Famous throughout the world, French pâtisserie is renowned, and deservedly so, for its excellence

and ingenuity and has been taught at the FERRANDI Paris school of culinary arts for almost one
hundred years. At the heart of our school’s teaching philosophy is the desire to both transmit
traditional skills and encourage creative innovation, a dual approach that is made possible by our
unrivaled industry connections, which have made the school the benchmark institution. Following
the publication of our first book in French, Le Grand Cours de Cuisine by FERRANDI Paris—a best
seller that has been translated into several languages and awarded numerous prizes—it was a
natural choice to devote our next book to pâtisserie. As pastry making is a profession that is both
artistic and artisanal, this book needed to be more than simply a recipe book. In line with the school’s
philosophy, it will teach you the basic techniques, but it will also whet your appetite for creativity and
reflection—essential ingredients in the meticulous and expressive art of pâtisserie. The passion and
high standards with which we teach pâtisserie to our students—whether young or mature, or keen
amateur cooks taking specialized classes—have enabled us to share this art with the world. The
prestige enjoyed by French pâtisserie is today greater than ever, and we hope that this book will add
to its credit. I would like to thank the contributors at FERRANDI Paris who helped create this book, in
particular Audrey Janet, who coordinated it, as well as many of the school’s pastry chefs who have
devoted time and effort to share their knowledge: Stévy Antoine, Carlos Cerqueira, Claude Chiron,
Bruno Ciret, Régis Ferey, Alain Guillaumin, and Edouard Hauvuy. I would like to thank all the chefs,
friends, former students, associate professors, and members of the Advisory Board, who did us the
honor of contributing recipes: Ophélie Barès, Christelle Brua, Christine Ferber, Nina Métayer,
Christophe Adam, Julien Alvarez, Nicolas Bacheyre, Nicolas Bernardé, Nicolas Boussin, Yann Brys,
Frédéric Cassel, Gontran Cherrier, Philippe Conticini, Yann Couvreur, Christophe Felder, Cédric
Grolet, Pierre Hermé, Jean-Paul Hévin, Arnaud Larher, Gilles Marchal, Pierre Marcolini, Carl Marletti,
Yann Menguy, Christophe Michalak, Angelo Musa, and Philippe Urraca. Their influence on our
.school’s teaching remains invaluable and precious