Old style brioche

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Classical version of brioche use yeast to raise the dough, but in this recipe some leaven is added. This make a more rustic brioche, with a small taste of leaven.
December 19^th 2014299 K4.6 14 hours 6 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.

Natural leaven

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Leaven is a natural raising agent, a fermented mixture of water, flour and the microscopic yeasts which are present in the air. It's a delicate living substance, sensitive to the external environment. The recipe is around 4000 years old and dates back to the Egypt of the Pharaohs, via a beautiful...
April 3^rd 20201.69 M 304.0 7 days 15 min.

Sandwich bread

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Soft and moist, almost like brioche, it can be made in a tin or mould or as a classic long French-style loaf.
October 24^th 2017346 K3.9 3 hours 30 min.

Leavened bread

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It might be harder to achieve good results than with traditional yeast bread, but what a flavour! It also keeps better. This recipe is designed for baking bread in a wood-fired oven but, of course, you can use the conventional oven in your kitchen.
May 23^th 20171.19 M 23.8 6 hours 30 min.

New leavened bread

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This new recipe for leavened bread is simple and delicious, but needs rather long resting times. If you'd like more more information about making your own bread, look at this dedicated page.
December 30^th 2019903 K 34.3 7 hours

Classic French white bread

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This is the recipe for classic, everyday French bread raised with yeast. French bakers call this "pain courant". It is quicker and easier to make than leavened bread or new leavened bread, so ideal for a beginner.
June 6^th 2017293 K4.1 3 hours 50 min.

Panettone

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Panettone is a brioche-style Italian loaf, made with dried fruit (raisins and candied peel) and flavoured with left-over citrus fruit. The recipe is a bit complicated but, above all, it takes time, a great deal of time...
April 15^th 2020137 K5 1 day 1 hour 20 min.

Cretan Bread

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This Cretan (or Cretan-style) bread has a soft dough, enriched with olive oil, preserved tomatoes, green olives and cooked onions.
October 24^th 201782 K4.3 4 hours 30 min.

How to seal a terrine or casserole dish

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The French have a term for it: "luter", which means to seal around the lid of a cooking dish with dough. The dough forms a crust and hermetically seals in all the steam and flavours while the dish is cooking in the oven. This is a good way to concentrate flavours. The dish is brought to the table...
January 11^th 2017169 K3.8 35 min.

Pogne de Romans

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Pogne de Romans is a kind of brioche lightly flavoured with orange and rum. It originated in Romans-sur-Isère, a town in south-east France. This recipe dates back to medieval times, when it was made in a ring (or crown) shape to celebrate the end of Lent, as eggs could then be used again. This more...
October 7^th 201882 K 23.3 1 day 17 hours 40 min.

Yeast-based flaky dough (for croissants)

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This yeast-based flaky dough (or croissant dough) is where puff pastry meets a yeast dough (such as brioche dough). This means that not only will we get flaky layers, but the dough will also swell and rise. The method is along the same lines as for a feuilletage: the basic dough is first kneaded,...
June 9^th 2019146 K 4 3 hours 60 min.

Pistachio and goji pinwheels

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Inspired by the traditional French "pain aux raisins" (like Danish pastries), here is a colourful and flavoursome version filled with pistachio cream and goji berries.
October 10^th 202124 K 2 hours 20 min.

Raisin breads (pains aux raisins)

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Raisin breads (pains aux raisins) are one of the three viennoiseries found in all good French bakeries, along with croissants and pains au chocolat. It is a delicate roll of yeast-based flaky dough (the dough of croissants) filled with custard and raisins.
November 27^th 202222 K 2 hours 45 min.

Cornmeal baps for Anne

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These small round baps are made with a mix of wheat flour and fine cornmeal. The dominant corn gives a moist and very yellow crumb.
October 24^th 2017256 K4.3 5 hours 55 min.

Special small breads

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When you are have mastered the basic leavened bread, you certainly ought to try special breads: with nuts, cheese, seeds, etc... Here is a series of recipes, based on traditional leavened bread.
October 13^th 2010382 K4 6 hours 30 min.

Doughnuts

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Ring doughnuts are a traditional American treat. In the United States they are part of the culture and come plain or with lots of different icings and toppings. Here is a recipe for plain doughnuts to which you can add your own choice of icing.
September 22^th 2013103 K4.7 3 hours 15 min.

