Ready, Steady, Bake! A Review of L' Atelier des Chef's Macaron Baking Class

Words and Photography by Felicity Spector and Luiz Hara

We were invited to try out the 2 hour ‘Mastering Macarons’ baking class at L’Atelier des Chefs in St Paul's - held on a Friday evening between 6-8pm.

I have to confess I was rather sceptical about the idea of learning how to make macarons in such a short time. I've never tried them before, but watching vicariously as far more experienced Bake Off contestants and the like try and fail to achieve the right consistency and texture made me think it would take far, far longer for me to pick up the technique.

But the class promised macarons in two hours, and I was ready to learn.

Adorned in fetching plastic aprons, we gathered around our tutor for the night, Daniel Stevens, who had already begun the class at a gallop. In order to get a head start, he had managed to measure out some pre-prepared mixture onto trays, so they would dry out in time to put them in the oven.

All the ingredients we needed were already weighed out, and the equipment stood waiting - if only such preparation was so easy at home!

Under Dan's careful direction, we sifted flour and ground almonds, watched as egg whites and sugar ballooned into meringue in the Kitchenaids, and took turns to fold them together. A few dollops of the brightly coloured food colourings in - and we were done. So far, it was all very manageable.

We were then shown how to load up a piping bag and measure out the macaron halves onto the prepared baking trays. This was certainly a technique to remember, as we discovered how to look straight down at the tray, holding the nozzle into the dollop of mixture so it spread evenly and consistently. It was easier than I’d feared, and something I could replicate again.

We were invited to pipe our mixtures onto some trays: some produced lovely neat little macarons, while mine were frankly designed for a greedier person. Or perhaps 'generous' would be a kinder way to describe them.

Next they needed to dry before going in the oven - and the trays were placed next to open oven doors to speed up the process.

Dan carefully advised us how to make sure the mixture was the right consistency, and how to tell when the piped macaron mixture is dry enough to put into the oven: it should be slightly tacky and just firm enough to touch.

Onto the fillings: and there were four. A chocolate ganache was first, flavoured with a mint essence. I got a chance to get over my fear of making caramel - it really wasn't that scary after all. No saucepans were burned in the making of my toffee sauce. A citrus buttercream was surprisingly easy, and a delicious praline creme patissiere completed the lineup. Another useful recipe, which I'll keep for a later day.

Somehow all the fillings managed to set in time for us to fill our piping bags again, and sandwich the finished macarons together - there were certainly plenty to go around and we all filled takeaway boxes with our brightly coloured creations. I confess that we might possibly have eaten the odd one or two as well - but only the ones which weren’t quite perfect looking enough to take home. Honest.

I had arranged to take my batch to friends later in the weekend, and in retrospect I probably shouldn't have tried to keep the ones filled with the creme patissier for so long: they turned rather soggy after two days in the fridge, although they still tasted pretty good. The others held their shape and consistency far more impressively: the salted caramel version went down particularly well.

Dan advised us that macarons are far better eaten the day they're made - a sugar-filled midnight treat, then, or you could take the class right before a dinner party, and take them as a contribution towards dessert.

We were emailed the recipes for the macarons and fillings during the session, the easier to replicate them at home, although it would probably take me rather longer than 2 hours without Dan to provide his expert guidance.

I came away with some excellent tips: those piping techniques, the discovery that old egg whites make better meringues, and that caramel will not instantly burn to a blackened mess and wreck your pans. Our class definitely managed to de-mystify the art of macaron baking. Not such an impossible sweet to attempt, after all.

We were invited to attend the Mastering Macroons class at L’Atelier des Chefs St Pauls, 10 Foster Lane London EC2V 6HR, for more information visit their website here.

Classes cost £72 per person for two hours, and you can take home all the macarons you can eat.

An Evening of Christmas Baking with Richard Bertinet and a Recipe for Chorizo & Manchego Breakfast Muffins

Words & Photography by Simeen Kadi

A recent crisp Autumn evening found me in Marylebone at L’Atelier des Chefs enveloped in a cloud of cinnamon and allspice. Lurpak, Britain’s favourite butter brand, has just launched a slow churned butter and I had been invited to put it to good use in some Christmas baking.

My baking skills aren’t up to much so it was lucky that Richard Bertinet was on hand with some great recipes, tips and seemingly heatproof fingers. Richard Bertinet is well known for his cookery school in Bath and for his award winning cookery books (find out more here). And, I am sure that those who have attended one of his classes will also know him for his easy, genial manner and his patience.

We started off watching Richard mixing together dough for Spiced Christmas Tea Buns, but it wasn’t long before I was elbow deep in sticky dough. Richard was very handy with simple tips for working the dough, such as keeping your arms loose and working through the torso. And the ‘French Shrug’, the insouciant movement of shoulders and hands practised by our Gallic neighbours (especially Parisian waiters) which is both infuriating and alluring in equal measures. When used by Richard it instantly relieves sticky hands from gooey dough – try it next time, it really does work.

Richard Bertinet is a real authority on baking and we heard how bread making in the West has developed over the centuries, from mediaeval techniques for frasage (the initial mixing of ingredients) to the right method for stretching the dough to ensure enough air has been incorporated.

Stuffed with walnuts, cranberries and a goodly amount of the rich, slow churned butter, the dough was not very pliable at first but with perseverance (not my strongest trait) I got it to approximate Richard’s silky smooth dough. And after a turn in the oven and slathered with lashings of rich butter there wasn’t much to distinguish my paltry effort from that of the master baker.

Lurpak’s slow churned butter is actually very good – the long slow churn in small batches delivers a deep, earthy flavour and a rounded creaminess. We used it to make chocolate and orange crumpets, although, for my money, I would prefer to slather the butter on plain old toasted crumpets any day.

If you have more patience than me (very likely) you might like to try one of Richard’s savoury recipes:

Chorizo & Manchego Breakfast Muffins

Working time: 40 minutes
Resting time: 1 hour
Baking time: 30 minutes

Makes 14 good sized muffins

Ingredients:

• 100g Manchego cheese
• 150g cooking chorizo
• 450g strong bread flour
• 50g fine polenta or semolina
• 2 tsps sea salt
• 1 tbsp honey
• 20g fresh yeast (or 2tsp dried yeast)
• 275ml water
• 75ml full fat milk
• Semolina for dusting
• Lurpak Slow Churned Butter for serving

Method:

1. Grate the cheese and dice the chorizo.
2. Mix the flour, polenta or semolina, honey, sea salt, yeast, water and milk to make the dough. Then add the cheese and chorizo and fold into the dough. Leave to rest for an hour.
3. Lightly dust your work surface and turn out the dough onto it. Turn the dough over and dust with semolina. Roll out gently to a thickness of about 2cm. Use a 10-12cm cutter to cut out the muffins.
4. Place a griddle or flat frying pan over a medium heat. Oil the pan and add the muffin circles making sure not to crowd them in the pan – make them in batches. Cook for 4-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
5. To serve, slice in half and spread generously with the butter.

Lurpak Slow Churned Butter has just been launched across the UK. For more information and for recipes go to their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LurpakButter/app_169525643247814

Richard Bertinet’s Cookery School can be found on http://www.thebertinetkitchen.com/