Pastries

The Mahalo Top 7

Wikipedia: Pastry
PastryWiz: Food Resource Center
The French Pastry Chef: Online Guide to Pastries
Official Site: Pastry Scoop
PastrySampler.com: Pastry Articles and How To's
Food Network: Pastry Recipes
Recipe: Sour Cream Pastry Dough

Pastry Recipes

Culinary Café: Pastry Recipes
Epicurious.com: Pastry Recipes
All Recipes: Breakfast Pastries and Frozen Pastries
VirtualCities.com: Unique Pastry Recipes
Delia Online: How to Make Choux Pastry

Pastry Blogs and Forums

Blog: Pink Cake Box
Phat Duck: The Pastry Department
Technorati: Pastry
Chocolate & Zucchini Post: Galette des Rois

Pastry News and Articles

Google News: Pastry Results
Al Jazeera English: "Iran Targets Danish Pastries" (2006)

Pastry History and Trivia

Food Timeline: Pie and Pastry History
Wikipedia: The Pastry War

Pastry Cookbooks

eBay: Pastry Cookbooks
Amazon.com: The Professional Pastry Chef | Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft

Where To Get Pastries

Pastry Chef Central: Baking & Pastry Superstore
Peppridge Farm: Puff Pastry

History

Food historians think that the Ancient Egyptians had some sort of pastry, and while we are not certain of their recipes, the ancient Greeks had cooks who specialized in pastry. Puff pastry was developed in the Middle East and brought back to Europe by the Crusaders, where cooks used the information to evolve new kinds of dishes. In Asia, pastry evolved along different lines; it is generally deep-fried or baked.