France Hairy Bikers' Bakeation

By now, you've probably realised that there are two things

-that we love in this world.

-Biking and baking.

So we've decided to combine them...

..in an epic 5,000 mile Bake-ation.

So far, the baking's been amazing.

I'm having an affair with a sour dough starter.

Her name's Maria and I'm not coming home.

We've been through Norway, the Low Countries, Germany...

We're a fair pair of hairy 'uns dressed up as Bavarians.

..and Eastern Europe. Austria and Italy weren't bad either.

Simon, Dave, have a drink with me.

After seven weeks, we're arriving in France,

regarded by many as the home of baking.

Fine gastronomy and of course, the famous baguette.

C'est magnifique!

We're on a roll, with only one country to go, Spain.

# Y viva Espana... #

We're still on a mission to find the world's very best bakers.

-So they can teach us a thing or two.

-So get set!

Because it's time for the next leg of our spectacular...

BOTH: Bake-ation!

# Quand il me prend dans ses bras

# Il me parle tout bas

# Je vois la vie en rose... #

Ah, la belle France! At last, we're here.

-Land of culinary delights.

-The cradle of gastronomy.

-And if you love food, this is the place to be.

-And we do, don't we, Kingy?

-We do mate. Love food, oh yes.

-But more importantly for our Bake-ation,

it's home to the world famous baguette, croissant and brioche.

Dave, we'll have to stay focussed on the baking, or our Bake-ation will turn into one big feast.

Bring it on! Lucky for us our first day in France is like summer...

Back home!

Were starting our trip in Lyon.

And if France has the best food in the world,

Lyon has the best food in France.

Lyon sits at the crossroads between Marseilles and Paris,

not far from Switzerland and Italy.

Its cuisine combines the best ingredients from both northern and southern France.

It's said that the old town has more restaurants per square metre

-than anywhere else on earth.

-Bonjour, ca va?

-First baguette.

-Look at that. Now, look at them.

-They look like proper baguettes, don't they?

-Look, quiche poireaux.

-Quiche Lorraine. Croque Monsieur.

-Everything.

-Croissants.

-Vive le France.

-Yes, we're here, aren't we?

-Yeah.

Kingy, just being here makes me peckish.

Me too, let's have a proper French breakfast and plan our route.

Do you know, looking at those maps, it keeps me the heebie-jeebies.

France, it's so big. It's so regional. It's hard to know where to start.

We don't have to, do we?

This is a director that we have worked with for many years.

He's French and his name is Francois Gandolfi.

With Francois, we have cooked in all sorts of places.

And being together in France is really special.

It will be a good trip.

And he is going to be showing us around his hood and the places he knows and loves.

As we are in Lyon, Francois said we should check out some of the regional delicacies.

Like tarte a la praline and the saucisson brioche.

And then, Lyon's here, we're going to be travelling further south

where we're going to be cooking with Francois' mam and dad.

Yes, we're going to do an apricot tarte tatin. Who could resist such a dish?

Then, we're travelling west to meet another French dish, Patricia.

Now, Patricia or French Pat we used to call her.

I haven't seen her for 25 years.

I used to share a flat with her for two years. We were both students.

She was 17, I was 22. She was like a young Bardot,

I was like Antonia Banderas.

Really, with curly hair, glasses and a tank top?

Then, we could head towards Carcassonne and track down

the legendary Academy of Cassoulet.

More important than that, dude,

we need to unravel the personal mystery that has been for us, the baguette.

It's not just white bread in a stick, it's much more.

There's a mystery to be unfolded.

It's raining again. Come on. Get these maps in.

First though, we'd better go shopping

or we won't be able to do any baking tomorrow.

Of course, mate, tomorrow's 14 July, a national holiday.

The shops will be closed.

-But can we try before we buy?

-Was breakfast not enough?

Madame, je cherche le saucisson Lyonaisse a fabrique une grande saucisson brioche.

-Yes. Alors. Here.

-Oui.

