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    Home • French Food Guides

    FAQs

    Answers to your Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), mainly around French baking terms, methods and ingredient differences for cooking and baking in France.
    See below for oven temperatures.

    If you have a question that's not answered, please contact me and I'll add your queries or topics to make this your go-to help list for French cooking!

    • General Frequently Asked Questions
    • French Ingredients and US/UK Equivalents in France
    • Substitute Ingredients
    • Popular Questions about Paris
    • Oven Temperatures Celsius to Fahrenheit
    • UK-US and French Baking Terms
    recipe steps to make a lemon tart, just one of the frequently asked questions on French baking

    General Frequently Asked Questions

    Why are French recipes in grams and ounces?

    Although I have added measurements in cups for my American readers, please note these are there purely as a guide. I strongly urge you to bake and cook using grams like the French by WEIGHT, not volume (cups) - particularly for making macarons, tarts and other French pastries which need to be precise. This achieves consistent successful results in your cooking and baking.

    Digital scales are inexpensive and an essential item in your kitchen. If you’re used to ounces, with digital scales you can simply switch the button over to grams and we’re all talking the same language.

    For much more in detail, see my post explaining why I recommend digital scales.

    How do I turn plain flour to self raising?

    For 150g (6oz/1 cup) plain flour, add 2 teaspoons of baking powder and combine them well together. I prefer to use plain flour and make my own, as it reduces the amount of flour I have in the kitchen at one time. I use this method in cheese scones, banana bread and banana oat muffins, for example.

    How do you line a cake tin?

    Lining a round cake tin is simple with just baking parchment and scissors. There's no need to measure its size to fit perfectly. Just ensure the paper covers the size of the tin. This works both for lining a cake tin and for lining a tart shell to blind bake.

    step by step folding over baking paper from the centre of a cake tin to line it
    • Cut out a square of parchment/baking paper that can fit the cake tin (turn it upside down to see the circumference best)
    • From the centre of the tin, fold the paper in half - then in half again, half again twice until you have a thin triangle
    • Then with scissors, cut the end of the paper triangle to go around the edge of the tin
    • Open the paper out to a perfect circle that fits your cake tin.

    What can I use to replace buttermilk?

    No buttermilk? No worries! Just add some lemon juice to whole milk, wait for 20 minutes at room temperature and proceed with the recipe. Works great in this cheesy cornbread.

    adding lemon juice to whole milk to make buttermilk
    Add lemon juice to whole milk to make buttermilk

    What's the size of your standard loaf tin?

    I use a standard French tin for banana nut bread or chocolate marble cake:
    26x10x6cm (10x4x2 inches) or UK 23x12cm (13x5 inches). Also works well with a square or round 23cm/13inch tin. If shallower than 6cm/2inch, then it will take less time to bake.

    What's best to grease a cake tin or muffin mould?

    I usually use non-stick baking tins where possible or even silicone for baking cakes that don't take that long in the oven so greasing isn't always necessary. However, if you have classic tins that need to be greased for the best results, I recommend greasing cake tins with butter.

    Please avoid shortening and baking oil sprays. If you wouldn't directly cook with it, then don't bake with it. The taste is, in my opinion, not good and French nutritionists and scientists confirm that they are not good for our health.

    How much vanilla extract for a pod/bean? Best Vanilla to Use

    A vanilla bean/pod is preferable for many recipes – but are expensive. I often cheat and buy cheaper vanilla and steep them in rum in a jar to swell them – for more, see my tip how to store vanilla beans.

    If you prefer to use extract or powder (ground vanilla), then use it quite sparingly depending on the brand you use. I say use a teaspoon but taste the custard first. If it needs more, add more but better to dose carefully as, if you add too much, you can’t go backwards! Some brands need more – (e.g. see Nielsen Massey’s instructions); others less for ground vanilla powder. For extract, I recommend 'Simply Organic'.

    I don't recommend artificially flavoured imitation aromas or flavourings, as the resulting taste is synthetic.

    What cooking oils are bad for you?

    Cooking oils like canola (also known as rapeseed) is best to bake and cook with. Likewise, rape seed (huile de raisins) and sunflower oil are also healthy neutral oils.

    However, be very wary of using coconut oil. It is often misunderstood as being healthy but, according to French nutritionists (such as Jean-Michel Cohen), it's actually bad for you if consumed on a regular basis. Much that the flavour is good (neutral), it's to be used on occasion only as it contains so much saturated fat. That's why coconut oil solidifies when cool. So use sparingly!

    I'm allergic to gluten. Do you have any recipes for me?

    Absolutely! See my collection of over 100 gluten free recipes. There are also low gluten recipes, which can be adapted easily to be made gluten free by replacing the regular flour with cornflour/cornstarch or rice flour, for example.

