Michelin-trained pastry chefs Hyo Ju Park and Rong Yao Soh share essential techniques for elevating home bakes, from precise weighing to the secret power of salt.
Creative couple Hyo Ju Park and Rong Yao Soh both worked in Michelin-starred restaurants before they opened Madeleine de Proust Patisserie in 2023.. Turning out dozens of different types of dainty French cakes – all with a signature bump – the bakery relies on the duo’s meticulous approach to culinary arts honed in some of the world’s best kitchens.. And it’s quickly become a favourite among Melbourne cake-lovers and visiting devotees.. Now Soh and Park
have channelled their know-how into a book for home bakers, but that patisserie perfectionism is still on show.. Madeleines: Simple Bakes for Every Mood brings a touch of culinary-school finesse to achievable recipes you can knock out in a domestic kitchen.. And there are plenty of tips and tricks for more ambitious bakers who want to raise their game.. We asked the debut authors to share their best basic rules for elevating home bakes.. Weigh
your ingredients Rong Yao Soh: A good baker is very, very consistent every time.. Ten times or 100 times – the things they bake will be the same.. And weighing is the first step to becoming a good baker.. Hyo Ju Park: Even something as simple as an egg can be wildly different depending on the brand and depending on the weather.. Like, during summer the chickens drink more water so there’s more water content;
during winter the eggs are smaller.. That’s why we weigh everything – so it’s the same each time.. Add some salt Park: Salt is very important in baking.. A lot of people think a dessert should just be sweet, but without salt it’s not seasoned.. When there’s a proper amount of salt in the mixture, it won’t be too sweet – it’s more like a balance that enriches the flavours.. Soh: It’s a little like
MSG.. MSG for pastry.. Park: For home bakers, I would say start with a pinch of salt, put it in and taste it.. Even if it’s raw dough, you still can taste the difference.. Table salt is fine, but if you want more of a deeper flavour, then try sea salt.. My favourite is a mountain sea salt.. Preheat your oven and use an oven thermometer Soh: Every oven has its own character.. For example,
we created most of the book’s recipes at our home and we have two ovens – one big, one small – and they both act differently.. And once we changed to a test kitchen we had two different sorts of ovens, and they acted differently as well.. The first thing is to preheat properly, and it takes longer than you’d think.. For baking, you want to preheat for at least 15 to 20 minutes for
every part of it to have the same temperature.. That’s why you need an oven thermometer to check – because a home oven might say 180 degrees, but when you measure it the whole oven temperature is 160.. If you don’t take the time to preheat longer, maybe your bake won’t rise enough or bake long enough.. But you’ll fail less if you have the proper equipment and check every time.. Don’t overmix Park: For
Madeleines we used a specific Japanese cake flour to control the gluten levels, but the recipes work perfectly okay with regular plain flour from the supermarket.. That’s how we tested it.. But in the book I write about the specific number of minutes you should hand-mix to prevent overmixing.. If you mix too much, and if the gluten is developed too much, then your bake will be denser and the texture will be affected quite
a lot.. I would recommend testing the recipe with a small batch if you want to get the mixing times exactly right.. Prep everything first Soh: This is one of the most important things if you want to bake at home – have everything ready.. Prep the ingredients, crack the eggs, measure it all out.. It’s kind of a habit for most professional chefs.. Once that’s done, you don’t have to stress.. Baking is much
easier when it’s organised.. And keep your counter clean!. I like to clean as I go but it depends on personality.. Ju works a little differently.. Park: I like to prep everything first, but I’m not really amazingly expert in cleaning.. Don’t be afraid of all that sugar and butter Soh: These days there’s more of a health concern and people might look at a recipe and say, “Oh, this is a lot of sugar.”
For home bakers who only bake occasionally, they’ll see the sugar amount there, or the butter amount there, and they’ll be tempted to reduce it and modify the recipe.. But every ingredient has a purpose.. If a recipe asks for 100 grams there’s a reason for that, and changing the amount will change the texture, the shelf life, the flavour of the bake.. Broadsheet Access recently held an exclusive pop-up afternoon tea with Madeleine de
Proust to celebrate the release of their debut cookbook.. If you missed out, don’t worry.. Access hosts exclusive restaurant previews like this whenever there’s a hot new venue opening (or a great new cookbook on the shelves).
home baking tips, Madeleine de Proust, pastry techniques, baking for beginners, professional baking advice, Michelin-starred chefs