Cookbook by Bakehouse’s Grégoire Michaud a must for home bakers in search of perfect pastries

If the name Grégoire Michaud sounds familiar, that’s because he’s been in the news in Hong Kong lately – or at least his bakery has; Bakehouse, in Wan Chai, has had people lining up since it opened in January.

Layers (2013) is Michaud’s fifth cook­book (other titles include Artisan Bread [2008], Got Cheese? [2010] and Never Skip Dessert [2016]) and will probably prove to be the most difficult for the home baker to follow. It focuses on laminated pastry, which alternates layers of fat (usually butter) and dough that are then rolled and folded to create exponentially more layers that puff up delicately when baked. Laminated doughs include those for croissant, Danish and puff pastries, and the timing and execution must be precise for the layers to rise evenly.

In the preface, Michaud writes, “Lami­nated dough is fascinating. Producing the perfect layered dough requires precision, discipline and rigor; yet, gestures need to be gentle and measured. The flaky and buttery pastries are nothing less than a complicated mathematical equation taken into a baking art form, which will ultimately end up as a scrumptiously delicious result! Under­standing the close relation the different elements of the dough have to form the puffed flaky pastry is the essence of perfectly formed layers.