Nick Malgieri's Pastry: Foolproof Recipes for the Home Cook

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The book Nick Malgieri's Pastry is THE book, the guide for all things pastry. This is the definitive guide for pastry making. Can't tell you enough how much this one book will teach you about pastry making. Nick Malgieri's Pastry is the pastry bible. Vanilla Sugar Blog, 9/19/2014 Celebrated pastry chef Nick Malgieri, author of the just-published book Nick Malgieri's Pastry, finds apples easier to use in baked desserts than other fruits. When we discussed the properties of apples in desserts, he wrote: "Apples, depending on the variety you use, aren't very watery, especially if you are baking uncooked apples in raw dough, as in a classic American apple pie." For pie, Malgieri recommends "old reliable Golden Delicious, or a mix of Golden Delicious and Granny Smith for added tartness." Malgieri prefers to dice the apples for his pies rather than to cut them in wedges, as they bake through more quickly and evenly. For his "French" apple pie, he cooks diced apples with butter, sugar, cinnamon and raisins, and bakes this filling in a pastry crust. (See recipe.) Some of Malgieri's other apple desserts include old Viennese apple strudel with walnuts and sour cream, individual apple tarts with almond crunch, and apple and cranberry granola crisp. -- Faye Levy gem, 9/23/2014 When I read any of Nick Malgieri's many baking books, I feel immediately like a jumpy student just dying to become the teacher's pet. His recipes make me want to do everything by the book, follow his instructions to a perfectly frosted T, have someone (him) gaze approvingly at my flawless finished fruit tart and move me to the head of the class. His latest book, Nick Malgieri's Pastry, is no different; and this tart recipe jumped out at me for several reasons. 1. It's beautiful. I mean, Wow. 2. It's doable. It's not beautiful in that intimidating, I'd-have-to-study-pastry-in-Europe-to-make-something-that-looks-like-this kind of way. Plus, Malgieri, former executive pastry chef at Windows on the World and current pastry savant, explains everything so even a rogue baker like me can follow directions. -- Fran Cookbooks365, 9/17/2014 Nick Malgieri's latest cookbook is so beautiful, it's almost worth buying, even if you don't like baking. If you do, however, you're in for a treat. Nick Malgieri is a master baker who has baked with Julia Child, served as executive chef at Windows on the World, and today is director of the baking program at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. He has written 12 cookbooks. Among the mouth-watering recipes: Orange and Almond Tart, Old-Fashioned Applesauce Tart, and Cranberry Pecan Pie. The Record, 9/21/2014 You could say that award-winning cookbook author and Institute of Culinary Education baking program director Nick Malgieri knows a thing or two about pie crust, but that would be a wild understatement. With 12 cookbooks and years of baking and teaching experience, Nick Malgieri is an authority on the subject. I had the pleasure of talking with Nick about his new cookbook, Nick Malgieri's Pastry: Fool Proof Recipes for the Home Cook (a fantastic collection of more than 125 beautifully-photographed and easy-to-follow recipes), and (since pie-making season is in full swing) about the most important things to know when you're working with pie crust. -- Kristie Collado The Daily Meal, 10/14/2014 Pastries of all kinds - savory, sweet and a combination - are the focus of Nick Malgieri's latest book, succinctly titled Nick Malgieri's Pastry. A celebrated culinary educator, Mr. Malgieri has written a dozen dessert cookbooks. This one is a deep dive into the art of making the crusts and pastry doughs - pies, croissants, strudels and the like - that can often terrify a novice baker... Mr. Malgieri's teaching skills are manifest on every page as he breaks down the process of dough-making into thorough but easily digestible steps. With him at my side, I managed to turn out flaky, buttery pains au chocolate, which impressed the heck out of my Instagram followers. On the simpler side, a mango lassi tart with a cookielike crust was rich, silky and not at all tricky to put together. -- Melissa Clark The New York Times, 12/1/2014 Super Chef decided to turn to Nick Malgieri's Pastry: Foolproof Recipes for the Home Cook (Kyle 2014) for some basic techniques and inspiration. If you are having a mixed table of gluten-free and non-gluten free guests, then desserts may prove tricky. Nick includes two different dough without gluten: Unsweetened Gluten-Free and Gluten-Free Cookie Dough as well as tips in a page covering Rolling Gluten-Free Doughs & Forming Tart Crusts (pp. 23-4). Next, you'll want to choose at least one pie or tart. If you are cooking with French influences, try the Apple & Calvados Cream Tart (p. 42) or the French Lemon Meringue Tart (p. 48). If you make the lemon tart, then you'll have plenty of Lemon Curd (p. 48) leftover to use with your morning toast or give as a gift. If you are serving a more exotic meal, then what about trying Mango Lassi Tart (p. 55) or Mexican Cheese Tartlets (p. 65) filled with ricotta and Mexican cinnamon. But perhaps you are planning a more traditional Thanksgiving, the Cranberry Pecan Pie (p. 68) is essentially a citrusy cranberry sauce cooked in a pie shell with a sprinkling of pecans. It makes cranberry sauce redundant - or you