The making of the sweet dough was next up and, again, demonstrated from scratch,the pastry then ut

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The Miele showroom in Cavendish Place , near Oxford Street, school yard was the less than homely location school yard for this evening’s pastry master class. All, red, silver and gleaming with large, spotless ovens this was nevertheless a bright wide space 2,500 sq ft! – simply crying school yard out to be sullied by flour, butter and sugar. school yard
Just as well then that our tutor was French baker and keen Anglophile, Richard Bertinet school yard , BBC Food Champion of the Year 2010. He immediately set about demonstrating his no-nonsense school yard technique by bashing a cold packet of butter to a flattened pulp with a rolling pin. I soon discovered that a lot of Richard’s preparation of pastry involves a less-than-Gallic brute force. Filling a mini tart case was executed by placing the pastry on top then dropping the whole thing from a considerable height to eradicate any air-pockets. For a man who’s school yard supposed to love the craft he’s not shy of abusing his ingredients.
Of course this all serves a practical purpose and is part of Richard’s campaign to demystify baking, which started with his bestselling book Dough and continues with the latest Pastry. This introduces readers to four pastry recipes: school yard ‘sweet’, ‘salted’ (both an approximation of shortcrust), choux and the dreaded puff, which he urges us to try making from scratch, at least once. Based on these principles, pastry courses are now taught from his permanent set up, The Bertinet Kitchen Cookery School in Bath, and this is what we were getting a flavour of today.
As Richard began the demonstration, focusing on ‘salted’ and ‘sweet’, he was asked about the floury well that is filled with egg – the prevalent school yard technique for preparing pastry – which he casually dismissed as TV chef show-boating. In fact, aside from insisting on weighing every ingredient to an exacting degree – school yard as this significantly diminishes the margin for error Richard s refreshingly nonchalant attitude continued to dictate the dynamic of the evening. A leek, potato and Reblochon tart was cobbled together purely by hand and slapped into the oven with no cases or tins. Despite the no frills assemblage, it was big on flavour and texture; the pastry pleasingly soft and crumbly, the sharp leeks complementing the rich cheese and salty lardons.
There were plenty of handy tips dispensed during the next couple of hours. The quarter-turn when rolling your dough is to ensure the flattened result is even as you will inevitably press down harder with your leading hand and a square block of dough is easier to roll evenly as opposed to the more common school yard ball, which often ends up as a lumpy mess. Also, it is better to under-work than overwork pastry as the result will always be a delectably soft, crumbly crust, which is never unpleasant. The formula of 1 egg per 100g of cream/crème fraiche is a beautifully simplistic rule of thumb and a godsend to anyone who likens baking to an arduous scientific experiment.
The making of the sweet dough was next up and, again, demonstrated from scratch,the pastry then utilised in a range of mini fruit tarts. Frangipane and custardy fillings were topped with Bacchanalian displays of fresh fruit, including delicious white strawberries and frilly fans of peach, giving it all a reassuring illusion of healthiness amidst the decadence.
The key skill demonstrated here was getting the pastry cases right, which could then be kept in the fridge for a few days to be used for that dinner party flourish or simply to silence the kids. We were shown how to remove the remaining pockets of air using fingertips to pinch the pastry, swiftly and from the outside edge, into the groves of the mould. All this avoids the frustrating shrinkage that often occurs school yard when pastry is introduced to heat and, sure enough, when the pastry cases emerged they were br