Grocery shopping in France… and pastry Monday!

I went grocery shopping on Saturday to pick up the baking powder for my pancakes so that they would be nice and fluffy, but I had a really difficult time finding it! In Canada, baking powder comes in a big yellow container, but I couldn’t find anything similar at my local grocery store. I scanned up and down the sugar and flour aisles repeatedly before I asked a clerk for help, but nothing looked right.

When I had done a quick search in an online dictionary at home I had found the translation “poudre à pate,” but the clerk had no idea what I was talking about. It was really difficult trying to describe what I needed, but I ended up using my hands a lot and explaining that I need it to make bread rise (not exactly the truth, but perhaps the easiest way to describe what I needed).

The clerk took me to the aisle where I had previously searched, and showed me packets of “levure chimique” and “levure du boulanger”, and he said that this was the only thing they sold for that purpose. I looked at their ingredients and decided to go with “levure du boulanger” as the “levure chimique” contained baking soda, and when I got home and checked on the internetz I realized that I had actually purchased yeast! How confusing!

Baking Powder and Yeast in France

I went back yesterday, and purchased the “levure chimique”, and I am happy to say that it worked like a charm! I made apple cinnamon pancakes for lunch today, and I have to say that they are the best pancakes of my life. I substituted splenda for sugar and royal gala apples for the apples in the recipe, and they were amazing. I can’t wait to make them again, mmmm! One of the comments of the recipe mentioned that they didn’t contain enough cinnamon, so I also added 1 teaspoon instead of 1/4 of a teaspoon. I also sprinkled cinnamon on top, because I am a bit nutty for it 😉

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

Mille-Feuille pastry

This is a pastry that I purchased on Monday from the bakery near my house. Mondays are never fun days, so I have designated them “pastry mondays”… a very delicious day, indeed. Back in high school I was friends with a norwegian exchange student, and we would go to Tim Hortons together once a week, and try a new donut flavour each time. That is also my goal in France to “appreciate the culture” (or pastries *cough*). (I really do miss Timmy’s, though… mmm boston cream donuts, ice capps, and french vanilla cappuccinos).

The mille-feuille also goes by napoleon and vanilla slice, and it is a deliciously flaky pastry filled with custard, and topped with a chocolate and vanilla glaze. Yum!