FAQs and French Baking Tips

Labelled as 'Farine de blé' or wheat flour, all-purpose flour in France is called T45 or T55. It doesn't contain any rising agents like in self-raising flour. While T55 is the equivalent of all-purpose flour, it's generally used in most French baking for crêpes, butter cookies, canelés and brioche. T45 is slightly finer pastry flour and the equivalent of American cake flour or Italian '00' flour and best used for making pâte sucrée, the classic sweet pastry dough for tarts (see Bourdaloue Tart and French Apple Custard Tart.)

Please check the sell-by date on flour. We've all done it - using out of date flour thinking it would be ok but it results in an unpleasant aftertaste. Especially for nut flours (chestnut, coconut or almond flour/ground almonds). When out of date, they leave a rancid, bitter taste.

During our grandparents' and parents' generations, sifting regular plain flour was necessary to take out any lumps for baking smoothly. These days there's no need for all-purpose or cake flours and, unless I state otherwise, don't sift.

However, for thicker flours such as chestnut flour, almond flour (ground almonds) and more nut flours, I precise in each recipe to sift as they are more inclined to 'cake' up.

Known in France as Cassonade, sucre de canne or sucre roux, this is natural raw brown cane sugar. It's a hard, unrefined, crystallised sugar, which is free-flowing and granulated so doesn't clump together. It adds a slight rum, vanilla and caramel flavour to your recipes (e.g. French toast and cookies). Although related, it's not the same as soft brown sugar.

Gelatin (or gelatine) is made of animal collagen, a protein extracted from the bones and skins of some animals.

It's either in powder or sheet form that needs to be first soaked in cold water to gelify desserts (sheets for 10 minutes then squeezed of excess water; powder stirred in the water for 2-3 minutes). Thereafter, this is added to a hot liquid to dissolve. Once chilled, it gels. Used for panna cotta and bavarois desserts.

I use good quality classic unsalted French butter known as ‘beurre doux’, with 82% fat. Why unsalted? As it’s easy to control the amount of salt used in the recipes.

In Brittany, for example, we typically use salted butter (beurre salé or demi-sel) with around 3% salt content for authentic recipes such as Palets Bretons, salted caramel sauce (caramel au beurre salé) and in the filling for salted caramel macarons. As I know it’s not often easy to find good French salted butter in the rest of the world, I use unsalted butter and add fleur de sel salt in order to get the closest possible.
So to get as close to our French recipes, please use European-style unsalted butter with 82% fat.

In France, puff pastry is called 'pâte feuilletée' and is found everywhere - from supermarkets, frozen food stores to, of course, bakeries or boulangeries. Although not advertised, you can ask most bakeries in France to order their puff pastry, so that you can get the best quality.

When buying store bought, ensure to pick the best quality 'pur beurre' or pure butter. It normally comes in 230g (8oz/ ½lb) packets, ready rolled as a sheet in parchment paper (33cm/13 inches diameter) to easily make tarts and pies.

Keep it cold in the fridge before working with it. If using frozen puff pastry, thaw 30-40 minutes at room temperature or 6 hours in the fridge (and use within 24 hours). Wait until it has thawed before rolling it, otherwise it may tear or crack.

While many recipes don't require precise cooking, I just call for, say, 2 medium eggs. In general, I use medium eggs in my recipes but I'm aware that egg sizes vary around the world.
Here in France, according to the French Ministry of Agriculture, a medium egg = 53g-63g; a large egg = 63-73g which is the same size in both Europe and the UK. Conversely, in the USA, a medium egg's equivalent is a large egg.

If a recipe is particularly precise, then I call for the weight in grams/ounces, but that's more for egg whites (e.g. chocolate mousse). Otherwise, for many of the recipes where it's not precise, it doesn't matter if there's a few grams' difference.

Wherever possible, look for organic, free-range eggs, labelled as 'bio'. Eggs are stamped with the following numbers, to show their quality. 0FR is the highest quality of organic eggs.

A sign of quality is Label Rouge but there's even better. Thanks to Parisian nutritionist, Garance Naigeon, she recommends those labelled 'Bleu Blanc Coeur', which are 2-3 times higher in Omega 3 than normal eggs. This agricultural organisation ensures animals are fed on linseeds and other natural sources of omega 3. Available in most supermarkets, they're well labelled.

