The Everyday Gourmet: Baking Pastries and Desserts [repost]

A three-tiered chocolate cake crowned with pillows of whipped cream frosting. A warm-from-the-oven fruit pie complete with a golden-brown latticed crust. A rich, creamy custard whose silky texture reminds you of luxury and refinement.

For many of us, indulging in these and other delicious treats means visiting our local bakery or making unexciting substitutes from boxed mixes. But baking desserts from scratch, even desserts that you’d expect to find only in five-star restaurants, is a lot less difficult than you might think. In fact, anyone with the right mastery of the basic concepts, techniques, and strategies that classically trained pastry chefs use can bake and create desserts that taste spectacular—and look spectacular as well. When you master the secrets of baking, you can

elevate everyday meals to restaurant-quality dining experiences,
impress your family and friends with your culinary skills,
rediscover the sheer joy of baking with everyday and uncommon ingredients,
experiment with creating your own unique treats, and
not have to resort to boxed mixes and store-bought goods.

Get a quick, easy, and comprehensive guide to the fundamentals of baking like a professional with The Everyday Gourmet: Baking Pastries and Desserts. These six lessons invite you to join Chef Stephen L. Durfee, an award-winning pastry chef and instructor from the famed Culinary Institute of America, as he demonstrates tried-and-true methods for baking everything from simple cookies and cakes to custards, cream puffs, and chocolate mousse. Filmed on site at the CIA’s Greystone campus in Napa Valley and packed with dynamic studio demonstrations and opportunities to work hands-on in your own kitchen, these lessons give the novice and master baker alike practical tips and insights straight from one of the world’s most respected culinary schools.

Start Baking with More Confidence

Unlike cookbooks (where all you can do is read the recipe, see the beautiful picture, and hope for the best outcome) and popular cooking shows (where the emphasis is more on entertainment than accessibility), The Everyday Gourmet: Baking Pastries and Desserts is fun to watch while at the same time highly interactive, academically rigorous, and deeply informative. By inviting you to learn with one of the CIA’s great instructors, you know you’ll be getting lessons that are more concerned with your education than with just entertainment.

Central to Chef Durfee’s course is his ability to take the intimidation out of baking and replace it with confidence. You’ll learn how to approach common baking techniques such as

creaming eggs and sugar to the right consistency;
rolling out and blind-baking flaky and crumbly pastry dough;
whipping up your own frosting, whipped cream, and dessert sauces; and
plating, decorating, and serving your desserts like a pro.

Along the way, you’ll hone your ability to work with baking instruments from wire whisks, stand mixers, and pastry cream bags to ramekins, molds, and even a blowtorch—not to mention the most important tools any baker owns: his or her hands. You’ll also get tips on setting up your baking station, testing for doneness, measuring ingredients properly, and more.


Lectures:

01. Handle With Care - Basic Doughs
02. Mixing It Up - Methods For Cakes
03. Blue-Ribbon Winners - Pies and Biscuits
04. Lighter Than Air - Cream Puffs
05. Simple To Elegant - Custards
06. Final Touches - Mousse and Dessert Sauces


Look also:

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America's Test Kitchen - Season 2

America's Test Kitchen - Season 3

America's Test Kitchen - Season 4

America's Test Kitchen - Season 5

America's Test Kitchen - Season 6

America's Test Kitchen - Season 12

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Kitchen Secrets - Season 2

Alton Brown - Feasting in Asphalt - Season 1

Alton Brown - Feasting in Asphalt - Season 2

Alton Brown - Feasting in Waves - Season 1

Bizarre Foods - Season 1

Bizarre Foods - Season 2

Bizarre Foods - Season 3

Cheese Slices - Series 1

Cheese Slices - Series 2

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Cheese Slices - Series 4

Cheese Slices - Series 5

Chef Abroad - Season 1

Chef Abroad - Season 2

Chocolate Perfection With Michel Roux (2014)

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Jacques Pepin - More Fast Food My Way

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Good Food Channel - Perfect… Series 1

Good Food Channel - Perfect… Series 2

Gordon Ramsay - The F Word - Season 2

Gordon Ramsay - The F Word - Season 3

Gordon Ramsay - The F Word - Season 4

Gordon Ramsay - The F Word Season 5

Jacques Pepin - More Fast Food My Way

James Martin - Food Map of Britain

Jamie's 15-Minute Meals - Season 1 (2012)

Kitchen Hero - Series 1 (2010)

Kitchen Hero - Series 2 (2011)

Kris Carr - Crazy Sexy Cooking Classes

Kylie Kwong - Heart & Soul

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Laura Calder - French Food at Home - Season 1

Laura Calder - French Food at Home - Season 2

Luke Nguyen - Greater Mekong - Season 1

Luke Nguyen's Vietnam - Season 1

Martha's Homemade Holidays

Martin Yan's - Chinatown Cooking

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Mexico: One Plate at a Time with Rick Bayless - Season 2

Mexico: One Plate at a Time with Rick Bayless - Season 3

Mexico: One Plate at a Time with Rick Bayless - Season 5

Michel Roux Jr - Patisserie

Christmas at River Cottage

Christmas Kitchen with James Martin - Season 1

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Glamour Puds - Series 2

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Jamie's Christmas With Bells On

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Nigella's Christmas Kitchen - Season 2

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Rachel Allen's Cake Diaries - Series 1 (2012)

Rachel Allen's - Dinner Parties (2010)

Raymond Blanc's Christmas Feast

Rick Stein's Christmas Odyssey

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Rick Stein's Seafood Odyssey

Rick Stein's Spanish Christmas

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River Cottage - Three Go Mad at Christmas

The Fabulous Baker Brothers Do Christmas

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Martin Yan's - Chinatown Cooking

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Mexico: One Plate at a Time with Rick Bayless - Season 3

Mexico: One Plate at a Time with Rick Bayless - Season 5

Michel Roux Jr - Patisserie

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Paul Hollywood - Pies and Puds - Season 1

Primal Grill with Steven Raichlen - Volume 1

Primal Grill with Steven Raichlen - Volume 2

Primal Grill with Steven Raichlen - Volume 3

Real Food Con

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The A to Z of TV Cooking - Season 1

The Art Of Living Food

The Culinary Institute of Amer...nowledge Volume 1 - Knife Care

The Culinary Institute of Amer...ledge: Volume 2 - Knife Skills

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The Great British Bake Off - Series 1 (2010)

The Great British Bake Off - Series 2 (2011)

The Great British Bake Off - Series 3 (2012)

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