Vive la France: Bake Like the French to Celebrate the Paris Olympics

This July, the eyes of the world will focus on Paris and the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad,  an event that will make me hungry – hungry for fabulous French cuisine, especially French breads and pastries. It’s a craving I plan to satisfy by visiting a few St Louis bakers who excel in the art of French breads and pastries, and by baking my own French breads and pastries.

While I’m not a French baker, I can be. In fact, anyone can become a French baker with help from Kimberly Zerkel, author of “The French Bakery Cookbook” (published by Cider Mill Press, 2024).

Zerkel shares the basics of classic French bakery classics with help from friends she met during her tenure working with as the assistant to Michelin Star French chef Dominique Crenn.

“When I returned to the U.S. after spending 10 years in Paris, I started working in San Francisco as the assistant to a Michelin Star chef and was able to become acquainted with a lot of the pastry chefs,” Zerkel said.

In 2020, Zerkel returned to her Joplin, Missouri, hometown, where she picked up her pen and began collecting French bakery recipes from the bakers she met – a collection that became her book, which divides over 85 recipes into five illustrated chapters with photography so rich you can almost taste the butter.

Among the bakeries, bakers and chefs included is Take Root Hospitality’s Bistro La Floraison in Clayton, a favorite spot Zerkel makes a point to drop by when visiting her brother, who resides nearby. Bistro La Floraison shared two: Financiers aux Oignons and Gougéres with Gruyére Mousse.

Financiers, as Zerkel writes, are often confused with sweet pastries. This recipe is a delightful savory that plays off La Floraison’s signature French Onion Soup, distilling the flavor into the batter and finishing each with thyme and a gruyére crumble. It’s a  miniature masterpiece that sounds too hard to make, but it’s not, thanks to step-by-step directions.

Bistro La Floraison’s other recipe, Gougéres, is a personal favorite of Zerkel’s.

“I love these gougères because I’m more of a savoy person,” Zerkel said. “You get the lovely puff pastry and then a little bechamel and cheese, as well.”

“The French Bakery Cookbook” provides recipes and inspiration for both novice to experienced bakers. Within its pages, you’ll find recipes for madeleines and éclairs to baguettes and brioche. There’s even a recipe for how to make the perfect crepe. Best yet, recipes are complemented with tips and techniques from the bakers themselves, so you can create perfection every time.

To get Gazelle readers inspired to begin baking for the Paris Olympics, Zerkel has shared Bistro La Floraison’s Gougéres recipe, perfect when paired with a lovely custom-roasted French-style coffee as Goshen Coffee Roaster offers. The local roaster’s house French roast feels French, a rich, dark roast with a flavor profile Goshen describes as bold baker’s cocoa and tobacco – excellent for the savory and sweet varieties of breads and pastries found in “The French Bakery Cookbook.”

Gougéres with Gruyére Mousse

Gougères 

71 g whole milk                                                                                                                                  77 g water
76 g whole unsalted butter
2 g kosher salt
99 g all-purpose flour
25 g grated Parmesan
150 g eggs

Gruyère Mousse

400 g heavy whipping cream
200 g grated Gruyère cheese
Sea salt                                                                                                                                        Sherry vinegar

GOUGÈRES

1. In a medium saucepan, bring milk, water, butter, and salt to a simmer. Whisk in flour. Once flour is homogenous, use a wooden spoon to continuously stir the mixture (known as pâte à choux dough). Cook over medium-high heat until a slight skin forms on the bottom of the pot and dough pulls away easily from the sides of the pot.
2. Move hot choux dough to a stand mixer and mix on medium high to cool down the dough slightly until it feels just above warm. Add the Parmesan, then the eggs one at a time until all eggs are added and the mixture is homogeneous.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and coat with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350°F (convection setting is preferred).
4. Place mixture in piping bags. Pipe onto trays to the size of a silver dollar, leaving an inch between each. Bake immediately or freeze at this stage and bake at a later time. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate and bake for another 10 minutes, depending on color and doneness. Rotate and bake for another 10 minutes. You are looking for them to rise into puffs and be golden brown.
5. Consume right away or hold them at room temperature and flash in a 350°F oven for 2 minutes to reheat and crisp up.

GRUYÈRE MOUSSE

1. Bring heavy whipping cream to a simmer in a pot.
2. Pour hot cream into a blender; blend on high while adding cheese until homogenous. Season to taste with salt and sherry vinegar.
3. Place cheese fondue into an iSi canister (similar to a can of whipped cream, iSi is a food whipper that operates with CO2 to aerate the liquid). Charge with one cream charge and shake vigorously.

ASSEMBLY

1. Once gougères are baked, flip them upside down, make a small hole in the bottom and fill them with the mousse.