Brioche dough

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It's a soft and rich dough, with butter and eggs which give a smooth and incredibly tasty brioche. This is the basic recipe for brioche dough, used for all other brioche-based recipes on the site.
September 16^th 2020518 K 44.2 14 hours 30 min.

French baguettes

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This classic of French baking is rather different from the recipe for leavened bread, it's a question of making a good crust and light crumb along the whole length. To succeed, you should know that there are two secrets: water first of all (much more than for normal bread), and the working of the...
October 24^th 20171.07 M 364.7 5 hours 6 min.

Benoîton

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This curious name (explained below) applies to a small bread fingers made with a blend of wheat and rye flour, enriched with raisins and almonds.
February 4^th 201846 K 4 hours 35 min.

Making your own bread

You'll find a whole range of bread and pastry recipes on this site, but before you get started, perhaps you'd like to know more about the subject, get some tips and tricks, and find out what the main mistakes beginners make? If so, this page is for you.
August 22^th 2024565 K 63.9

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

Salt and yeast

Let's take a look at an old baker's legend: You may have already read that somewhere in a recipe that uses baker's yeast(bread, pastries, leavened doughs in general) it is often specified "Don't put salt in contact with the yeast, you'll kill it (the yeast)"! Well, that's a belief, and there are...
March 15^th 201969 K4.3

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

Raising (or leavening) agents

When we want to make a dough or batter rise when baking, either in patisserie or bread-making, we need to use a raising agent or leavening agent, one of which is called leaven. In the context of baking, a raising agent is simply what "makes something rise". It is a substance which, when added to...
June 16^th 202152 K4.8

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 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

The French baguette and UNESCO

As you may have already read here or there, France has initiated for some time the procedure to try to have the French baguette classified as an intangible world heritage by UNESCO. When you put it like that, it sounds a bit namby-pamby, and it would be tempting to imagine an American (for...
March 18^th 202011 K4.9

How to avoid lumps

You've probably come across this unpleasant phenomenon where, when you try to incorporate an ingredient (usually a solid or powder) into a preparation (usually a liquid), the mixture doesn't mix properly and you end up with little "balls" or little lumps of the solid part that refuse to mix with the...
October 9^th 202016 K4.8

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 20209,5774.9

Let's go easy on the salt

In terms of cooking, I'm probably not teaching you much, salt is ubiquitous, we put it in almost all our dishes, in varying amounts depending on our taste, some like salty, others less, others still not. Its main role is the flavor, the taste, we say that it is a flavor enhancer, ie it reveals the...
February 20^th 20215,1584.8

What happens to the bread when you make it?

This bread that we eat every day, and that our baker makes for us, what happens during its manufacture so that it becomes bread? I will try to answer this question, and to summarize the complex alchemy that takes place.
May 28^th 20219,9984.9

The 29-cent "baguette" scandal

You probably heard about it a few days ago, and that was the point: Leclerc hypermarkets in France are going to freeze the price of their baguettes at 29 centimes for 6 months. This measure caused quite a stir in the media, with a lot of talk, and in particular a lot of talk about Leclerc...
January 29^th 20226,9284.5

The color of the bread crumb

When you go to buy bread, at your baker's, at the time of the choice, if you hesitate of course, you will undoubtedly be very sensitive to the color of the crust, and you will be right. The color of the crust, from golden, to sometimes very dark, deep brown almost black, depending on the maturity...
April 30^th 202215 K4.6

The preservation of bread

Eating fresh bread is always a delight, the crust crumbles deliciously, you take full advantage of the taste of your bread (80% of this taste is in the crust), it is a fleeting moment to enjoy. Who hasn't already eaten the crouton or croutons of his baguette, on the way back from the bakery? ...
June 11^th 202211 K4.7

The long fermentation of bread

I had already told you in a previous article about the delicious little alchemy that happens when we make bread, let's try to go a little further this time, and try to discover what makes a good bread, in other words, which has taste. .
April 13^th 20235,7594.9

The softness of sandwich bread

You're probably familiar with what's known in France as "pain de mie", a very white, molded and rather soft bread, widely used in cooking, particularly for croque-monsieur. Let's find out what it's all about.
September 5^th 20238,6725

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 20243,1405