Baking | Boomers Daily

Whether you’re making a recipe for cinnamon rolls or French bread, yeast factors into the equation. Yeast is a required ingredient for almost all bread recipes. While we typically just buy yeast at the grocery store and toss it in our mixing bowl, yeast has quite an interesting backstory.

Yeast are fungi, living organisms found all around us, floating in the air. According to producer Red Star Yeast, yeast is made up of egg-shaped cells, only visible through a microscope. They’re fungi just like the molds found on blue cheese, mushrooms, or even in antibiotics such as penicillin. However, yeast grows in a different form than other fungi, which are typically composed of tubular chains of cells called hyphae. Yeast is found in small clusters of cells, or as an individual cell. And since it’s alive, yeast can also die.

According to Red Star Yeast, their yeast is stamped with a best by date of two years from when the yeast is packaged. Keeping it in a cool, dry place such as your pantry or refrigerator will ensure it’ll live up to that date. If you’re not sure if your yeast is alive, pour it over warm water with a teaspoon of sugar. If it bubbles, it’s still kicking, The Spruce Eats advises.

Also? Yeast has been around for longer than pretty much any of us. In researching the ancient tomb of the Egyptian ruler Scorpion from around 3100 B.C., archaeologists found 700 jars of resinated wine. According to Scientific American, the resin was used to slow the wine’s natural progression into vinegar. Researchers found evidence of the same species as modern-day brewer’s yeast in the jars. While that isn’t solid evidence the ancient Egyptians knew that the addition of yeast could turn their juice into alcohol, it certainly does show that yeast has been prevalent for a very, very long time.

Christophe Felder, along with his longtime collaborator, Camille Lesecq, are back with a new volume that focuses upon the delightful small pastries that are one of the highlights of the art of French baking. Both children and adults adore these often bite-size indulgences. Included here are all the fundamental recipes–the classics and the traditional favorites–along with original, inventive creations.

A delightful volume devoted to the delicate, charming treats that are the soul of France’s neighborhood patisseries. With Felder’s expert guidance, any home cook can now re-create the sweet enchantments and small indulgences that are the hallmark of many a holiday in France.

Recipes include amandines, babas, biscuits, bostocks, creams, croquantes, croustillons, financiers, flans, madeleines, Alsatian manderlis, Napoleans, petits fours, sablés, tartlets, and much more.

The book opens with a section on twenty-seven base recipes from which all others can be made, including pâte brisée, pâte sucrée, sablé breton, dacquoise, pâte á choux, feuilletée rapide, and crème pâtissière. It is then divided into chapters of increasing complexity, with a final chapter on “funny” cakes–playfully decorated small cakes designed to delight children or for parties.

Each recipe comes with precise preparation and cooking times, step-by-step decorating tips, and suggestions for vegan and gluten-free alternatives–this seemingly petite package contains a wide range of sweet and simple pleasures to delight big and small gourmets alike.

About The Author

Christophe Felder is one of the most respected pastry masters in the world, having achieved fame during his fifteen-year tenure as the pastry chef at the Michelin-starred Hôtel de Crillon in Paris. In 2009, he founded Studio Christophe Felder, a pastry school open to the public and located in Strasbourg in his native Alsace. Together with Camille Lesecq, former pastry chef at Le Meurice, they operate a patisserie, Les Pâtissiers, in Mutzig, Alsace.