French recipe conversion?

Frogleg said:

A friend received a recipe from a French source, and is
uncertain about conversion:
____________________________________________
"...But it is in gm and liters. I've already guessed by
using conversion tables avaible on the net. They are in
parenthese's...see if you or others could correct them?

I already know Eurpeon flour is different than ours.

Quoted message said:

Banana's cake ! 100 g butter (1 stick + 2TBS of butter)

That's a little over 100 g butter. Hold a little back and
see how the texture goes.

Quoted message said:

200 g sugar (1 2/3 cup)

I'd go with 1 1/2 cups

Quoted message said:

3 eggs 3 big bananas (overripe)

Quoted message said:

200 g flour (1 2/3 cup)

Also start with 1 1/2 cups and add more if needed

Quoted message said:

1/2 bag of yeast (powder)(1 tsp)
1/2 coffee spoon of salt 1 spoon of vanilla powder (1 tsp
liquid vanilla)

That should be fine. Vanilla powder can usually be replaced
volume per volume by a good extract.

Quoted message said:

100 g walnut or hazel or almond in powder. (3/4 cup)

Maybe start with 1/2 a cup of ground nuts and see how it
goes.

Quoted message said:

In a bowl churn sugar and butter in cream. Add broken eggs
one by one, crushed bananas, the flour, salt, yeast,
vanilla, nuts (or others) chopped. Mixe well. Cook in a
cake pan (28 cm) [11 inch] well buttered in medium heat.
Turn it out as still a little hot and decorate with slices
of bananas diped quickly in lemon juice.
________________________________________
Any obvious corrections

I wouldn't use yeast. 1 tsp of baking powder instead...

heres mine... 1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup of shortning ( I use a package of cream cheese) 2
eggs 1 tbsp lemon juice 2 medium bananas mashed 1 1/2 cups
flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp soda
2/4 cup water
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

cream sugar and shortning, add eggs and lemon juice, mashed
bananas. sift dry ingredients together and add to creamed
mixture alternating with water. Fold in chopped nuts.

use a well greased bundt pan 350 for 40 minutes. top with
lemon or vanilla glaze, or leave plain.

Hey! Look what Frogleg <[email hidden]> wrote :

Quoted message said:

A friend received a recipe from a French source, and is
uncertain about conversion:
____________________________________________
"...But it is in gm and liters. I've already guessed by
using conversion tables avaible on the net. They are in
parenthese's...see if you or others could correct them?

I already know Eurpeon flour is different than ours.

Banana's cake ! 100 g butter (1 stick + 2TBS of butter) 200
g sugar (1 2/3 cup) 3 eggs 3 big bananas (overripe) 200 g
flour (1 2/3 cup)
1/2 bag of yeast (powder)(1 tsp)
1/2 coffee spoon of salt 1 spoon of vanilla powder (1 tsp
liquid vanilla) 100 g walnut or hazel or almond in
powder. (3/4 cup) In a bowl churn sugar and butter in
cream. Add broken eggs one by one, crushed bananas, the
flour, salt, yeast, vanilla, nuts (or others) chopped.
Mixe well. Cook in a cake pan (28 cm) [11 inch] well
buttered in medium heat. Turn it out as still a little
hot and decorate with slices of bananas diped quickly in
lemon juice.
________________________________________
Any obvious corrections

On Tue, 11 May 2004 18:14:34 -0600, Arri London <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Frogleg said:

A friend received a recipe from a French source, and is
uncertain about conversion:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

100 g butter (1 stick + 2TBS of butter)

That's a little over 100 g butter. Hold a little back and
see how the texture goes.

Quoted message said:

200 g sugar (1 2/3 cup)

I'd go with 1 1/2 cups

Quoted message said:

200 g flour (1 2/3 cup)

Also start with 1 1/2 cups and add more if needed

Quoted message said:

1 spoon of vanilla powder (1 tsp liquid vanilla)

That should be fine. Vanilla powder can usually be replaced
volume per volume by a good extract.

Quoted message said:

100 g walnut or hazel or almond in powder. (3/4 cup)

Maybe start with 1/2 a cup of ground nuts and see how it
goes.

I searched on my own and found this very nice conversion
calculator:

gourmetsleuth.comgram calc.htmOpen ↗

One thing that puzzles me about the recipe is the inclusion
of yeast with nothing about proofing or rising. I've never
used yeast as a leavener without *doing* something with it
first. Nor seen any 'cake' recipe with yeast in it. Except
for the yeast (instead of baking powder), this is plain ol'
banana bread. I think my friend has been deceived by *her*
French friend. :-)

"Frogleg" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

One thing that puzzles me about the recipe is the
inclusion of yeast with nothing about proofing or rising.
I've never used yeast as a leavener without *doing*
something with it first. Nor seen any 'cake' recipe with
yeast in it. Except for the yeast (instead of baking
powder), this is plain ol' banana bread. I think my friend
has been deceived by *her* French friend. :-)

I suspect that the original recipe called for "levure
chimique" which is baking powder. In translation the
'chimique' was dropped and only 'levure', which is yeast,
was translated.

Gabby

Frogleg said:

Arri London said:

Frogleg said:

A friend received a recipe from a French source, and is
uncertain about conversion:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

100 g butter (1 stick + 2TBS of butter)

That's a little over 100 g butter. Hold a little back and
see how the texture goes.