Now, fluent. See that? What he's just said is,

"Good morning missus, have you got sausages full of brioche?"

-Cinq saucissons, s'il vous plait.

-Yes. All right.

-Three with truffle.

-Oh!

-There's one.

-And this is the oldest charcuterie in...?

Yes. You see it's since 1850.

'Mate, they've got over 20 different sorts of regional sausages!'

'I've never seen anything like this place. I hardly know where to start.'

-'Let's have a taste.'

-'We're here to shop!'

Ah, Madame!

'Come on, just a tiny one.' Merci beaucoup.

-'La tete roule with ox and pork tongue.'

-Real savoury meat.

-A real old-fashioned taste, isn't it?

-Mmh.

'And the chicken and pork pie.'

-This tastes of France.

-It does.

Merci, Madame. Le produit magnifique.

-Thank you very much.

-Oh!

And that means, "Thanks very much, missus. Your produce is fabulous."

Ooh, la la! Get you with your schoolboy French.

-Here's your bag.

-Merci beaucoup.

-You're welcome.

-Oh, truffle saucisson Lyonnaise!

-Et voila.

-Et voila.

'Right. That's the shopping done for the sausage brioche were cooking tomorrow.'

'Cool. Now we should check out something for my sweet tooth.'

Oooh! Ooh, look at that.

-That's the tarte aux pralines.

-It's a Lyon speciality, isn't it?

Yeah. I mean it's everywhere from back street bakers, to Paul Bocuse.

Dude, we've got to find out how you make this.

-Oh, let's dive in.

-Shall we?

-To a praline pond.

-Ooh!

-Hey!

Paul Bocuse is Lyon's world-renowned three-starred Michelin chef.

He practically invented nouvelle cuisine, you know.

-He's the big cheese round here.

-Le grand fromage.

-All right, dude, we've got it.

But did you know that his favourite boulangerie is Maison Jocteur, with their tarte a la praline.

It doesn't get much better than this.

If we want the mysteries of the tarte aux pralines explaining,

here we are at Maison Jocteur.

-Oui.

-And, we have Sylvain.

This tarte aux pralines is different because it's like on a biscuit base.

You've got the two element, you've got the praline.

For the tarte, you've got icing sugar, you've got eggs, butter and flour, all mixed together.

This pink praline, the praline rose, it's different to the praline we know.

-We get the box of Belgian chocolates.

-Yes.

-And it's a box of pralines.

'Pink praline has nothing to do with chocolate.

'It's whole almonds covered with caramelised pink sugar and broken up.'

We can see a very nice colour because the whole element of it shows.

We don't need to add anything else during the cooking.

So they're very good to work with.

'Sylvain has already made the sable dough by mixing icing sugar, eggs, butter and plain flour.'

'It needs to rest in the fridge before being handled.'

-Merci.

-I can't believe I'm in one of Lyon's most famous boulangeries, having a go.

'Sable comes from the French word for sand, because of its delicate crumbly texture.'

'A good tip to make sure that your sable stays flat, is to cook it on a wire rack.'

'That way the steam won't make it bubble up.'

So the sable, the biscuit, is in the oven.

-So that's just cream and the praline.

-Exactly.

-And how long does this cook now?

-It's not important.

The most important thing is the mix should be like 121 degrees.

'121 degrees is pretty specific, but it's really important.'

'Not cooked enough and it will be runny.

'Too much, and it will be burnt.'

'You can get pink praline online but it's not cheap, at around £40 a kilo.'

-Yes.

-If it's good enough for Paul Bocuse...

-It's good enough for us.

-It's beautiful.

-It's not bruised, it's perfect

Oh, that's perfect mate.

'If you can't get pralines, the sable would be lovely with some melted chocolate on top.'

'Just let it cool for a couple of minutes, and it's ready.'

Merci beaucoup, monsieur.

-Now not a crisp top, a crisp bottom.

-Mm-huh

It's very sophisticated, isn't it? It's almondey, you've got caramel and a fantastic biscuit.

