Patisserie and Baking Foundations

Foreword from the President of Le Cordon Bleu

I am proud to present Le Cordon Bleu's Pâtisserie and Baking Foundations--the companion book to Le Cordon Bleu's Cuisine Foundations. This book is intended to provide a useful reference as you explore the world of pâtisserie and also to serve you well as you embark on your own journey, both personally and professionally. At first glance you might think that this is just "another culinary textbook," but on closer examination you will realize that the focus is on technique. This is particularly important in French pâtisserie, where mastering the basic techniques and recipes gives you the elements necessary to make almost any pastry, including ones to be created by you!

Provided herein are visual step-by-step photographs to demonstrate most of these basic techniques. We took our cue from the many students and graduates around the world who were looking for a single reference that would explain and show the basic techniques used in French pâtisserie and baking--techniques that have existed and been respected for more than three centuries. With human ingenuity came progress in the kitchen, but the techniques have remained practically unchanged. Pastry chefs over the centuries have gone from cooking in ashes to cooking in wood-burning stoves then onto induction ovens and the "anti-griddle." These advancements have certainly influenced the evolution of pâtisserie, but the tried-and-true recipes have not only endured but improved.

The Le Cordon Bleu Foundations books were written to reset the counter and refresh everyone's history and knowledge of these techniques. Here you will find recipes that have been created throughout the history of French pâtisserie and that best exemplify the application of the classic techniques. Also, because pâtisserie has become international there are also recipes for pastries and breads from other cultures that have become as familiar to many as a croissant or chocolate éclair. When you look at the integrity of each of these international recipes, you will recognize the application of the techniques used in the French classics.

Finally, it is important to pay homage to the generations of chefs who have upheld and passed on their passion for cooking to each succeeding generation. From Guillaume Tirel (Taillevent), who as an apprentice probably stood before hot flames, hand-turning a spit; to Albert Adrià, who has used modern technology to redefine gastronomy--these chefs represent the patrimony of l'art culinaire, the art of cooking.

Le Cordon Bleu has served its patrimony for more than a century through its chefs who have chosen a very important calling--teaching. From the moment Le Cordon Bleu opened its kitchens in 1895 on the rue St.-Honoré in Paris, students of all nationalities and all walks of life have come to join us in continuing to respect what French culinary technique represents. It is not about the recipes, but about how you work in a kitchen, whether you are cooking for loved ones or for paying customers.

It gives me great pleasure to extend our "classroom" beyond our worldwide network of schools and programs into this book and other forms of media. I hope you enjoy Le Cordon Bleu's Pâtisserie and Baking Foundations, not only as a guide and reference, but as an inspiration.

Amitiés gourmandes,

André J. Cointreau

President, Le Cordon Bleu International

Sample Recipes for Les Biscuits (Basic Mixtures)

(Click to open a PDF.)