The Everyday Gourmet: Baking Pastries and Desserts

Basic techniques and methods for making desserts; organizing the workspace; methods for proper measuring; ways to cream butter, sugar and eggs to the right consistency; Chef Durfee shows what can go right and wrong as he makes cookies and pound cake.

What the basic mixing methods for cakes are; what their secrets are; Chef Durfee goes step-by-step through baking a devil's food cake and several egg foam cakes; demonstrating the right and wrong way to whip eggs and cool cakes.

Learning everything one needs to know about flaky dough; how to mold a pie crust with the hands or pastry tools; how to blind-bake it; how to make a latticed top; exploring secrets to making tender, flaky biscuits and golden-brown scones.

Cream-puff pastry is unique in that it is a twice-cooked pastry dough; mastering the art of baking and experimenting with puff pastry; using it to create decadent desserts; tips on making pastry cream, chocolate ganache and caramel topping.

Tips and tricks to wowing dinner guests with egg-based custards such as vanilla-infused crème anglaise, butterscotch pudding and crème brûlée; bolstering one's confidence in the sometimes tricky art of baking with eggs on the stovetop or in the oven.

Light and luscious mousses and creams; how to make whipped cream, chocolate mousse, dessert sauces and vanilla bean panna cotta; Chef Durfee demonstrates the best ways to unmold, plate and present desserts with flair and a unique touch.