The French Baker

Essential ingredients

Baking is as much about science as it is creativity. As such, this book is designed to equip you with strong baking foundations upon which you should feel free to add your own creative or personal stamp — this is, after all, how most traditional recipes came about to begin with. I’ve tried not to confuse you with too many technical terms or guidelines, as this book isn’t meant to turn you into a professional pâtissier but rather to give you the basic tools to successfully bake delicious cakes and pastries at home.

The following two sections cover most of the essential ingredients and tools you’ll need as a baker, but it certainly doesn’t end here. There are limitless resources at your fingertips and I’d encourage you to read further, especially on subjects such as baking bread and working with chocolate, to further hone your cooking skills. As an apprentice I was told that you can get 80 per cent of the quality with 20 per cent of the skills, but you will need the other 80 per cent of the skills to achieve the remaining 20 per cent of the quality!

Flour

While most grains can be ground into a type of flour, in this book plain (all-purpose) flour always refers to wheat flour.

Flour is mostly graded following three criteria: the amount of mineral or ash (which is made mostly of bran), the protein (gluten) content and the humidity level, all of which vary according to the type of wheat and how it is processed. Systems for grading flour vary wildly across the globe, ranging from the different numerical classifications employed in France, Italy and Germany, which relates to the amount of bran in the flour (see below), to those used in the United Kingdom, America and Australia, where flour tends to be graded using words to describe the amount of protein (gluten) or the best application for the flour (‘bread flour’ or ‘cake flour’, for example).

Bran content: This is often classified using numbers, with larger numbers indicating a higher bran content:

‘00’ flour in Italy and T45 in France;

‘0’ flour in Italy and T55 in France;

‘1’ flour in Italy and T65 and above in France.

Which flour should I use?

Most of the recipes in this book will work well with a generic type of plain (all-purpose) flour, however I do recommend you try to find a flour suited for making bread. For best results, a good rule of thumb to follow when choosing which flour to use is as follows:

L For all cake batters and short doughs, it’s preferable to use a very refined, low-bran, low-protein plain (all-purpose) flour. While you need some gluten for ‘short’ mixes such as shortbread and sponges to provide structure, too much gluten will have a detrimental effect on their texture by making them tougher and less palatable. This flour is sold under many labels: pastry or cake flour, or soft flour.

L For all yeasted pastry and breads, use a plain (all-purpose) flour, preferably with a high gluten content. Gluten is a critical ingredient in the manufacture of yeasted pastry and breads as it gives the dough its strength and elasticity (corps), which traps the air and carbon dioxide (CO₂) created by the yeasts during the proving process. This is typically sold as strong, baker’s or bread flour.

L For sourdough bread, I recommend using a less-refined, preferably organic plain (all-purpose) flour with a high gluten content. A higher bran content is important when baking sourdough because the higher mineral content helps the natural yeast to develop faster, improving both the texture and taste of the bread. This type of flour is best sourced from health food stores or, even better, from artisanal bakeries, who will usually be happy to sell you a small quantity of flour. This flour is also sold as hard or strong flour, baker’s or bread flour.

Maize cornflour

Maize cornflour (cornstarch), also known as maizena, maize flour and maize starch, is made by grinding corn kernels and then separating the flour from its proteins and all other components. It is a very fine, tasteless powder and does not contain gluten. It is used to thicken sauces and as a replacement for some of the plain flour in shortbread dough, to reduce the gluten content, thus keeping the dough crumbly and short. You can find maize cornflour in major supermarkets, health food stores or specialist food stores.

Wheaten cornflour

To confuse the issue, some brands of cornflour (cornstarch) sold in supermarkets in Australia are actually made from wheat, not corn (check the label carefully). Personally, I see no reason why you should use this type and I always recommend that you use true maize cornflour made from maize (corn). While wheaten cornflour looks very similar to maize cornflour, there are two distinct differences:

L Firstly, as wheaten cornflour is ground from wheat and contains gluten, it will add a certain amount of elasticity to your sauces and custards. It can’t be used as a flour substitute in shortcrust doughs.

