French Boulangerie - by Ferrandi Paris (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A complete baking course from the world-renowned professional culinary school École Ferrandi, dubbed the "Harvard of gastronomy" by Le Monde newspaper.

From crunchy baguettes to fig bread, and from traditional brioches to trendy cruffins, this comprehensive volume teaches aspiring bakers how to master the art of the French boulangerie. This new cookbook focuses on bread and viennoiserie, the category of French baked goods traditionally enjoyed for breakfast (like croissants and pains au chocolat); it is a perfect complement to Ferrandi's bestselling French Pâtisserie, which covers baked desserts. Here, the culinary school's team of experienced chef instructors provides more than 40 techniques, explained in 220 step-by-step instructions--from making your own poolish or levain to kneading, shaping, and scoring various types of loaves, and from laminating butter to braiding brioches. Base recipes for doughs, fillings, and classic viennoiserie provide fundamental building blocks.

Organized into four categories--traditional breads, specialty breads, viennoiserie, and sandwiches--the 83 easy-to-follow recipes provide home chefs with sweet and savory options for breakfast or snacks--from country bread to grissini, pastrami bagels to croque-monsieurs, and kougelhopf to beignets. Select gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan recipes offer something for everyone. A general introduction explains the fundamentals of bread and viennoiserie making, including key ingredients, the importance of gluten, the steps of fermentation, and an informative glossary.

Review Quotes

"Throughout the book, the process of fermentation is ever present and explained in detail. Photos of equipment including a flour bench brush, a dough docker, and a kougelhopf mold can be found in the early pages. Not all the recipes emerge from the French repertoire though: paninis, pita breads, pizza, and even bagels have their place in the volume. Now that the homemade sourdough trend has abated, this new cookbook could reignite bread bakers' appetite!" -- Sylvie Bigar, FORBES

"The subtitle of the stunning new cookbook "French Boulangerie," from Ferrandi Paris, the French equivalent of the Culinary Institute of America, should be "Fermentation." All but a couple of the recipes in the book involve the process. At the outset, after covering ingredients and explaining gluten, there are lengthy how-to's describing several fermentation techniques: levain, commercial yeast and poolish. Step-by-step photos spill over into the recipes for assorted breads, viennoiserie, types of puff pastry, brioches, creams and fillings. But the scope is not limited to France: There are recipes for injera, bao buns, babka, pastrami sandwiches, flatbreads like pizza and even hot dogs. For each, the book provides a precise indication of how much time is needed to complete the recipe." -- Florence Fabricant, NEW YORK TIMES

About the Author

Ferrandi Paris opened in 1920 to train culinary and hospitality professionals. Internationally renowned for excellence, the school offers courses of all levels to students from France and abroad, including master classes taught by celebrated Michelin-starred chefs. With Flammarion, Ferrandi Paris has published French Patisserie (2017), Chocolate (2019), Vegetables (2020), Fruits and Nuts (2022), and Charcuterie (2023).