Puff

This was a gift for someone who is in love with Puff Pastry. The recipes were simple to follow and the photographs were nicely done. If you or someone you know is interested in recipes using Puff Pastry - this is the book for you.

I think this may be an award winner, I just don't find it that interesting or filled with that many new ideas. Presented nicely and it is nice to have the many ways to use puff pastry in one book but many of the ideas I have seen in other books. I was looking for new ideas and was disappointed that I was not inspired. HOWEVER and this is important, if you have never used puff pastry or are intimidated by it, this would be a great book to purchase or check out at your local library/book store. The first part of the book is devoted to the making and handeling of both, from scratch and purchased puff pastry. Her diagrams are easy to follow as are her directions. There are also a nice selection of recipes. The more I think about this and look at this book the more I think I should have rated it higher...changing from 3 to 4 stars.

I bought "Puff" after my first (failed) attempt at using puff pastry. I wish I had bought it beforehand; only after seeing the fairly miserable results of my first experiment did I realize that it's not something to be trifled with. As a previous reviewer said, I doubt this book will be one of the first I reach for on an everyday basis. But for those times when I need or want to deal with puff pastry, the first 31 pages alone are going to be worth the purchase price. In them are tips and guidelines on how to handle, bake, store and thaw homemade and store-bought frozen puff pastry. Recipes for homemade puff pastry -- both classic and "rough" for the beginner -- are also included. With every puff pastry-specific technique that's mentioned, there is a small but adequately illustrative photo showing what's being described. The author also lists useful tools and talks about ingredient selection and handling. In short, all very informative for the beginner. Getting back to the recipes that make up the bulk of the book, the author admits up front that most of them were prepared in the test lab using frozen puff pastry. For me, that's not a drawback; it's a huge bonus. I don't foresee having a whole lot of time (or inclination) to make my own puff pastry. Just knowing that the recipes in this book were made with the same stuff I'm likely to find in my grocer's freezer makes me at least a little more likely to reach for this book when I want something out of the everyday, without the hassle of making it ENTIRELY from scratch. One thing that surprised me is that the recipes are pretty evenly distributed when it comes down to how many pages are dedicated to each course type. I thought there would be more dessert-type items than anything else, but there are roughly 30 pages in each of the following categories: Light and Crunchy Appetizers and Snacks (pages 34-60) Big First Courses and Main Dishes (pages 64-93) Desserts, Cookies and Other Sweet Pastries (pages 99-139) I haven't tried any of the recipes yet because I just got the book. But after reading the first 31 pages, I had to put this review up. If you're like me, this book may save you from future kitchen disasters!

There are more things to do with puff pastry than one may think. Whether you use frozen or make it yourself, pastry shell may be one of the more overlooked, versatile ingredients in the chef's arsenal. Puff has 50 recipes (including two pastry versions) separated in three sections - Appetizers and Snacks, First Courses and Main Dishes, and of course Desserts, Cookies and Sweet Pastries. None of the recipes themselves are difficult (except maybe for doing the dough from scratch, and with frozen dough, that's not a stumbling block), and some are surprisingly original in interesting ways (smoky-sweet chorizo pockets). There are a number of "tarts", and the most interesting ones were to be found in the first courses and main dishes (the Saffron-scented seafood tart as an example). This isn't a cookbook you'd use on a daily basis, but you may find yourself flipping through it once a week, looking for something with that right amount of crunch.