-The biscuits buttery, short.

-Mmh.

-Crisp.

And then you've got like kind of soft almonds. Then, oh!

-Sylvain, it's fantastic.

-Sure? I didn't do anything.

-C'est magnifique.

Can we take some of the praline? We're going to do a saucisson brioche,

but if we've got some dough, it would be great

to make a praline brioche so we've got the savoury and the pudding.

-With pleasure, you can have some.

-Merci beaucoup. You're a gentleman.

Kingy, that's so simple and yet so delicious.

I can't wait to get baking tomorrow.

And let's pray the weather cheers up a bit. I'm soaked.

As the sun sets on Lyon, our prayers are answered.

-A big night out, Kingy.

-Oh, aye a big 'un man.

-Gastronomic portals of Lyon.

-Let's work out how we get the tickets.

Tonight, we are off to sample first-hand what Lyon has to offer.

-In a small local wine bar.

-Oh, I wonder what will be on the menu tonight?

-The clue is in the street name, dude.

-I do hope so.

I can't wait to sample some of the local specialities.

We've enlisted the help of a real born and bred Lyonnaise, Fabrice.

-I was waiting for you.

-Hi, I'm Si. Pleased to meet you, man, how are you?

-Have a seat.

'Here the food is all about amazing ingredients, served without any fuss.'

'We've got local Rhone Valley wine, and Fabrice has suggested we sample some Lyonnaise delicacies,

'including roast ham infused with truffles.'

-I'm getting a huge smell of truffle coming from that ham.

-From here, you can smell it?

-I can smell it from here, yeah.

-Oh, my God.

-My wife says I'm a pig, really.

-I can get a truffle from 30 metres.

-We can send you through the woods.

-If you can sniff a truffle from 30 yards, well be laughing dude.

-I've had worse offers, Mr King.

In this type of bar, it's quite relaxed. We have people whom you know, you don't know.

They take a seat, we share the food on the table.

-It's meant to be convivial, the service here.

-Yeah?

I think Lyon is probably the place where you have the most restaurants,

-compared to the number of inhabitants.

-Cor!

'The capital of French gastronomy. What a place for inspiration.'

-Oh, here come the cheese guys.

-Look at the cheese oh!

Wow, Kingy! Oh, I love truffle!

'Si, These truffles are the only inspiration I need.'

-Do you know what, dude? I love cheese.

-And I love truffles.

'Dude, if truffle has the same effect as cheese,

-'you're in for a few dreams tonight.'

-'I'll be dreaming like a Frenchman.'

More like a pig I think oink oink!

At last, the sun is shining.

And it's Bastille Day, so called because...

On 14 July 1789, the starving Parisians stormed the Bastille Prison,

thinking that the king was hiding bread flour in it.

-FRENCH ACCENT:

-Dude, nobody messes with a Frenchman's bread.

-The shops are closed, and everyone's out having fun.

-Including us.

The city of Lyon has given us the keys of their Roman amphitheatre.

It's where they used to feed Christians to the lions,

but we'll just be feeding ourselves.

-Our menu is definitely more appetising.

-A saucisson brioche.

And a praline brioche using the pink praline we bought yesterday.

Look at this!

Here we are in a big hole in the middle of Lyon. Where are we, Dave?

We're in the Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls.

-Three Gauls! Right.

-This is Saucisson Lyonnaise.

-Oh! I love truffles.

-Look, come here you piglet.

-Oh look, look.

The saucisson de Lyonnaise. And look at that, black truffle,

15% truffle. This is a hard core sausage.

'Made from pork, this sausage isn't cured and it doesn't contain any preservatives,

'so it needs cooking before we can eat it.'

Oui, bon. Allez.

J'ai mettre le saucisson Lyonnaise

dans l'eau chaud pour vingt minutes per une demi-kilo.

Voila!

-He's putting the sausage in the water for about 20 minutes per kilo.

-No.

