carlux

Thanks for the tips. Which type of flour do you use? Now that fall is falling I'll be coming inside and spending more time on things like cakes. I will persevere with the carrot cake. ← ← I just went down to check, as I would have said I just buy 'normal' flour. I see I have 'Carrefour Farine de Ble Fluide - Patisseries et cuisine, Type 45', so low in gluten. I like 'fluide' as it doesn't have lumps, doesn't need as much sifting, although it's always a good idea to sift the flour and levure chimique to add air and spread the raising agent through the flour.

Thanks for the tips. Which type of flour do you use? Now that fall is falling I'll be coming inside and spending more time on things like cakes. I will persevere with the carrot cake. ← I just went down to check, as I would have said I just buy 'normal' flour. I see I have 'Carrefour Farine de Ble Fluide - Patisseries et cuisine, Type 45', so low in gluten. I like 'fluide' as it doesn't have lumps, doesn't need as much sifting, although it's always a good idea to sift the flour and levure chimique to add air and spread the raising agent through the flour.

Well, I know that baking is meant to be a reasonably precise chemical process, but my approach to cake baking in France, after 13 years of living here is to put one package of levure chimique into a small cake, two packages in recipes that make more than one cake. I used to bring baking powder over and it usually was out of date before I finished the box, and didn't produce results that were any better. Then I tried measuring out the levure chimique to try to match what was required. Same result. Now I use the package, I'm happy with the results, and my lemon poppy seed cake is known throughout the village! I make it for most local fetes and people always ask for the recipe.

I always use Creme entiere here for whipping. It;s 30% fat, which is similar to 35-38% in North America. Creme legere is usually 15%, not whippable. Don't know what people would use for coffee, as I drink it here, as I did in Canada, black.

In fact we bought one which would take a wooden panel on the front. Doesn't hide all the controls, the way some models do, but in our kitchen the walnut panel looks fine. Moe expensive, but as you say, looks do count.

I would definitely recommend a Miele. - expensive but wonderful. Not only are they quiet and efficient, they have the best layout of any dishwashers I have come across, in Canada or in France. Living in France, where I look after and sometimes equip other people's houses, I have bought Gaggenau, Bosch, Siemens, etc. Depending on the model, some have been better than others. But the Miele is far and away the best - it has a third tray on the top for cutlery, which gives you more space in the other two - and they say that through some clever German engineering they have not taken any space from the other two. It may take a while to get used to putting the cutlery there, but once you do, you find that it's much cleaner - no knives leaning up against one another, leaving spots. Each item is laid out in a row. They make a 45 cm model, in addition to the normal 60 cm. which means that you can get a dishwater into even a small Paris kitchen. And the well designed layout means that you room for get 9 place settings. I used one of these for years very happily.

I have a convection ((forced air) oven in France, and use it for baking, roasting, whatever. I think they are used here mainly because the ovens are smaller than in North America, and if you want to put 2 things in at once, you need convection to make sure they both cook. They are extremely good for baking, although I do sometimes find that the crust of a cake will bake too soon and prevent the rest of the cake from baking Not sure about cheap ovens - are you sure at 100 Euros it is really convection, (chaleur tournante) or just a small oven?

why is this topic headed "French restaurants' when it is really 'Paris restaurants'. Those of us who live in other parts of France may take exception to the assumption that there is nothing else but Paris....

I have a 4 burner Miele induction cook top and I love it. I live in the French countryside where I formerly used butane gas bottles, and was never able to simmer properly. With induction I can get to high heat almost immediately, or hold the temperature at a constant. Doesn't heat the kitchen, very easy to clean, as only the surface under the pot gets hot, and then only from heat transfer. And mine doesn't make any noise other than the fan if it gets too hot. Does occasionally cut out when using a cast iron pan to make bruschetta, but at least I know that now. I love it and wouldn't have anything else - unless perhaps I was able to have a kitchen twice the size with a fancy range, but maybe not even then.

For those of you planning to try the former Michelin 2-star restaurant in Les Eyzies, Le Centenaire, a warning that the restaurant has closed. The hotel is still open, but for sale. Roland Mazere, chef and owner, says he has worked for 40 years to keep the restaurant open, but has no one to pass it on to - and can't compete with restaurants backed by rich corporations. Apparently he was told by the Michelin inspectors that he was not far off a third star, but could never come up with the investment that this would require. So, at the age of 60, he has decided to close down. The current red guide lists the hotel, but doesn't make any reference to the restaurant being closed, which could be confusing for those planning a visit. Nor does the Centenaire web site .http://www.hotelducentenaire.fr/ If you want to read an interview with Roland Mazere, in French, have a look at http://tinyurl.com/2gzcza