could have both! Instead of pumpkin, you could try Nick's Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie (p. 80). But why stop at Thanksgiving. Use up that leftover turkey in Argentine Chicken Empanadas (p. 122) or try them in Cornish-Style Pasties (p. 125). Who needs steak and kidney when you have pounds and pounds of turkey? There is plenty more in Nick Malgieri's Pastry - including recipes for Turkish yufka, Viennese Danish Dough, and Puff Pastry Tart Crusts. The photography by Romulo Yanes is attractive, though not exhaustive. There are step-by-step pictures for tricky parts, otherwise, the photos show the finished pastry. Each recipe has plenty of notes and variations so that you can add to your repertoire according to the season. Nick is writing for smart cooks, who are a bit knowledgeable, but want additional guidance and good advice. This is a very useful book. -- Juliette Rossant Super Chef, 11/12/2014 The subtitle for his most recent cookbook, Nick Malgieri's Pastry, which came out in October, is "Foolproof Recipes for the Home Cook." With the expertise he wields as director of the baking program at the Institute of Culinary Education, he filled the book with gloriously tempting recipes to make pastries in any number of styles - pies, tarts (sweet and savory), strudel, puff pastry and more. Each is easy for the home cook to understand and follow. -- Daniel Neman St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12/3/2014 The title says it all. Gloucester Daily Times, 11/21/2014 I am very impressed with this book and highly recommend it. The recipes are varied, from basic cookies to quick breads to impressive plated desserts. It is not for someone who wants to spend no more than 15 minutes, mix a few ingredients and get a dozen cookies (although some recipes are very quick and easy) , but it is perfect for me, an adventurous home baker who frequently needs to double or quadruple batches to obtain the quantities I need. There are several things explained that I may never do, but was very interested in reading how they are done. Less "professional" options are often included. All in all, this is my new favorite cookbook, both for actual baking and for curling up and reading. It has given me lots of inspiration and I can hardly wait to get cooking! This is the time of the year when we are most interested in pies and tarts and in his new book Nick has taken the fear out of making pastry dough with what he calls a whole new generation of doughs and techniques to roll them into perfect pies and tarts. There are over 125 recipes in Nick Malgieri's Pastry along with beautiful photographs-- pies, cobblers and crisps; and tarts; strudels, puff pastries, including those with cream, and brioche. This book is destined to become the new definitive pastry bible. Nick has been at the pastry game for decades. He's been teaching classes on the topic all over the country for nearly 20 years. He is currently director of the baking program at The Institute of Culinary Education in New York City, and is the author of 12 cookbooks. Nick was the pastry chef at Window's On The World restaurant, and recently voted one of the Ten Best Pastry Chefs in America by Pastry Art and Design and Chocolatier magazines. -- Simone Zarmati Diament Food & Wine Talk Radio, 11/14/2014 Pains au chocolat are a classic French pastry and Nick Malgieri breaks it down for the home baker. Buttery Croissant Dough encases rich chocolate for an extraordinary treat. This recipe is from his new book, Nick Malgieri's Pastry. Don't miss our interview with this world-renowned teacher. -- Dede Wilson Bakepedia, 11/19/2014 Nick Malgieri brings us a fabulous counterpoint to apple and pumpkin pies for your Thanksgiving table. This pie, along with his basic Croissant Dough and Pains au Chocolat are from his new book, Nick Malgieri's Pastry. Nick is a fabulous teacher (I sent my father to him for classes!) and all of his recipes lead you clearly to successful execution - and you get his wit thrown in for good measure. -- Dede Wilson Bakepedia, 11/19/2014 'Tis the season for baking. But, even if you're not a professional pastry chef, making your own pastry dough is easier than it sounds! Nick Malgieri, the author of Nick Malgieri's Pastry was here to take the anxiety out of holiday baking by showing us a few simple recipes from his new cookbook. -- Courtney Gwynn News Channel 8 (DC), 11/18/2014 I was recently sent a beautiful cookbook, Nick Malgieri's Pastry: Foolproof Recipes for the Home Cook. Nick is a best selling author of 12 cookbooks. His newest cookbook is filled with luscious, creative pastry recipes, along with great step by step photos and instructions. -- Barbara Schieving Barbara Bakes, 11/22/2104 In his new book, Nick Malgieri's Pastry, Malgieri covers the basics for all kinds of doughs, from buttery laminated doughs to savory cornmeal doughs to all the things you can do with this unconventional sweet dough with both eggs and baking powder that seems more likely to be used for a free-form breakfast pastry than a pie. Malgieri is absolutely a hands-on baker, but he's not entirely opposed to shortcuts, such as using an all-butter frozen puff pastry from the store, but his goal is to make homemade doughs more accessible for all kinds of cooks, no matter if they have a KitchenAid stand mixer and food processor on the counter or only have a fork, some elbow grease and the willpower to try something