L Secondly, as a thickener, wheat starch absorbs less water than cornflour, so you will need to adjust the recipe by adding a little less liquid or a little more wheat starch.

Yeast

Yeast is a natural living organism that metabolises starch sugars into carbon dioxide gas and ethanol during the proving stages of dough-making. The dough rises thanks to the proliferation of carbon dioxide bubbles, which are trapped in the dough by the gluten, and is the underlying reason behind using flour with a high protein (gluten) content for baking breads and leavened pastries.

Fresh yeast

Fresh compressed yeast is packaged as a block of soft, moist living yeast cells. It is the preferred ingredient used by professional bakers for its leavening capacity, but has a short life-span, making it rather wasteful for the home baker. As a rule of thumb, to convert fresh yeast to instant dry yeast, use half the amount. For example, 14 g (½ oz) fresh yeast equals 7 g (¼ oz) instant dry yeast.

Instant dried yeast

This processed yeast is originally made from the same living culture as fresh yeast, but has been dried and transformed into small granules that can be added directly to your dough, very much as you would fresh yeast. It has a much longer life-span than fresh yeast, so is perfect for the home baker. All the recipes in this book use instant dried yeast for this reason.

Bicarbonate of soda and baking powder

These leavening (rising) agents release gases much faster than conventional yeasts and do not rely as much as yeasts do on the elasticity of the mixes created by the protein in the flour. Consequently, they are really useful when baking goods such as sponges, pound cakes or even certain types of shortbreads when the taste of fresh yeast is undesirable and the gluten content is low.

Bicarbonate of soda

Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) is a potent leavening agent that creates rapid carbon dioxide bubbles when exposed to an acid, such as chocolate, brown sugar or lemon. A word of advice: this should be used in very small quantities and always measure it carefully. Too much will give a soapy taste to your products.

Baking powder

This is primarily bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) that has already been mixed with an acid, usually cream of tartar and cut with cornflour (cornstarch). It can be added to wet mixes that have little or no other acids and still produce carbon dioxide. Due to the fact that the active ingredient (bicarbonate of soda) has been diluted, the ratio of baking powder used in baking is always higher than bicarbonate of soda.

Sugar

Both sugar beet and sugar cane produce identical complex sugars (sucrose), composed of two simple sugars: dextrose, commonly called glucose; and fructose, the main ingredient in invert sugar (trimoline). Both these ingredients are used in professional baking. Technically speaking, they are hygroscopic (they absorb moisture from the air), which helps slow down the crystallisation of sugars in creams and caramels and prolongs the softness of sponges and cakes. The types of sugar most commonly used in this book include:

Caster sugar	Refined from both sugar cane and sugar beet, caster (superfine) sugar is highly processed pure sucrose and comes in the form of fine, clear crystals that dissolve easily in liquid. This makes it preferable to coarser regular white sugar for baking, especially when making meringue.
Raw sugar	Raw (demerara) sugar is a less refined form of sugar extracted from sugar cane. It is minimally processed and still contains some of its molasses (around 3.5 per cent), which gives it a more complex flavour and a light brown colour. As the crystals are relatively large, raw sugar doesn’t dissolve as readily as caster (superfine) sugar, so it is used mainly to add depth of flavour and a little extra texture to biscuits and crumbles.
Brown sugar	Brown sugar is much less refined than both caster (superfine) sugar and raw (demerara) sugar. The heavy texture and brown colour is due to its very high molasses content (around 10 per cent). I’m not a big fan of this type of sugar because its strong flavour tends to easily overshadow other flavours.
Pure icing sugar	Pure icing (confectioners’) sugar is a very fine white powdered sugar made of 100 per cent sucrose; it is simply the result of finely crushing caster (superfine) sugar. Most often, you will come across icing (confectioners’) sugar mixture, which is essentially the same product but has a small amount of starch added to prevent the sugar from absorbing humidity from the air and forming hard lumps. I prefer to use pure icing sugar over the mixture and just pass it through a fine mesh sieve to remove any lumps. You can also whizz it up in a food processor before using it.
Pearl sugar	Pearl sugar (also called hail sugar or nibbed sugar) is often used to decorate and to add crunch and sweetness to biscuits and pastries, such as chouquettes. This highly refined form of sugar is compacted and then crushed into small balls, which can withstand high heat without melting.