    My macarons have cracked. What can I do?

    Don’t throw them away! They will still taste delicious. I have plenty recipes you can crush them up or use them to make:

    • macaron tiramisu
    • mini Ispahan macaron trifles or
    • macaron berry trifle
    • baked peaches
    • crush them and decorate on a Bourdaloue tart

    As for the cracked macarons, it’s included in a troubleshooting section in my book, Mad About Macarons. Many are easy to solve – it could be just down to your oven or even your egg whites!

    What's the difference between a macaron and a macaroon?

    Ever since my pastry and chocolate tours in Paris, I have had this question so many times I wrote an article on it in detail: What’s the difference between a macaron and a macaroon?

    Can I share a recipe?

    I would be delighted for you to share!

    However, the recipes and images on the website are ALL copyright Jill Colonna. If you wish to link to the recipes on the site, then please contact me with credit to Jill Colonna at MadAboutMacarons.com.

    For the recipes in the books, Waverley Books by law has the copyright and license to publish them, so they are uniquely in the books. If you wish to use a recipe from either book, please contact Liz Small at Waverley Books (info(at)waverley-books.co.uk) first for permission. Many thanks!

    A question not answered here?

    Contact me either via the Contact Form or by email jill(at)madaboutmacarons.com or directly under the relevant (recipe) post where I’ll be happy to answer you as soon as I can. Don’t forget I live in France so allow for the time difference.

    French Ingredients and US/UK Equivalents in France

    All-purpose flour and cake flour - what are they in France?

    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.

    Do I need to sift flour?

    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.

    sifting out lumps of chestnut flour through a sieve
    sifting is important for this chestnut flour or other nut flours

    What's French 'cassonade' sugar in English?

    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.

    What is gelatin (or gelatine) made of?

    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.

    placing gelatin sheets into a bowl of cold water

    What is so different about French butter?

    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.

    What do the French call puff pastry?

    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.

    round flat sheet of puff pastry with a tape measure showing 32cm diameter next to French packaging

    What size of eggs do you use in France? Is a medium egg the same in Europe and USA?

    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.

    What kind of eggs are best in France?

    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.

    French organic eggs on a tray, marked 0FR and labelled 'bleu blanc coeur' saying they are 2-3 times higher in Omega 3

    How many grams are in one egg white?

    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.

    What are French cream equivalents?

    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.

    Is ground almonds the same as almond flour?

    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.

    Substitute Ingredients

    What can I use instead of baking powder? How can I make my own?

    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. (Note: 'baking soda' in the USA is the same as 'bicarbonate of soda' in the UK.)

    What I can use instead of soft dark brown sugar?

    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.

    Popular Questions about Paris

    I'm coming to Paris. Do you give cooking or macaron classes?

    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.

    In Paris, can I still enjoy pastries with food allergies?

    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.

    What restaurants do you recommend in Paris?

    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!

    How do you eat all that food and pastries and stay slim?

    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've been surprised as I've not followed a calorie diet. Instead I've just stuck 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 and local 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.

    Oven Temperatures Celsius to Fahrenheit

    We all have different ovens. Whether yours is a conventional Fahrenheit (°F) or Celsius (°C) or a fan/convection oven in Celsius (°C), here are the equivalent temperatures. For fan/convection ovens in °F, reduce by 25°F. This chart includes temperatures for older ovens with a gas mark, used in the UK.

    Fan/Convection (Celsius)Gas mark (UK)Conventional oven (Celsius)Conventional oven (Fahrenheit)
    100°C (fan)½120°C250°F
    120°C1140°C275°F
    130°C 2150°C300°F
    150°C3170°C325°F
    160°C 4180°C350°F
    170°C5190°C375°F
    180°C6200°C400°F
    200°C7220°C425°F
    210°C8230°C450°F
    220°C9240°C475°F

    UK-US and French Baking Terms

    Confused with the difference between plain flour, whipped cream or powdered sugar from France, USA or in the UK?

    I have your frequently asked questions covered in this listing of UK-US Glossary of Terms. It includes ingredients with their French equivalents - so, hopefully this way we can be speaking the same baking language.

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    Jill Colonna standing in a French patisserie lab holding a giant whisk over an oversized mixer bowl
    Welcome

    Bonjour - I'm Jill

    As a cookbook author and founder of Mad About Macarons since 2010, I’ve spent 30+ years perfecting foolproof French recipes in Paris—so you don’t have to! Expect step-by-step guidance, lower-sugar treats that don’t skimp on flavour, plus insider food and market guides to help you taste France like a local. If I can do it, so can you - no fancy techniques required!

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