Understanding Pastry Making

• Blown Sugar - Used to blow air into the sugar with air being pumped.
• Pulled Sugar - made by boiling sugar mixture and then combined with food coloring
• Brioche - created in various shapes with yeast bread enriched with eggs and butter
• coulis - fruit puree strained to a thin consistency sweetened with sigar syrup
• Coulis is a fruit filling
• Crème Patisserie - Mostly used in fruit tarts and cream puffs.
• Fondant -A mixture of water, sugar, and glucose that is brought to a boil.
• Ganache - Filling or coating made from heavy cream and sometimes butter.
• Ganache is chocolate filling
• Crème Patisserie - A custard made from eggs, milk, sugar, and cornstarch or flour then enriched with butter and flavored with vanilla.
• Crème Patisserie is vanilla filling
• Meringue - Made by beating sugar and egg whites until they become stiff.
• Mousse - Made by combining aerated eggs with flavorings and then folded in whipped cream.
• Nougatine - Sliced almonds combined with sugar syrup and allowed to harden into a crispy confection.
• Praline

  • Made from roasted almonds or hazelnut combined with caramel.
  • Can be used to decorate cakes and other pastries
• Streusel - Crunchy topping made of butter, sugar, and flour. (crumbs)
• Streusel may contain nuts, oats, and spices.
• FLOUR

  1. Stir flour in the storage container or bag.
  2. Using a large spoon, lightly spoon flour from the container into the measuring cup.
  3. Using the back of the knife or a flat blade spatula, level off the flour even with the top edge of the measuring cup.
  4. Lay the flat edge flat against the top of the measuring cup.
  5. Draw the flat portion across the flour to perfectly smoothen the top of the flour.
  6. It may take a few passes over the top of the flour to get an accurate measure.
• WHITE SUGAR

  1. Dip the measuring cup into the container.
  2. Hold the measuring cup over the sugar container to catch spills while you measure.
  3. Use a kitchen knife with a straight edge.
  4. Level off the sugar with the straight edge of the knife by dragging the edge of the knife across the top of the cup.
• BROWN SUGAR

  • Needs to be packed into the measuring cup.
  • The sugar should retains the shape of the cup when it is dropped into the other ingredients.
• POWDERED SUGAR

  • Usually needs to be sifted to remove small lumps.
  • Measured by spooning the sugar into the measuring cup from the container, then leveling off with the back of the knife.
• BAKING POWDER AND BAKING SODA

  1. Stir in the container.
  2. Using a measuring spoon, lightly scoop it out of the container.
  3. Use the knife to level off even with the top edge of the measuring spoon.