Quoted message said:

200 g sugar (1 2/3 cup)

I'd go with 1 1/2 cups

Quoted message said:

200 g flour (1 2/3 cup)

Also start with 1 1/2 cups and add more if needed

Quoted message said:

1 spoon of vanilla powder (1 tsp liquid vanilla)

That should be fine. Vanilla powder can usually be
replaced volume per volume by a good extract.

Quoted message said:

100 g walnut or hazel or almond in powder. (3/4 cup)

Maybe start with 1/2 a cup of ground nuts and see how
it goes.

I searched on my own and found this very nice conversion
calculator:

gourmetsleuth.comgram calc.htmOpen ↗

Yes but conversions from weight to volume can never be
truly accurate.

Quoted message said:

One thing that puzzles me about the recipe is the
inclusion of yeast with nothing about proofing or rising.
I've never used yeast as a leavener without *doing*
something with it first. Nor seen any 'cake' recipe with
yeast in it. Except for the yeast (instead of baking
powder), this is plain ol' banana bread. I think my friend
has been deceived by *her* French friend. :-)

We have plenty of cake recipes that require yeast. Common
enough but perhaps not in the US. In a batter the yeast
doesn't always seem to need to proof that much. The standing
around it does while adding the other ingredients is enough.
Yeasted cakes avoid that chemical taste that baking powder
sometimes gives.

I make yeast pancakes all the time and no proofing is
required. Of course they taste better when allowed to sit
around before cooking, but it isn't essential.

Here's an Americanised recipe for a German butter cake:

2 envelopes dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2/4 cup hot milk
3/2 cup sugar 1 tsp salt
4/2 cup butter 4 cups sifted flour grated rind of one lemon
3 eggs, beaten

Sprinkle yeast over warm water and stir. Chop the butter and
add to the hot milk with sugar and salt. Stir until the
butter is melted and the sugar and salt dissolved. Add the
dissolved yeast. Place the flour and lemon rind in mixer
bowl and make a well in the center. Add the yeast-milk
mixture and the eggs. Mix on low speed until smooth. Pour
into a buttered 9 x 13 inch pan and spread the batter
smoothly. Let stand for 45 minutes.

Prepare the topping:

5/2 cup butter 1 cup sugar
6/2 tsp cinnamon
7/3 cup slivered almonds

Chop the butter with the sugar and cinnamon, mix in the
almonds. Sprinkle over the batter.

Bake in 375 F oven for about 30 minutes until top is syrupy
and golden.

On Thu, 13 May 2004 17:31:50 -0600, Arri London <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Frogleg said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I searched on my own and found this very nice conversion
calculator:

gourmetsleuth.comgram calc.htmOpen ↗

Yes but conversions from weight to volume can never be
truly accurate.

Did you check the URL? It specifically addresses the
question of weight to volume and has a neat chart of typical
conversions of common ingredients.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

One thing that puzzles me about the recipe is the
inclusion of yeast with nothing about proofing or rising.
I've never used yeast as a leavener without *doing*
something with it first. Nor seen any 'cake' recipe with
yeast in it. Except for the yeast (instead of baking
powder), this is plain ol' banana bread. I think my
friend has been deceived by *her* French friend. :-)

We have plenty of cake recipes that require yeast. Common
enough but perhaps not in the US. In a batter the yeast
doesn't always seem to need to proof that much. The
standing around it does while adding the other ingredients
is enough. Yeasted cakes avoid that chemical taste that
baking powder sometimes gives.

<recipe snipped>

I see that your recipe (thank you) includes both initial
blooming of the yeast and a 45-minute rise time for the
batter. This makes sense. Simply adding 'raw' yeast to a mix
and popping it in the oven doesn't. It seems Gabby's insight
into "levure chimique" is the probable cause of the
confusion.

Frogleg said:

Arri London said:

Frogleg said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I searched on my own and found this very nice
conversion calculator:

gourmetsleuth.comgram calc.htmOpen ↗

Yes but conversions from weight to volume can never be
truly accurate.

Did you check the URL? It specifically addresses the
question of weight to volume and has a neat chart of
typical conversions of common ingredients.

Yes, but those are just very good approximations. In cooking
it doesn't usually matter all that much.

A given mass of flour will not occupy precisely the same
volume if someone shakes it down to maximum compaction or
just piles it into the cup and levels it off.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

One thing that puzzles me about the recipe is the
inclusion of yeast with nothing about proofing or
rising. I've never used yeast as a leavener without
*doing* something with it first. Nor seen any 'cake'
recipe with yeast in it. Except for the yeast (instead
of baking powder), this is plain ol' banana bread. I
think my friend has been deceived by *her* French
friend. :-)

We have plenty of cake recipes that require yeast. Common
enough but perhaps not in the US. In a batter the yeast
doesn't always seem to need to proof that much. The
standing around it does while adding the other
ingredients is enough. Yeasted cakes avoid that chemical
taste that baking powder sometimes gives.

<recipe snipped>

I see that your recipe (thank you) includes both initial
blooming of the yeast and a 45-minute rise time for the
batter. This makes sense. Simply adding 'raw' yeast to a
mix and popping it in the oven doesn't. It seems Gabby's
insight into "levure chimique" is the probable cause of
the confusion.

That could be of course. But yeast in cakes is common enough
in Europe. The recipe I posted doesn't include initial
blooming/proofing of the yeast. There's nothing in the water
to make it proof and I just add the yeast/water to the other
ingredients as soon as I've mixed it.

Fresh yeast doesn't need proofing and in a batter doesn't
even need real rising, other than the time taken to mix
ingredients. Dried yeast is another matter but 'cheating'
works there too in some recipes.