the everyday gourmet: baking pastries and desserts  get a quick, easy, and comprehensive guide to the fundamentals of baking like a professional with the everyday gourmet: baking pastries and desserts. these six lessons invite you to join chef stephen l. durfee, an award-winning pastry chef and instructor from the famed culinary institute of america, as he demonstrates tried-and-true methods for baking everything from simple cookies and cakes to custards, cream puffs, and chocolate mousse. filmed on site at the cia’s greystone campus in napa valley and packed with dynamic studio demonstrations and opportunities to work hands-on in your own kitchen, these lessons give the novice and master baker alike practical tips and insights straight from one of the world’s most respected culinary schools. unlike cookbooks (where all you can do is read the recipe, see the beautiful picture, and hope for the best outcome) and popular cooking shows (where the emphasis is more on entertainment than accessibility),the everyday gourmet: baking pastries and desserts is fun to watch while at the same time highly interactive, academically rigorous, and deeply informative. by inviting you to learn with one of the cia’s great instructors, you know you’ll be getting lessons that are more concerned with your education than with just entertainment.