Toasted almond cake

(Found inTexts)
A layer cake, with toasted almonds in the chocolate part.
July 5^th 2016238 K4.4 2 hours 2 min.

Sweet pancake rolls from Brittany

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Stewed apples, raisins soaked in whisky, toasted almonds, rolled in a lightly caramelized pancake.
March 10^th 2015243 K4.3 2 hours 20 min.

Chinois

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"Chinese" - what a strange name for this cake! A kind of brioche, filled with confectioner's custard (crème pâtissière) which can be decorated with fondant icing.
September 10^th 2018262 K 24.7 5 hours 30 min.

Sweetcrust pastry (pâte sablée)

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Sweetcrust pastry is one of the basic pastry of French patisserie, used in many tart and cakes recipes, but it can also be rolled out and cut into biscuits, delicious with tea or coffee. This recipe is given for those who have a mixer (Kenwood, KitchenAid or other), but it can also be done with your...
July 1^st 2019476 K 24.4 35 min.

Parcels of fish fillet in spinach

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These parcels are made with small pieces of fish fillet, wrapped in a blanched spinach leaf and lightly fried in butter. They can be served with a salted white wine sabayon (as in the recipe of scallops with crunchy vegetables), a beurre blanc, a dash of olive oil with herbs, or any other sauce of...
March 18^th 2013234 K5 2 hours 25 min.

Small cheese and bacon rolls

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These small aperitif snacks can be prepared in advance and heated at the last minute, or served cold.
September 7^th 2018353 K5 1 hour 25 min.

French croissants

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In this famous and highly technical recipe from a piece of yeast-based flaky dough we are going to cut and shape ("roll") croissants.
June 26^th 2019616 K 24.4 2 hours 35 min.

Chocolate rolls (petits pains)

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Here is a recipe for "real" chocolate petits pains, i.e. with a milk bread dough (not croissants dough) and with a stick of chocolate inside.
October 30^th 2021433 K4.6 5 hours 30 min.

Involtinis

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Involtinis are small rolls of meat, usually veal, and cheese. Here is my version.
February 21^th 2011386 K4.4 2 hours 55 min.

How to roll out pastry for a tart

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Rolling out pastry from a block and lining a tart mould or tin is not as straighforward as all that. To help you to succeed every time, here is a very simple tip. It will to change your opinion of tarts...
October 13^th 2010294 K4.6 25 min.

Rolls of fish in smoked ham

(Found inTextsStages)
Pieces of white fish rolled in thinly sliced smoked ham. These rolls are cooked in a little olive oil and served with French beans. The pairing of smoked ham with fish might seem a little strange, but in fact these flavours marry well.
February 21^th 2011306 K4.9 55 min.

Little apple turnovers with almonds and raisins

(Found inTextsStages)
These are small apple turnovers ("chaussons") of puff pastry, filled with a mixture of caramelised almonds, stewed apple and rum-soaked raisins. To be eaten just as they are...
September 11^th 2018299 K3.8 1 hour 35 min.

Pears and caramelised walnut samosas

(Found inTexts)
Samosas are small parcels of filling wrapped in brik (or filo) sheets and either shallow or deep fried. Here is a sweet version, with pears and caramelised walnuts.
October 13^th 2010325 K4 1 hour 25 min.

Chicken nems

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Nems are probably the best known Far Eastern dish in France. These small crispy rolls can be made in different flavours: chicken, crab, pork, etc. Making your own is not very complicated, the only difficulty is in the rolling stage. You will find in this recipe full details on how to successfully...
April 6^th 2017503 K3.8 2 hours 25 min.

Crispy rolls with chicken and leek

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Finely sliced leeks are cooked with a shallot, to which is added leftover chicken with a little cream and parmesan. This mixture is rolled up in filo pastry, and cooked in the oven.
February 21^th 2011230 K5 50 min.