Salt

A pinch of salt goes a long way in cooking and is critical for developing flavour, balance and stability. Baking is no exception. There is a multitude of different salts on the market these days, ranging in colour from pink to grey, and in price from the cheapest table salt to high-end ‘gourmet’ salts. So what salt should you use and when?

Sea salt or rock salt?

Let’s put this to rest once and for all. Salt is a mineral called sodium chloride. Irrespective of whether it has been harvested directly from the sea or dissolved from rock sediments created over hundreds of millions of years ago, sodium chloride remains sodium chloride. In both cases, it would have come from the sea at one time or another. There is, however, a very distinct difference in how the salt is processed, resulting in several types of salt crystals, each used for different purposes.

Cooking salts

Fine salt

Fine salt (table salt) is made of very small, cubic crystals created by rapid vacuum evaporation of the brine from rock salt or sea water. Unlike salt flakes, these crystals of salt are tightly packed together and are hard to melt and cannot be used as textural elements, as this type of salt always tastes too ‘salty’. Fine table salt, however, is perfect for use in doughs, creams, sauces and stocks, or to dry meat and pickle vegetables.

Finishing salts

Salt flakes

Salt flakes are created by gentle evaporation of the brine. Unlike fine table salt, they are made of larger pyramid-like flakes that melt easily, so are ideal as a condiment, or sprinkled on caramels, chocolate or candied fruits. Due to the larger size of their crystals and their ability to dissolve quickly in the mouth, salt flakes provide a less salty taste than fine salt.

Fleur de sel

Originating from Guérande, on the west coast of France, this is considered the Rolls Royce of salts. This type of salt is made of large crystals and is ideal for adding both texture and a subtle hint of saltiness to your caramels or fruit. The salt crystals only form under specific climatic conditions and are harvested by hand, making it a labour-intensive, finite resource and, as such, is quite expensive.

Butter

One of the fundamental ingredients in French cookery, butter is especially important in pâtisserie and baking. Like many things, not all butter is created equal and varies significantly in both quality and taste, and therefore price. Here are a few important things to consider when buying butter for baking.

Salt or no salt?

Historically, salt was added to butter as a preservative before the advent of refrigeration. Today it is mainly used in savoury cooking, for the manufacture of acidic creams such as a hollandaise or beurre blanc, or to spread on toast to add another layer of taste. In baking, however, a lot of recipes do not require salt, so it is far better to add salt to recipes that need seasoning rather than using salted butter.

How much fat is too much fat?

Believe it or not, there is such a thing in French baking as too much of a good thing! Today butters from around the world contain between 80 and 85 per cent fat. Typically, European butter contains a slightly higher fat content (hence less water) and is better suited for use in flaky pastries such as croissant and puff. Butter with a lower fat content (and therefore higher water content), such as those found in New Zealand, Australia and America, emulsify better so are more suitable than European butters when making emulsified bases such as curds, ganaches and creamed cake batters.

Cultured or not cultured?

Cultured butter was traditionally made from fermented raw cream, but today it is usually made by adding a culture and lactic acid to the pasteurised cream before the churning process, then letting the butter age in storage. This process provides an added depth of flavour compared to regular butter and has a more yeasty or ‘buttery’ flavour. It’s ideal for balancing the tartness or bitterness of creams such as salted caramel, lemon curds, or ganaches made with a high cocoa content. For any other creams, especially those made with subtle flavours or sweeter chocolate such as milk or white chocolate, I recommend you use a standard, off-the-shelf unsalted butter.

Cream

Buttermilk fat is less dense than buttermilk, so it rises to the top of the milk and forms a thick layer, which is skimmed off before the milk is homogenised. The different types of cream refer to the amount of butterfat they contain and, as a general guide, they are broken into three groups.

Types of cream

Light cream

Also known as single cream or pouring cream, this contains 18–25 per cent fat. Personally, I never use this cream. It is too thin to use on fruit or for pouring directly on a tart or dessert, and does not contain enough fat to contribute to the texture and feel of any baked goods.

