A question about flour
 

We are off to France at the end of March for nine and a bit weeks of travelling. We stay for a week in a rental and I cook a lot of the time. I would like to purchase flour to thicken casseroles etc. and need to know exactly what to buy. Last time I agonised for ages in the flour section and am not sure I bought the right one.

Can someone help me with the correct name for what I call [Australian] plain flour, or perhaps all purpose [ no raising agent] flour.

Thanks.

Sorry I can't help with the flour (we're Aussies too) but we spent a long time trying to decipher labels in the dairy section in a huge supermarket in France. We wanted to buy cream to go on a Tarte Tatin (mmm...). Bought the wrong damn stuff! It was sort of like sour cream.

The Tarte Tatin was pretty good on it's own :-)

Kay

Look for "farine de blé" ore "farine de blé type 55", it is the most common (and cheapest) kind.
Self raising flour is "farine avec levure incorporée"

Plain flour is just called farine (or maybe farine au blé) as I recall. Self raising is farine à gateau. Cornflour is farine de mais.

"Cornflour is farine de mais.

Sold under the name "Maïzena" in most supermarkets and groceries.

When I travel & use apartments I bring small amounts of staples like this with me. Herbs and spices in plastic zip bags, sugar packets, etc. In the US the smallest size bag of flour is 5#/2kg, which is way too much for me to buy unless I'm going to do a lot of baking.

If your use for flour is as a casserole thickening agent and you don't need cups full for baking, I'd just bring a small 1c plastic container in my suitcase.

Well so quick. Thanks very much.

I have thought about bringing some with me as I do already bring a couple of staples, for convenience more than anything. This need arose last trip when DH expressed a desire for a chicken and white wine casserole after we already had the chicken[from a market]. Hence the deliberation in the supermarket.

KayF, I can relate to your situation. We also bought 'creme fraiche'[ which I, the only person who had any French???, deciphered as fresh cream] We are a little bit more 'au fait' now, but obviously from my question, still need a bit of help!!

Thanks everyone. As I cook my chicken, or perhaps rabbit casseroles, I will be thinking of you all. Only seven weeks until we leave. But who is counting?

Here, this should do you:

http://irishherault.wordpress.com/20...-farine-types/

Creme fraiche on tarte tartin is awesome!

Hetismij2: Now I'm close to the last person to question anyone's French, but "Self raising is farine à gateau"---

If farine is flour, and a cake is a gateau, wouldn't the above phrase be cake flour? Pvoyageuse said ""farine avec levure incorporée", which might make more sense to me, because levure reads like it might have the same root word as levitate, which yeast makes dough do.

Pardon, see vooplay

Tomboy,

In France farine a gateaux (apologies for no accent marks) is what usually appears on the front of the package. It is described as "avec poudre a lever incorporees". It is type 45

Francine is my favorite brand.

For baking you could use farine de ble tous usages and add baking powder or soda. Francine Bio (organic) is my favorite plain flour. Also type 45

"In France farine a gateaux is what usually appears on the front of the package. It is described as "avec poudre a lever incorporees""

Not quite. Farine à gateau is available with or without baking powder. It does not automatically contain baking powder - when I make "sablés" I want flour without baking powder for instance.
The trick is to read the label. It will always be clearly indicated.

So what does the word gateau mean?

I'm unable to duplicate the taste of French OR German bread with American flour.

Anyone know what's different?

Gateau means cake.

My mother always claimed that American (wheat) flour is mixed with rice flour. Although I have my doubts about this, it is true that she was never able to perfectly duplicate any French recipe when my family lived in the United States. I think it is just refined differently (which makes one wonder how many ways are there to refine flour?).

Pv,

Well, the Francine brand is not what I would call clearly labeled, the front of the package says Farine a Gateaux, the back says "avec poudre a lever"

But, I stand corrected although I have not seen farine a gateaux without baking powder. Will have to look more carefully.

That is interesting about the types of flour in France. I once read that one could not bake French bread at home as it requires a special type of flour that is only available to bakers, and it cannot be purchased by the public in France.

Does this have any truth? I know the baguettes I buy here in the States never match the ones I get in France --- but then maybe the missing ingredient is really just France.

Tomboy,

The flour is different but am not sure of all the reasons, milled differently is probably one, quality or type of wheat....

No clues on how to overcome it but weighing might help. I've been in France 2 1/2 years now and it took two years of trial and error to get simple stuff like quick breads, cakes and brownies right.

It helped to switch to measuring ingredients by weight, using French or English recipes, for the most part.

<i>If your use for flour is as a casserole thickening agent and you don't need cups full for baking, I'd just bring a small 1c plastic container in my suitcase.</i>

Ironic when one remembers that Julia Child had such difficulties in determining which American flour would be appropriate for French cooking.

"the front of the package says Farine a Gateaux, the back says "avec poudre a lever" "

Just what I was saying, it will always be clearly indicated.

<i>"It helped to switch to measuring ingredients by weight, using French or English recipes, for the most part."</i>

I make bread. Quite a lot of it, actually. I measure the flour, salt, and yeast by weight (in grams). It produces more consistent results and also makes it easier to scale a recipe up or down.

In Canada, our unbleached white flour says "farine tout-usage, non blanchie, enrichie, prétamisée". The later word is pre-sifted.

Michael,

I think I remember that from "As Always, Julia," her letters to and from Avis LaVota.

Those letters were so good, I loved the political discussions and Avis's advice on how to adapt her recipes to American foods, spices and equipment. Fewer products were available in the 50s and early 60s.

I also didn't realize how many years Child and Beck spent on "mastering the Art..."

<i>but then maybe the missing ingredient is really just France.</i>

Perhaps the brick in the oven?