The 3 secrets of Parisian flan
A flan Parisien, or boulanger, is a simple yet delicious cake. A cream, a mixture of milk, eggs and sugar, is poured into a raw pastry base and baked in the oven until the pastry and cream are cooked.
This is the simplest version of the recipe, probably the original one, but nowadays the cream has changed, and the flan has become a slightly more sophisticated cake, but still delicious, if well made.
Well, here are 3 important points to help you make a good flan.
This is the simplest version of the recipe, probably the original one, but nowadays the cream has changed, and the flan has become a slightly more sophisticated cake, but still delicious, if well made.
Well, here are 3 important points to help you make a good flan.
13 K 4.7/5 (12 reviews)
Keywords for this post:FlanPastryBakeryParisianDoughApplianceMilkCreamEggLast modified on: July 21th 2023
The 3 secrets of Parisian flan
I'll admit it, I'm passionate about flan - I love making it, eating it and talking about it :-).
And to try and get to the bottom of the flan recipe, we're going to look at 3 aspects of it: the dough, the cream to be poured into it (or apparatus), and the cooking.
Traditionally, shortcrust pastry is used, but nowadays we don't hesitate to use sweetcrust pastry (sweeter), puff pastry (crispier) or croissant pastry (crunchier and more delicious).
A flan needs to be thick, much thicker than a tart, and you leave it in the fridge while you work on the mixture.
If you choose puff pastry or croissant dough, I recommend sprinkling a little sugar (about 1 tablespoon) in the bottom of the mold before the dough, as it will caramelize during baking and further enhance the crispness of the pastry.
Proceed in much the same way as for a crème pâtissière: once all the ingredients have been mixed, put on a low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens slightly to reduce baking time and avoid soaking the pastry base with a too-liquid mixture.
To finish, add a little butter and smooth with a mixer. You can find the recipe for the flan maker here.
The basic recipe is a classic vanilla flavor, but you can adapt the recipe to your taste: chocolate, pistachio, lemon, apple, sesame... among others.
A flan should always be placed low in the oven, so that the underside cooks more thoroughly.
If you've pre-cooked both the pastry and the appliance, the cooking time for the two together will be shorter, so keep an eye on the color of the pastry to know, and don't be overly influenced by the shaky texture of the appliance, which is already cooked and will solidify as it cools.
As you can see, it's not a very complicated recipe, but what a result! And above all, what a difference in taste and texture, compared with those poor-quality industrial flans that are unfortunately to be found just about everywhere.
Unfortunately, it's not uncommon to find frozen custards in poor bakeries and other shops, or custards prepared from "mix", i.e. a powder to which milk, or worse, water, is added, to obtain a mediocre mixture which will fill an equally mediocre dough, sometimes made from palm oil...
Of course, these flans are not expensive, which is always suspect, but what a pity for the taste and quality of the products.
To a lesser extent this time, some bakers tend to neglect, or botch up a little, their flan apparatus for economic reasons, and therefore rather top their pastry base with custard than with an apparatus. It's understandable (economically speaking), but it's a shame, because a good bakery should have a good flan.
To make a good flan, you need :
It's up to you!
And to try and get to the bottom of the flan recipe, we're going to look at 3 aspects of it: the dough, the cream to be poured into it (or apparatus), and the cooking.
1) The pastry
Traditionally, shortcrust pastry is used, but nowadays we don't hesitate to use sweetcrust pastry (sweeter), puff pastry (crispier) or croissant pastry (crunchier and more delicious).
A flan needs to be thick, much thicker than a tart, and you leave it in the fridge while you work on the mixture.
If you choose puff pastry or croissant dough, I recommend sprinkling a little sugar (about 1 tablespoon) in the bottom of the mold before the dough, as it will caramelize during baking and further enhance the crispness of the pastry.
2) The mixture
Proceed in much the same way as for a crème pâtissière: once all the ingredients have been mixed, put on a low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens slightly to reduce baking time and avoid soaking the pastry base with a too-liquid mixture.
To finish, add a little butter and smooth with a mixer. You can find the recipe for the flan maker here.
The basic recipe is a classic vanilla flavor, but you can adapt the recipe to your taste: chocolate, pistachio, lemon, apple, sesame... among others.
3) Baking
A flan should always be placed low in the oven, so that the underside cooks more thoroughly.
If you've pre-cooked both the pastry and the appliance, the cooking time for the two together will be shorter, so keep an eye on the color of the pastry to know, and don't be overly influenced by the shaky texture of the appliance, which is already cooked and will solidify as it cools.
The flan and its aberrations
As you can see, it's not a very complicated recipe, but what a result! And above all, what a difference in taste and texture, compared with those poor-quality industrial flans that are unfortunately to be found just about everywhere.
Unfortunately, it's not uncommon to find frozen custards in poor bakeries and other shops, or custards prepared from "mix", i.e. a powder to which milk, or worse, water, is added, to obtain a mediocre mixture which will fill an equally mediocre dough, sometimes made from palm oil...
Of course, these flans are not expensive, which is always suspect, but what a pity for the taste and quality of the products.
To a lesser extent this time, some bakers tend to neglect, or botch up a little, their flan apparatus for economic reasons, and therefore rather top their pastry base with custard than with an apparatus. It's understandable (economically speaking), but it's a shame, because a good bakery should have a good flan.
In a nutshell
To make a good flan, you need :
- The pastry of your choice (no obligation)
- A round mold with high sides (mine is 20 cm long and 4.5 cm high)
- A small amount of powdered sugar
- Pre-bake the pastry on its own
- Pre-bake apparatus
- Bake at the bottom of the oven
It's up to you!
Lasts posts
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?September 3rd 2025932
The grease spray
As soon as you have something in a recipe that sticks to the mold, the question always arises as to how difficult it is to remove from the mold. There's nothing more frustrating than breaking your cake when unmolding it, because part of it has stuck in the mold. The classic way to avoid this is...August 26th 20254,3475
Cake moulds
When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?August 25th 20254,6605
Thinning out herbs
If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...August 8th 20252,8765
Add a bay leaf
Bay leaf: small in size, but big in flavor. You'll find it in hundreds of recipes, and it's often added to cooking meat, in a sauce or broth, usually accompanied by other herbs or products. It's a staple of Provençal, Mediterranean and Oriental cuisine, but not the only one. Usually, in a...July 31th 20252,9825
Other pages you may also like
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?September 3rd 2025932
85 grams of eggs?
Some time ago, I already spoke to you about the difference between baking and pastry-making, I emphasized, among other things, the precision of pastry-making which requires grams, cm, degrees and minutes. That's why, on the one hand, you have baking and cooking, where a certain tolerance is...November 26th 201854 K4.6
A few tips for effective kneading at home
When you have to knead dough for bread or some other recipe, you may well use a food processor or the type of machine known as a stand mixer. The best-known brands are Kenwood and KitchenAid. They are useful tools, but here are a few tips to help you get the best out of them.June 23th 2021280 K 23.7
The art of the charlotte
In cooking, a charlotte is a delicious moulded dessert, with biscuits around the outside that have been soaked in a flavoured syrup, filled with a light cream or mousse. The charlotte is left to set in the fridge before being turned out and served in slices. It is very light and a lovely sweet...February 27th 201344 K4.3
The window-pane test in bread-making
The home bread-makers often ask themselves “Have I kneaded my dough long enough?” . A good question, as dough that is insufficiently kneaded will not rise properly or will fall flat when the top is slashed, which is very frustrating. To know when the dough is ready, one can rely on the length...June 16th 202194 K 23.9
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.