Smoked salmon sacristains

(Found inTextsStages)
Sacristain (sexton in English, a strange name though common in French cooking) is a small pastry twist, made with puff pastry. There are many recipes with different flavours, sweet or savoury. Here is one with smoked salmon, ideal as an aperitif.
February 21^th 2011227 K 33.9 1 hour 30 min.

Sushi

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Sushi is probably the best known element of Japanese cooking outside Japan. For the Japanese it's a culinary art learned over time from masters, but we can make simplified and easier sushi which are still pretty and delicious. The most common types of sushi are nigiri: a little oval-shaped mouthfuls...
October 13^th 2010330 K4.5 1 hour 40 min.

Individual charlottes with morello cherries

(Found inTexts)
The French "griottines" are delicious little wild morello cherries, stoned and macerated in a Kirsch syrup, used here in individual vanilla charlottes.
February 21^th 2011191 K 15 4 hours 50 min.

Oat shortbread biscuits

(Found inTextsStagesIngredients)
Little biscuits with home-made oat flour (made from rolled oat flakes).
February 21^th 2011275 K 15 2 hours 45 min.

Salmon chard rolls

(Found inTextsStages)
For this dish only the green part of the chard is used. The blanched leaves are rolled around grilled salmon portions. The rolls are served coated with a savoury lemon sabayon, or the sauce of your choice.
August 8^th 2010166 K3.8 1 hour 25 min.

Electronic controlling of a pump

I needed someday a mechanism for controlling an electrical device (pump) on a water level, it was necessary that the pump is switched on when the level was reached, and works for a short time (20 seconds) and then it stops and the cycle, start again. I found nothing in shops that will make it at a...
August 29^th 2023171 K4.4

Films and papers in the kitchen

It's now fairly easy to find a range of papers and plastic films that are invaluable, and sometimes indispensable, kitchen aids. Here's a quick overview of the main products available, and what you can and can't do with them.
August 29^th 2023574 K 93.6

Some hints for a pizza-party

A pizza party is always a very pleasant and convivial occasion. Good people (friends and family) get together to enjoy delicious pizzas, baked right in the oven. Here are a few tips to help you make yours a success.
August 30^th 2024187 K3.7

Polynesian arrow

A Polynesian arrow is an arrow with a tail that is thrown by hand, using a piece of string. The result is a "slingshot" effect that propels the arrow much further than if it were simply thrown by hand.It's a craft to do with children, for example on an afternoon when they're a bit idle...
August 29^th 2023191 K 14.3

Ice-cream and sorbets

Making homemade ice cream may seem complex, but with the right methods and a few tricks, you can achieve a creamy texture and incomparable flavors. On this page, we'll be revealing the secrets of successful homemade ice cream, guiding you step by step through the various stages of preparation. ...
August 12^th 2024433 K4.0

Soured dough

Underneath this strange name lies a baking secret: when you want to give a bread or pastry dough (without leaven, but with yeast) a certain percentage of fermented dough must be added, i.e. the same dough made the day before, and left to ferment overnight in the refrigerator.
August 25^th 2024146 K 24.1

Flours

At the most basic level, wheat grain is put through a mill, which produces a white-ish powder flour... Well, actually it's not quite that simple. First of all we need to distinguish between the different grains that can be made into flour: wheat of course, but also rye, barley, buckwheat, etc. So we...
June 3^rd 2024728 K 413.6

How to properly roll out a pie crust?

Very often in pastry making, you have to roll out a pastry before using it for a pie or another dessert. At home, of course, you get out your rolling pin and simply roll it out. Is there a way to get an evenly rolled out dough? That's what we will see in this article.
May 10^th 20235,4324.9

The ideal restaurant

Like all passionate cooks (I suppose), from time to time I dream of opening my own restaurant. I imagine loads of things: it will be like this or like that, we'll do this, I'll cook that, the room will have this or that – in short, I dream.
October 15^th 201213 K4.4

Different kinds of pastry and dough

When cooking in general, and particularly in baking, we can make and use many different kinds of pastry and dough. All built on the same "base": flour - a powder to which we add fat, liquid or both to produce the dough which is then cooked. .
November 6^th 2012106 K 14.0

5 really useful cooking tips

Cooking is about recipes, of course, but it is also an impressive collection of small gestures, ways of doing things, knowing what to do and what not to do. All these little tips and tricks can be very important: they can affect the way a recipe turns out, simply because you did just the right...
March 29^th 201620 K4.9

What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?