Whipping cream

This cream contains 35 per cent fat. It is the most common cream used in baking, and is the only cream I ever use in cooking. It has the perfect ratio of fat to liquid and adds a wonderful creaminess to your ganache, curds or cake batters. It is the only cream you can use to whip into a smooth and fluffy crème Chantilly. Confusingly, some 35 per cent fat creams contain gelatine and are labelled ‘thickened cream’, so make sure you check the label.

Thick cream

Also known as double cream, heavy or thick dollop, this type contains 48 per cent fat and over. While some bakers occasionally use this cream, I only ever use it as a serving accompaniment. I often add a small amount of alcohol to mitigate its richness; for example, a small amount of Calvados mixed with a generous dollop of thick cream, to serve on a warm tarte tatin.

However, this system of categorising creams is often confusing for the cook because the fat content varies from country to country and even from brand to brand. The best way to choose the right cream for your needs is to go by the fat content on the label and not by the type of cream listed on the label.

Eggs

I always choose free-range eggs over caged eggs for obvious reasons, but surprisingly enough, when it comes to baking, there are no noticeable differences between the two. The type of egg you choose is entirely up to you, and will be a decision based more on economical and ethical reasons than anything else.

While eggs come in a variety of sizes, ranging from medium (40–50 g/1½–1¾ oz), large (50–60 g/ 1¾–2¼ oz) to extra-large (60–70 g/2¼–2½ oz), with some weighing almost 80 g (2¾ oz), all the eggs used in this book are 55 g (2 oz), which is a baking industry standard size.

Here are a few useful tips:

L When baking with small quantities of eggs, break the eggs into a bowl and whisk them lightly with a fork so that you end up with an even distribution of egg yolk and white.

L When making meringue, always make sure your bowl is spotlessly clean before adding the whites — use a piece of paper towel moistened with a little vinegar to wipe the bowl clean — and make sure your whites do not contain any traces of egg yolk. Egg yolk contains about 60 per cent fat and will prevent your egg whites from whisking to their fullest potential.

L Use eggs at room temperature. This is very important when making meringue because cold egg whites are less elastic, and so are less able to retain air. In recipes using whole eggs, the warmth of the air temperature softens the fat in the yolk and makes it easier to emulsify with other liquids.

L Sometimes a recipe will call for an exact weight of egg whites rather than a number, so you will need to separate the eggs into a bowl and weigh them. As a guide, a 55 g (2 oz) egg can be broken down into three parts: 30 g (1 oz) for the white, 20 g (¾ oz) for the yolk and 5 g (¹/₈ oz) for the shell.

Egg wash

Used to add colour and shine to pastries and breads, most egg washes are simply made of lightly whisked eggs and a pinch of salt. Sometimes a dash of milk, cream or water is added to thin the egg wash. There are a few key factors that will determine how fast and deep the colour develops.

The ratio of albumen (egg white) to egg yolk: While both the egg white and yolk contain proteins that brown during baking, it is the fat in the yolk that contributes most to a shinier and darker finish.

The sugar content of the batter or dough: There are two browning reactions that happen during baking: caramelisation (browning of the sugar, or sucrose, in the batter) and the Maillard reaction (the browning of the proteins and carbohydrates). Put simply, the more sugar in your pastry, the more it is going to colour during baking.

Oven temperature: If your oven is too hot, the top will brown before the dough inside is cooked, so colouration is not always a reliable sign that your pastries and breads are done.

Here are a few tips to help you decide what type of egg wash to use:

L When baking pastries or breads that have a high sugar content, such as shortbread and brioche, make an egg wash using whole eggs and a pinch of salt. This prevents the top from browning too quickly and too much before the dough is cooked through.

L When baking doughs that have a low sugar content, such as puff pastry or pâte brisée, add more yolks to the egg wash to achieve good colour in the time it takes the pastry to cook.

