Home & Lifestyle, Food
Introduction
Lesson time 04:34 min
Meet your new instructor: James Beard Award-winning pastry chef Dominique Ansel. Step into Chef Dominique’s bakery as he shares his vision for the class—to teach you the fundamentals of pastry and a curated selection of stunning desserts.
Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars
Topics include: Introduction
Teaches French Pastry Fundamentals
James Beard Award-winning pastry chef Dominique Ansel teaches his essential techniques for making delicious pastries and desserts in his first-ever online class.
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Pastry, to me, has a very emotional connection with people. We eat food because we need to feed ourselves. But dessert is always an extra. It's always something plus. People will drive very far away for good desserts. People will bring their friends, their family. It's something so simple but something so close to them and so dear to them. They want to share good food with the people they love. And I always, when I create new desserts, think of this and try to apply it into what I create. This class is not just a technical class. It is more wider, and it will open your mind to think of food differently, to think of pastry differently. I'm going to teach you the building blocks of pastry-- the base, the filling, and then the finishing. I'm going to teach you how to put everything together and also how to be creative and, with a simple recipe, make something beautiful. Today, we're going to make a strawberry tart, an apple tart, some little chocolate bonbon. Bonbon are little bites of chocolate filled with a ganache. We're going to make some croissants-- which are not always easy to make, but I'll get you through it-- a chocolate cake, and also, one of my favorite, the miniature Madeleines. I chose those recipes because they are simple. They are easy to make at home, and they are still very flexible. You can be really creative by having just a few ingredients, a few basic recipe, and think a little bit out of the box. These are also many of the recipes that I test my chefs on. Before bringing a sous chef and pastry chef on board with my team, I always ask them to do a testing for me. So these are some of the recipe that I will ask them to do. Baking can be really daunting for people, but you should never be intimidated. Baking is about being precise, being calm, and following all the steps. Every time you have a recipe, make sure you scale everything. Make sure you have all the ingredients. Follow all the instruction one at a time, and, for sure, you'll be successful. When people ask me what I do for a living, I always tell them that I do what I love. It's not just a job. It's a way of thinking. It's a way of living to see my guests happy, smiley, to see them coming back with friends, with family, to see them sharing and asking, what's on the menu? It is, to me, the most exciting part. It is where I can really express myself creatively, and I can really connect with my guests. I love baking. I love food, and I want to share it with you. I'm Dominique Ansel, and this is my MasterClass.
About the Instructor
Celebrated for his innovative twists on classic desserts, Cronut® creator and James Beard Award-winner Dominique Ansel has been called the “world’s best pastry chef.” In his MasterClass, Dominique teaches his essential techniques for perfect pastries. Learn baking and more with his precise methods, add classic recipes to your repertoire, and explore texture and flavor inspirations to delight friends and family with your own decadent desserts.
Featured MasterClass Instructor
Dominique Ansel
James Beard Award-winning pastry chef Dominique Ansel teaches his essential techniques for making delicious pastries and desserts in his first-ever online class.
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