As weights of eggs vary, this is approximate, hence why we prefer to weigh egg whites in grams or ounces for consistent baking/cooking. One egg white of a large egg is about 35g (1 tablespoon). See egg white recipes.

For example, 3 egg whites = 100g/3.5oz; 4 egg whites = 140g/5oz (see Layered Chocolate Cake); 6 egg whites = 200g/7oz.

In France, I generally use crème fleurette, which has at least 30% fat. This makes it our equivalent of US heavy cream and UK whipping cream, as we whip it and use it for just about everything. For many recipes (e.g. strawberry clafoutis) I use the half fat crème fleurette version.

For crème fraîche, we also have full fat and half fat versions. For the most simple, best equivalent, replace with Greek yoghurt e.g. Asparagus puff pastry tart.

For more, see the glossary of French/UK/USA terms.

Absolutely! As I’m British-French, I may use words a bit different if you’re in America. No worries, just refer to the Glossary of UK – USA baking terms if you’re not sure. I give our equivalents in France for UK and USA terms. Still can’t find what you’re looking for? Contact me.

To make your own baking powder, mix together baking soda and cream of tartar. 1 teaspoon baking powder = ¼ teaspoon baking soda + ½ teaspoon cream of tartar.

If you're missing soft dark brown sugar, make your own using granulated sugar. For 200g (1 cup) granulated sugar, add 2 tablespoons (30g) molasses.

At present, I’m completely on my own without a team so I have no extra time to give classes at present. However, I have free French cooking videos on my YouTube channel, so please support me by liking and subscribing.

For macaron recipes, get my books! Detailed step-by-step instructions are both in my first book, Mad About Macarons and in Teatime in Paris.

Otherwise I highly recommend La Cuisine Paris and Cook 'n with Class in Paris (affiliate partnership) who run many different macaron classes 100% gluten-free) for different needs. Ensure to book well in advance as they fill up quickly.:

• Macaron Class (3 hours; Price: 130€ per person): At Cook 'n with Class you can make four flavors of macarons (three classic and one seasonal flavor), using both the Italian and French meringue methods for crafting your macaron shells. Learn the secrets of making these delicate French treats from scratch in a hands-on lesson, under the guidance of your chef. After class, you can taste your creations and take home the rest.
• Express Macaron Class: (2 hours: 100€ per person) tailored for those of you with limited time in Paris. During the class, you'll not only master the essentials of macaron baking but also have the joy of creating two of our favorite macaron flavors and you’ll learn the Italian meringue method for crafting those tasty shells.
• Macaron en Famille Class: (2.5 hours; 195€/duo) designed for duos of parents and children (ages 6-12), you’ll pair up and create two flavors of beautiful and delicious macarons. Each booking is for 1 parent + 1 child. Small class sizes ensure our classes have hands-on learning and an enjoyable experience for kids and adults alike.

Luckily Paris is becoming more aware of the rise in food allergies. Here are the main ones:

• Pâtisseries for Diabetics in Paris – see my article on 4 boutiques in Paris.
• Gluten free pâtisseries: Chambelland, Maison Plume (Marais), Alley Concept Street (Montmartre) and Helmut Newcake on weekends at Didier Fourreau near the Arc de Triomphe.

While I only mention some of our favourite Paris restaurants in individual recipe posts and on social, I instead recommend our best tea rooms and pâtisseries in the City. I don't have a team so alas, don't have enough time to compile a list on this too!

I get this a lot. I should have written a whole book about it – although I so have a chapter on this in my 2nd book, Teatime in Paris!

Since arriving in France in 1992, in 30 years I have never needed to diet, just by sticking to the French way of eating. French people are healthy in general, as they tend to make meals from scratch with smaller portions - these pastries, croissants and cakes are occasional treats.

Don’t believe the myth that in France we always cook with butter. Read my daughter’s article on Five Ways to Eat Like the French.

Basically we stick to the 3 mealtimes (including one main meal with moderate portions) and never snack or graze. If I have the occasional tea and patisserie in the afternoon it’s officially goûter but will therefore have an even lighter lunch.
I also walk a LOT when I can instead of driving or taking the metro, take the stairs and walk about 5km a day, time permitting.

Most importantly, I avoid processed foods and eat fresh whenever possible - it has more flavour! That’s why I share my recipes here, to show that it’s easy to cook and bake from scratch.