new. -- Addie Broyles Palm Beach Post, 11/25/2014 In Nick Malgieri's Pastry: Foolproof Recipes for the Home Cook, Malgieri places dough at the forefront, revealing his technically accurate ways for mixing, rolling, shaping, and baking pastry. The how-to book explores, with all the fine-tuned points for success included, a range of doughs (tart, pie, strudel, brioche, and croissant, among others) along with the sweet and savory recipes which put them to good use. While all the recipes tempt, the author's European-styled sweets seem to shine the brightest: The Swiss Brioche Cream Cake is an exceptional arrangement of press-in-the-pan brioche dough topped with a whisked mixture of cream, egg yolks, and sugar-simple and sublime. Project-focused bakers will want to explore and master the Viennese Danish Dough and, when prepared, twist it into the Danish Dough Coffeecake. And once you think of Nick Malgieri's Pastry as an approachable baking-class-in-print, your cooling racks will be burdened (in the best way possible) with Italian Kale Pie, Viennese Walnut Cinnamon Crescents, Argentine Chicken Empanadas...and more to be sure. -- Lisa Yockelson Baking Style Diary This cookbook is loaded with wonderful recipes and photos of pastry for the home cook. The book is inspiring to say the least, I wanted to jump into the kitchen and start making some pastry right away. The recipes are simple to read and understand and I liked the layout as well. The photos are mouth watering and almost had me drooling on the paper. I not only tried the crust in my apple cranberry pie twice and both times it turned out perfect, I also used the crust in a coconut cream pie that I have yet to share. I also made a cookie pastry crust for a tart which turned out wonderful as well. I highly recommend this cookbook for the library of the home cook who loves to bake. The recipes are down to earth but elegant too with plenty of professional instruction to have you baking up pastries like a pro. -- Suzanne Platt You Made That?, 12/3/2014 In his new book, Nick Malgieri's Pastry, Malgieri covers the basics for all kinds of doughs, from buttery laminated doughs to savory cornmeal doughs to all the things you can do with this unconventional sweet dough with both eggs and baking powder that seems more likely to be used for a free-form breakfast pastry than a pie. Malgieri is absolutely a hands-on baker, but he's not entirely opposed to shortcuts, such as using an all-butter frozen puff pastry from the store, but his goal is to make homemade doughs more accessible for all kinds of cooks, no matter if they have a KitchenAid stand mixer and food processor on the counter or only have a fork, some elbow grease and the willpower to try something new. -- Addie Broyles Indiana Gazette, 12/22/2014 Nick Malgieri's Pastry, by Nick Malgieri (Kyle, 204 pages, $29.95), encourages anyone who regards pastry as intimidating, even showing how to make paper-thin sheets for baklava. Most bakers likely will veer toward his recipes for cream puffs, pie crusts and empanadas, all with delectable fillings, and feel well-served. -- Kim Ode Star Tribune, 12/10/2014 Nick Malgieri, who directs the baking program at New York's Institute of Culinary Education, writes lots of books (12 so far), the most recent of which is Nick Malgieri's Pastry (Kyle Books). This one covers the pastry spectrum, from tarts to pies to laminated dough and pate a choux. Malgieri's book is highly accessible, with many great instructional, step-by-step shots (by Romulo Yanes). This, coupled with the many sidebars on techniques, ingredients and tips, makes this a very good book for beginners. There's also plenty for the would-be pastry chef, and Malgieri includes a terrific section on Turkish pastry, with recipes for baklava, yufka and borek, as well as recipes for the pastries of other cultures (strudel, empanadas, pithiviers). -- Amy Scattergood Los Angeles Times, 12/19/2014 Nick Malgieri's Pastry by Nick Malgieri ($29.95, Kyle Books): If you've ever dreamed of making the sort of elaborate pastries you see in top bake shops at home, but have been intimidated by puff pastry, and yeast-risen treats like brioche, this is the book for you. Nick Malgieri shows how unbelievably easy many pastry doughs actually are to make, and shows ways to simplify more complicated types like croissants. With thorough tutorials on equipment, terminology and "you can do it" coaching, you'll be whipping out strudels and tarts in no time. Recipes to try: Cranberry Pecan Pie (along with Sweet Pastry Dough). This is a perfect addition to a Christmas dessert buffet, and is on the tart side - a welcomed change of pace at a time when a lot of baked goods are super-sweet. -- Grant Butler The Oregonian, 12/9/2014 Veteran cookbook author and director of the baking program at New York's Institute of Culinary Education, Nick Malgieri is one of the best baking teachers out there. In Nick Malgieri's Pastry: Foolproof Recipes for the Home Cook (Kyle, $29.95), he turns his attention to beginners. 'If you have a bad case of pastry-phobia or a fear of rolling,' he writes, 'I can promise that if you follow the simple instructions here, you'll be able to tackle any pastry project you like.' Read Malgieri's lucid discussions of ingredients, equipment and basic doughs, and then it's on to pies, tarts, cobblers, strudels, quiches, pizza, empanadas, puff pastry, brioche, cream puffs and more. The Southern, 12/24/2014