This is a question that you may well have asked yourself and which I will attempt to answer. In France the two trades of "boulangerie" (bakery) and "pâtisserie" (patisserie and confectionery) have always been quite distinct, but where exactly do the boundaries lie? .
February 7^th 2017123 K 14.1

The golden-brown finish on puff pastry

Let's take a look at the tricky matter of producing puff pastry with an attractive, golden-brown finish. French pastry chefs call this "dorure" (literally, "gilding"). Behind this quirky term there lurks a real problem (and the solution): when using puff pastry (pâte feuilletée) for a pie, or...
February 8^th 201842 K 24.6

The mock CAP baker's certificate exam

The next instalment in my life as an apprentice baker at the French INBP professional school. I’m now halfway through training and it’s still as exciting as ever, and exhausting – but maybe I’m just getting old, or both… Anyway, a few days ago we had to go through the mock CAP exam. A sort...
May 1^st 201817 K4.4

Should a sausage be pricked before cooking?

If you are using sausages in a recipe, you may have already asked yourself the question: Should you prick it before cooking it, or not? You will certainly find as many opinions "you should prick" as "you should not". Let's try to untangle all this.
September 29^th 201843 K4.1

Drawing a pattern in pastry

Often in the kitchen, in pastry-making, or in baking, we need to trace a pattern on a pastry. It's just a question of aesthetics but it has its effect after baking on a galette, pithiviers, pâté en croute (terrine in a pie crust), etc.
May 23^th 201927 K4.1

The right weight of pastry for a pie

Let's try to solve a thorny problem: How much dough will I need when I make my next pie? You're planning to make a pie, you're going to use your favourite mould or circle, but how much pastry will you need to fill it completely with a well spread pastry, without being too thin, or on the contrary...
March 20^th 202061 K4.3

Circles vs. moulds tins

If you like to bake or make quiches, pies etc. you must surely have one or more pie pans at home, in different diameters and perhaps materials. They are indispensable, without them there is no way to make beautiful pies, and they work very well, but you have another option, instead of moulds,...
October 2^nd 202012 K5

Pastry and bakery dough families

There are many kinds, or families, of pastry and bakery doughs, depending on whether you want to make a tart, a cake, a pie, a brioche, croissants and so on. I'll try to give you a quick overview of all these doughs, how they're classified, and what they're used for.
November 16^th 20209,5784.9

In praise of Mont d'Or cheese

Do you know the Mont d'Or, this extraordinary cheese from the Haut-Doubs in France, with a unique taste and appearance, which can be eaten both raw and cooked? I'll tell you a few words about it, and with some tips on how to choose it and cook it. .
November 27^th 20217,8605

Divide and weigh dough into regular pieces

When you prepare dough for cupcakes in a pastry shop or bakery, at some point you're going to have to divide it, i.e. cut it into small pieces, which should all have the same weight. Sounds simple enough, but is it really that simple?
May 30^th 20236,2305

The (small) miracle of béchamel sauce

Making a béchamel sauce is going to confront you with a little miracle that happens every time: You pour milk over a roux, it's very liquid, you stir over a low heat, and then all of a sudden, miracle, the sauce sets, it thickens, you've got your béchamel. Let's see what happened.
August 27^th 20243,9434

Your oven in "proofer" mode

In the bakery, proofing is a crucial stage in the process of making light, plump breads and pastries. During proofing, the yeast ferments the sugars present in the dough, releasing carbon dioxide which forms bubbles. This process allows the dough to swell and aerate, guaranteeing a soft, light...
September 27^th 20243,1445

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 16^th 202189 K 23.9