Chocolate

Most of the chocolate we eat today comes from three types of cocoa bean (or cacao bean) — Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario — which all vary immensely in richness, flavour and taste, as well as yield and availability. Forastero is the most widely available; it has a blander flavour and a cheaper price. Criollo has a very strong taste and is the rarest and therefore the most expensive cocoa bean. Trinitario, a hybrid crop, has a more refined flavour and is preferred by smaller, more specialised chocolate manufacturers.

The chocolate manufacturing processes

Before ending up as the product we love so much, cocoa beans must undertake a lengthy series of processes, all critical to the finished flavour and texture of the chocolate.

Fermentation: The fruits are harvested, then split to remove the beans and pulp, which are then left to ferment naturally over several days. This process is critical for the bean to develop its key flavours and nuances and reduces its inherent bitterness.

Drying and roasting: The fermented beans and pulp are then separated and the beans are dried to prevent mould growth. The beans are roasted to refine the flavours and further reduce the acidity.

Grinding and conching: Once the beans have been roasted, the nibs are separated from the husks, ground and liquefied into a thick paste called cocoa mass or liquor. This paste is then further refined into two components: cocoa butter (the flavour carrier) and cocoa solids (the flavour). At this stage, cocoa butter, cocoa solids, sugar and a small amount soy lecithin are mixed in various ratios, depending on the manufacturer’s preference, to manufacture dark chocolate. Milk solids are added to make milk chocolate. These ingredients are then put through a process called conching, where they are ground together, sometimes over days, to further refine the texture and flavour of the final product.

Tempering: This process involves heating and then cooling the chocolate, to avoid the formation of large, irregular fat crystals, typically exemplified by a white, mould-like coating and grainy texture.

Types of chocolate

Dark chocolate	Most chocolate sold today has a percentage reference clearly printed on the packaging, typically ranging from 55–80 per cent. This percentage refers to the amount of cocoa (or cocoa mass) the chocolate contains. For example, a 60 per cent chocolate will be made of 60 per cent cocoa mass with the remaining 40 per cent representing the sugar content and a small amount of emulsifying soy lecithin. Consequently, the flavour of the chocolate will become increasingly pronounced with the increase in percentage (and the consequent reduction in sweetness).
Milk chocolate	This is made by adding milk solids (milk powder) to a conventional dark chocolate. They come in a variety of percentages, some sweeter than others. I always recommend using a high percentage cocoa content, around 40–45 per cent, which, by definition, contains less sugar and consequently retains more of the original cocoa characteristics.
White chocolate	The elephant in the room, white chocolate does not contain any cocoa solids. It is a concoction of milk solids (milk powder), cocoa butter and sugar. It should be used sparingly as it tends to be overly sweet (it contains up to 60 per cent sugar) and can quickly overpower other subtle flavours.
Cocoa powder	This is made by extracting cocoa butter from the cocoa mass by hydraulic pressing. It is then pulverised into a powder. In its pure form, cocoa powder is unsweetened and bitter and this is the cocoa I use in all my recipes. Dutch cocoa is unsweetened cocoa that has been treated to neutralise its inherent acidity. However, because you sometimes need the acid in the cocoa to help activate bicarbonate of soda and give a lift to cakes and biscuits, I prefer to use regular cocoa powder. Sweetened cocoa powder is typically used for hot chocolate and is too sweet to cook with.

Which chocolate should I choose?

As a cook, it’s easy to fall into the trap of buying high percentage chocolate because it is perceived as being better — but it’s all about balance. The type of chocolate you use will have a critical impact on how your creams emulsify and set. Using a chocolate with a higher cocoa percentage than recommended in the recipe will harden your creams too much and most likely destabilise (split) the emulsion due to the increase in cocoa fat. Conversely, using a chocolate with a lower ratio of cocoa than recommended will give you a softer finished product.

The amount of sugar the chocolate contains is another key consideration, as it’s important to find the right balance of sweetness and flavour. For example, if you’re cooking with chocolate that contains a high percentage cocoa (and thus low in sugar), you will need to neutralise the inherent bitterness with a touch of chilli, strong spices, salt or pepper. A sweet chocolate, on the other hand, will benefit from the addition of a tart or acidic taste such as lime, pineapple or Greek yoghurt.