Ok, so we all know Paris will see fewer visitors this year due to travel restrictions. I’m sure if you were planning a trip there this summer, you’re pretty sad to not be able to go. But the good news is that, thanks to the magic of technology, if you have flour, butter, yeast and a few other ingredients, you can now bring the TASTE of Paris to your kitchen!
My friends at La Cuisine Paris (I’ve written about them extensively and – full disclosure, the owners are friends but I don’t promote things I don’t believe in) have launched a couple of different online options for people pining for Paris/ France that I can highly recommend – pre-recorded classes that you purchase and own and can use as many times as you like and a series of live classes via Zoom that you participate in live. Those begin on August 8th and I’m excited to be a guest in the very first one!
But for today’s dose of French, I’m so happy to share with you the results of the fantastic Croissant and Breakfast Pastry Fundamentals class that I purchased recently and finally had a day to dedicate to it (the hands-on work doesn’t take a day but the timing requires the better part of one).
The lessons are through a platform called “Teachable” that organises the course materials really well. You work your way through the unit at your own pace and can view the videos as many times as you like!
For the croissant class, it’s a great feature because you’ll need to stop and start the class as you take the time to rest your dough according to the instructions. With some of the folds, you might need to watch the videos a few times. They are clear and easy to understand but when you’re at a crucial stage, you don’t want to mess up!
Though I’ve made this dough before a number of times, I followed the instructions to the letter and was thrilled with how the dough came out!
So soft and smooth!
When it comes to making the pastries themselves, they give you a lot of guidance as to how to shape croissants, pain au chocolat and a few other viennoiseries. I made them all!
(love that you can already see the layers in this one!)
And then we wait…
Yep, those are my pastries proofing in my bathroom (warmest room in the house with the aircon on – I made these on one of the hottest, most humid days of the year!)
And then we bake…
I was overjoyed with my results… I mean…
Look at those layers!
Allllllll the layers!
These were SO good. A little heavier than they should have been – not 100% on the age of my yeast and I used all-purpose flour instead of pastry flour because that’s what I had on hand. To go along with this I also used regular (i.e. Canadian, not higher fat French) butter so I know if they work with these ingredients, they will work with higher quality ones even better! Next time, I’ll be using pastry flour and French butter!
As a teacher, I 100% appreciated the way the classes are laid out – on an easy to navigate platform with clear, accessible instructions. It’s *nearly* like being in the cooking school!
Learn more about the La Cuisine Paris pre-recorded classes or their series of live classes via Zoom !
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The pics all say yum, yum and yum…. really nice post, Mardi.
I think you need to do them all again this week – using pastry flour and French butter.
Just so we can have a proper comparison of the results. 🙂