The Evolution of the French Boulangerie

When we first moved to the château, there was a small, dreary bakery just up the road. Madame with the bleached-out hair always sat just inside the door, on a stool, smoking a cigarette. There was only one bread on offer: a baguette. We like them, but we avoid white flour for our daily bread, so one day I asked her if she might think of  carrying a pain aux céréales (whole grain bread). She looked at me with disdain. “No one in the countryside would buy them”, she said.

A baguette and a copy of LeMonde: a French breakfast tradition.

A couple of years later a young French baker and his wife bought the bakery. The change was astonishing. Pain aux Céréales! Pain aux noix! Croissants and brioches! We were in heaven. And there was almost always a line out the door. Take that, Madame!

These days some French boulangeries are even daring to get a tiny bit international. They carry all the French breads and desserts, and certainly they feature regional delights, But now you sometimes see scones, brownies, or even doughnuts; muffins are particularly popular. We want them to retain their wonderful Frenchness, but it’s fun to see them branch out a bit. Now if they would only discover southern biscuits…

Happily French bakeries always carry regional specialties, like these Kugelhopfs in Alsace.

And speaking of biscuits,  let’s go full English this week, and make some scones (these are actually more biscuit-like than their denser and drier cousin, the scone, but we shall call them scones anyway).  My absolute favorite scone: cinnamon. These I’ve womped up with a maple glaze and some chopped pecans. On a cold February day, these will warm your cockles. They are not much more trouble than whipping up a batch of biscuits. 

RECIPE: Cinnamon Scones with Maple Glaze

Adapted from Deliciously Yum.  

Cinnamon chips are often hard to find in the grocery store, but you can order them on -line. One bag makes two nice-sized batches.

• 2 1/4 cups flour*
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup milk or half and half
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
•  half a package (5 oz) of cinnamon chips

For the maple glaze (optional):

• 1 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon pecans, chopped
•  
  • 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a Silpat.
  • 2. In the bowl of a food processor, add flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and ground cinnamon. Give it a few short pulses to combine.
  • 3. In another bowl,  whisk together cream, egg, and vanilla .
  • 4. Add butter to food processor, and give it 10 or 12 1-second pulses. It should not be completely smooth; you should be able to feel tiny lumps of butter, sort of a coarse meal. Pour mixture into a large bowl. Add wet ingredients and, using a fork, combine until not quite fully incorporated and dough comes together. Add chips and stir just until they are incorporated. Be careful not to over mix; batter will not be smooth. Turn dough out onto your work surface** fold over a couple of times to lightly knead, and press and pat into a 7-inch circle. You can cut them in triangles but I used a large round cutter. Put them close together on the sheet pan, almost touching.  Place in the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes or until edges are slightly brown. Remove from the oven and transfer scones to wire racks to cool.
  • 5. Once scones have mostly cooled, combine confectioners' sugar, cream or milk, maple syrup and vanilla in a medium bowl. Mix it into sugar gradually, adding more or less to be sure consistency is right. Whisk until smooth, adjusting to a glaze consistency with more cream if needed. Spoon over the scones. Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Store up to 3 days in a closed container.

  *I have been experimenting with King Arthur’s “white wheat” flour. I mixed it with half white unbleached flour for these, and it worked well.

  **To roll them out, I throw a few drops of water on the counter, then put down a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap. Flour it, and when you’re done cutting them out, just roll it up and pitch it. Presto, clean counter!

In the COMMENTS: Colleen, we're salivating over those cream puffs. Suzanne, lemon curd is a brilliant idea, for a sweet puff. Amy, THANK YOU for sharing your secret for keeping gougeres puffy, I can't wait to try it. Jane, I have never heard of a Stirabout, what a great name!

Favorite READS and FILMS:  Readers often ask me about health care and insurance in France, if they're thinking of staying for an extended period of time. Karen McCann, who lives in Spain, has lots of info about health care abroad in this blog post. Vicky says The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, a novel, is a real page-turner. In the film department, our reader Meredith  says, "I noticed you recommended some french films and thought I would mention a charming one called "Two is a Family" or “Demain Tout Commence”.  It stars Omar Sy who did a wonderful job in the film “The Intouchables”, another charming film." ("Two is a Family" may be hard to find in the states). Mille mercis, Meredith. And if you have not seen "The Intouchables", please do, it's great! I liked it better than the American version, which is called "The Upside".

Meredith also sent a picture of the Puff she made. It's a beauty!