What a pastry session looks like

Most pastry is cold work done in short bursts. You weigh flour, cut cold butter into it, add just enough ice water to hold it together, then let the dough rest in the fridge so the gluten relaxes and the butter firms up again. Rolling comes next, then another chill, then the bake. A pie crust takes about 20 minutes of hands-on time spread over an afternoon. Croissants stretch the same rhythm over two days, with a fold every hour or so. Macarons are the odd one out: no butter in the shell, just egg whites whipped with sugar and folded into almond flour, and the challenge is the mixing, not the temperature.

Rows of pastel green, pink and lavender macarons in wooden trays

Pick your first direction

Croissants, macarons or pie

Open a direction to see what to bake first. Each button adds that direction's ingredients and tools to the kit, and you can switch on more than one.

Croissant makingYeasted dough folded around a slab of butter until it holds dozens of layers. The most time-consuming path, and the one that teaches lamination for every other viennoiserie.

Start here

Block out a cool weekend and make a half batch of the Baker's Croissants recipe, chilling the dough whenever the butter starts to feel soft.

King Arthur Baking: Baker's Croissants

Macaron bakingAlmond-meringue shells sandwiched with a filling. Precise rather than physical; success comes from weighing in grams and learning when to stop folding.

Start here

Pick a dry day, weigh every ingredient in grams and bake one tray of French macarons to learn how far your batter spreads.

King Arthur Baking: French Macarons

Pie makingThe all-butter crust from your first session, baked in a pie dish with a fruit or custard filling. The gentlest way to go deeper after a galette.

Start here

Bake an apple pie in a glass pie dish so you can watch the bottom crust turn golden before you pull it.

King Arthur Baking: Apple Pie

Free deep dives for the two technical directions

Your first week of pastry

Your first dough, tested

King Arthur Baking: All-Butter Pie Crust Tested first dough: flour and salt from the kit, plus 2 sticks of cold unsalted butter and ice water

What you can bake in your first month

Fruit galette

Pie dough rolled into a round and folded over sliced fruit, so a cracked edge just looks rustic.

Cheese straws

A quick rough puff dough twisted with grated cheese, your first taste of lamination without yeast.

Palmiers

The same rough puff rolled in sugar and sliced, a forgiving way to practice even rolling.

Double-crust fruit pie

The all-butter crust lining a pie dish, with a vented or lattice top.

A first tray of macarons

Expect a few cracked or hollow shells; they still taste great sandwiched with jam or buttercream.

A rustic plum galette with its crust folded over the fruit, fresh plums around it — A plum galette, crust folded over the fruit

Skills to build early

Keeping butter cold

Visible streaks of butter in the dough are what turn into flaky layers, so chill the dough the moment it turns greasy or soft.

Weighing, not scooping

A cup of flour can vary by 30 grams depending on how you fill it, and macarons fail on less than that.

Rolling evenly

Short strokes from the center out, a quarter turn between them, and a light dusting of flour only where the dough sticks.

Folding (lamination)

Enclosing butter in dough, rolling it long and folding it in thirds, then chilling before the next fold.

Judging doneness by color

Pastry is done when it is deep golden brown, including the underside, not when it first looks light tan.

Choosing a rolling pin and setting up each session

A tapered French pin (no handles) gives you the most feel for dough thickness and is easy to pivot when rolling rounds.
Before buying, check that the wood is smooth with no raised grain and that the pin is long enough (about 18 inches) to span a 12-inch round.
Wipe a wooden pin with a dry cloth or barely damp sponge; never soak it or put it in the dishwasher, or it will warp and crack.
Before each session, clear the counter, set butter and water in the fridge, and preheat the oven at least 20 minutes so the first tray goes into a fully hot oven.
On a warm day, chill the pastry mat or sheet pan for 10 minutes before rolling so the dough stays firm longer.

Hands pushing a wooden rolling pin over thin pastry dough on a floured board — Rolling pastry thin on a floured board

What trips beginners up

Expect cracked edges, a lopsided round and a crust that shrinks a little; these improve within three or four doughs.
Expect your first croissants to leak butter or bake up bready. Lamination usually clicks around the third attempt.
Expect macaron shells to crack, spread or come out hollow at first. Humidity and oven hot spots change results from day to day.
Overworking the dough: kneading or adding extra water makes crust tough. Stop mixing when it just holds together.
Skipping the rests: dough rolled straight from mixing springs back and shrinks in the oven. Chill it every time it fights you.
Underbaking: pale pastry tastes doughy and the bottom stays soggy. Bake longer than feels comfortable and look underneath.
Measuring macarons by volume: use the scale for every ingredient, including egg whites.

A close-up of baked croissants with their thin laminated layers showing — The open layers lamination is aiming for

Help when a bake goes wrong

King Arthur Baking: Baker's Hotline Professional bakers answer baking questions by phone, chat or email

Why the kit looks like this

Pastry needs very little equipment. The base kit is a rolling pin, a scale, something to bake on and the dry ingredients for the all-butter crust, which already makes galettes, hand pies and rough puff. The pastry blender, brush, mat and oven thermometer are inexpensive and make every dough easier, so they sit just below the essentials. Croissants, macarons and pies each add a few items of their own, so switch on only the direction you plan to bake. Butter, eggs and fruit are the fresh ingredients you buy for each bake and are not listed here.

A lattice-top jam tart on dark slate with one slice cut out — A lattice-top jam tart

Glossy golden croissants on a parchment-lined baking tray

Stock the pastry bench

Tools, dry staples and three add-ons

The first seven lines are the base kit: the tools and dry staples for the all-butter crust. The next four are recommended for every baker, and the croissant, macaron and pie lines join when you switch on that direction. Clicking a card selects it in the kit, and clicking the selected card again takes that line out.

French rolling pin

Essential · Core tools

Every pastry starts by rolling cold dough thin and even, and a tapered pin gives you the most control over thickness.

budget

French Rolling Pin (17 Inches) –WoodenRoll Pin for Fondant, Pie Crust, Cookie, Pastry, Dough –Tapered Design & Smooth Construction - Essential Kitchen Utensil

4.8(11,201)

$8.99

Pastry Making

What a pastry session looks like

Pick your first direction

Your first week of pastry

Skills to build early

Choosing a rolling pin and setting up each session

What trips beginners up

Why the kit looks like this

Stock the pastry bench

French rolling pin

Digital kitchen scale

Rimmed half sheet pan

Parchment paper sheets

Unbleached all-purpose flour

Granulated sugar

Fine salt

Pastry blender

Pastry brush

Silicone pastry mat

Oven thermometer

Instant yeast

Superfine almond flour

Powdered sugar

Cream of tartar

Piping bags with round tips

Silicone macaron baking mat

Glass pie dish (9-inch)

Ceramic pie weights