short of that so was glad nothing like that was in there. It was all aimed at the keen but untrained home cook. If you've never held a rolling pin before try Delia or Mary Berry but if you like baking this is great

I spent two days with Richard in a class at his cookery school in Bath and just prior to that I bought his book Pastry. I can now make beautiful pastry with little effort. Richard has taught me how to make the crispiest & flakiest pastry ever with no soggy bottoms! His techniques are simple yet effective. For years I have read cookery books and watched endless programmes of top chefs and cooks supposedly telling you how to make the best pastry. Richard informs you of the best butter to use, how to soften it without getting it warm, how to flake into the flour (and no you don't rub it until it dissapears and forms tiny breadcrumbs like most chefs tell you to do!) I like his down to earth approach and he makes things seem so easy, which they are! The book is full of tips and useful information, together with beautiful pictures (and one for every recipe which is great to see what the finished product should look like). My creations look exactly the same as the photos in his book. The doughnuts are divine. The apple tarts are amazing. The fruit tartlets look like they should be in a French pattiserie window! Buy this book and you'll never be afraid of making pastry. I recommend his cookery classes but the book itself teaches everything you need to know.

I bought Richard's book called Dough and loved it (so did my nephew and he has decided to keep it so I need to buy it again!)so it didn't take long to decide to buy his book on pastry. It was delivered by Amazon within two working days of ordering it and I must say it is a wonderful, easy to understand book. I've only had the book two days but have made my first batch of puff pastry - who said it isn't worth making it? The step-by-step pictures made me feel Richard was with me every step of the way. Can't wait to try something else.

This is an excellent introduction to pastry-making by an enthusiastic chef/cook who has helped many of us get back into bread-making with his inspiring books (Dough: Simple Contemporary Breads [With DVD]) By Bertinet, Richard (Author) Hardcover on 01-Oct-2005 and the more adventurous Crust: Bread to Get Your Teeth into . As with these two earlier books the photos in Pastry make you want to get cooking. The sequences of photos showing what your pastries should look like at different stages will be very useful to novices perhaps wary of making pastry. It's not difficult if you follow a few simple rules, take you time and weigh ingredients accurately. My only negative comment is that quite a few photos show pastry that to my eyes look over-fired, but this may be something to do with the colour balance of the photos.

Great book to read and not just the recipes. Its nice to know about a place and the people who made it grow. There may be a number that I would/will never make but I've taken it out just to look and enjoy it for what it is.

Richard Bertinet is one of those rare people who is not only a master of their craft but also gifted with the ability and enthusiasm to pass on their knowledge to 'lesser mortals' such as myself. Having devoured all three of his previous books and had the pleasure of attending his 5 day Bread course in Bath I was looking forward to this book with great anticipation - and it does not disappoint. Instead of getting bogged down in nomenclature (shortcrust, flaky etc) he simply discusses "Salted, Sweet, Puff and Choux". The first chapter is devoted to making these basic four types with all you need to know about filling forms, tartlets etc, blind baking, storage and so on. Subsequent chapters deal with the many uses to which these four basic types can be put. The instructions are very clear and always have a view to resolving the problems that put so many people off pastry making. I particularly liked the 'bonus' recipes for pork pies (jelly with port!) and the touchy subject of Cornish pasties! The book is a beautiful artefact illustrated throughout with superb pictures. The cover is particularly striking. His writing style is a pleasure to read and it would be difficult to see how the subject of pastry making could be put across in a more clear, reassuring and comforting way. His introduction expresses the hope that this book will encourage everyone to make pastry a part of their domestic routine and I believe he has succeeded admirably. I would doubt that there is a better introduction to the subject out there! p.s. this is his first book not to include a DVD; the accompanying videos are available on his website: [...]

The book is clearly illustrated with good photographs. The explanations are clear and straight forward, making it easy to understand without the video that has been included in his Dough and Crust books. I found these other two books (especially Dough) to be outstanding and use them all the time. This new book Pastry looks set to be another that I will use a lot. Saying that, I've just been to the supermarket and bought a supply of flour and butter and I am now going to try out some recipes - the only difficulty is knowing which one to start with!

A good book with recipes, photo's and good ideas but the detail is not enough. I figured this would provide me with in detail information about how I can acheive good flaky pastry but it doesn't, so Im quite dissappointed.

Déçu par l'état de l'intérieur. Chapitre 3, pages 129 - 143: Des plis et marques sur les pages. Je le garde par paresse et le fait que les recettes restent lisible.

Made some Puff Pastry pies,chicken leek and sundried tomato, brisket pies, and Apple PIe they were ****ing delicious. Everyone loved them. Excellent easy to read recipes and techniques. Could do with some techniques on presentation. Was pretty close to the tarts and pies I found at some good patisseries in Paris. Thanks Richard :)

Richard Bertinet begegnete mir erstmals vor einigen Jahren durch sein Brotbuch. Damals fand ich seine Techniken schon revolutionär einfach und effektiv. Inzwischen habe ich viele weitere Bücher gefunden, in denen seine klassischen Techniken beschrieben werden, jedoch sind sie dann meist viel komplizierter dargestellt. Diesmal habe ich mich also von den Broten ab- und zu den süßen Teilchen hingewandt. Das Buch ist auf englisch. Wer damit keine Probleme hat, wird erneut durch viele Bilder in die einzelnen Schritte eingeführt. Mir ist Mürbeteig noch nie so gut gelungen, wie nach der Beschreibung von Richard Bertinet! Es war wirklich simpel und hat mich durchweg überzeugt. Als Bretone präsentiert er uns in diesem Buch die klassische, französische Backkunst. Sie ist leicht nachzumachen und inspiriert zu neuen Ideen. Wer sich an dieses Buch heranwagt, wird seine Freude haben. Fünf von fünf Sternen gibt es hierfür von mir.

This is truly a GREATpastry book. Pastry making is an art that requires good techniques. But the author Richard Bertinet has made the pastry making process easy to understand and easy to follow with lots of step~by~step instructions that helped me to get great results. I am sooo happy that I bought this book.

It looks very professional and difficult at first, but with Richard Bertinet's step by step directions and very clear explanations with images, you are guided through the book without any worries or problem. It is such a delight every time you come up with something you only used to seeing in professional bakeries or patisseries. It even encourages you to try those recipes that otherwise you would not even dream of trying without Bertinet's guide. In case your pastry didn't turn out quite as you had expected, it still "tastes" wonderful, and in all, all the recipes are inspiring and worth giving a try. This book and his other award-winning bread books teach you how fun baking is, and since I got this book, I haven't been able to stop baking! The only thing I regret is not being able to attend his bakery lessons in Bath and see his techniques in person! Highly recommended for novices as well as for those who already have enough baking experiences.