-Per demi-kilo.

-Per half kilo.

-Oh, this translator act's rubbish.

-Shut your face, you.

-The dough, the dough. The brioche.

-Lets go!

'Brioche dough starts with flour, salt and sugar.'

Mix!

'Then just add some eggs and the usual yeast mix.'

-It's frothed up like a Quatermass explosion.

-There's life in that bowl.

'Did you know, Kingy,

'that the brioche originated in Normandy in the 15th Century.'

The word brioche is a derivative of the French word, broyer,

which means to work, to work the dough.

Which would indicate that I've got quite a load of graft to do.

'Don't whinge, you're a master kneader.'

So, work this dough for about ten minutes.

The reason that you're working it for ten minutes is,

you want it to be ultra, ultra smooth.

'The last ingredient is butter, and lots of it.'

Butter is probably the most important part of the brioche.

-And the kneading is important too.

-Oh, of course.

But, make sure you use the best butter you possibly can.

-Should I do the sausage one, so I can have a whiff of truffle?

-Yes.

-I will do the roast praline one.

-You have a little technique, don't you?

-I do.

-It's like Chelsea bun meets brioche.

'That's what we love about our Bake-ation,

'the chance to give the Bikers' twist to the local recipes.'

Pistachio nuts and truffles!

'But patience is required.

'The brioche needs to rest for a good 45 minutes.'

You may find truffled saucisson Lyonnaise quite hard to get at home.

It doesn't need to be, like, a really fancy sausage.

I mean, Cumberland sausage would be great in there.

And now the little roast praline - lovely!

It's like food potpourri!

'To get the Chelsea bun effect,

'sprinkle the chunks of praline on the dough

'before rolling and slicing it.'

It's a lovely idea, isn't it?

'Mine is ready.

'Just a quick eggy wash and into the oven.'

'Mine it needs to rise for about half an hour

'and then it'll go into the oven too.'

-What shall we do while we're waiting for that to do?

-Don't know.

-Could have a fight?

-We could live the dream. Dshhh!

BOTH: The one who is about to die salutes you.

Fight!

THEY GROWL

I am Gluteus Maximus!

I am Bellius Expandus!

Bellius Expandus, prepare to die!

THEY ROAR

MUSIC: "Je T'aime...Moi Non Plus" By Serge Gainsbourg

Argh!

Ngh!

-Rrrgh!

-Ahh!

Ooh!

It's not fair, you're bigger than me!

Sorry, dude, it's thumbs down for you.

'All this fighting's given me an appetite.'

Should I?

Oh, you should, mate, for sure.

-KNIFE SLICING THROUGH CRUST

-Listen to that brioche.

Sing to me my sweet!

-BOTH:

-Ahhh!

-Merci beaucoup, Monsieur!

-Oh! It's still hot, look.

-Oh!

Le truffe!

This brioche is light, airy, buttery.

It's very, very luxurious, isn't it?

Mmm, nice balance between the sweetness and the savoury. Ah!

-I've never had a sausage roll like this.

-No!

Fancy a little dessert?

Absolutely, mate. It's that time, isn't it?

Now...

Oh, look at the underneath!

-All the syrup.

-Oh, wow!

'If you can't get hold of pink praline,

'Smarties, M&Ms or chocolate buttons will do the trick.

'It's worth having a go.'

You know, I think the way we've done it,

it definitely's like a tear and share.

It just comes off in, like, big sticky bun roundels or rondells.

-Oh, yes!

-Ho-ho!

Look at the colour!

That, kind of, buttery yellow brioche

and the wonderful, wonderful roast praline.

-That's mega!

-Oh, yeah!

Well, if that's a Lyon speciality it's unbelievably good. Oh!

The recipe for our deliciously lovely brioche

and everything else we bake on the programme is on the website.

'Kingy, after eating two entire brioches

'I need a nap before we go out tonight.

SNORING

'Kingy?! Kingy?'

'We're off to sample more of the culinary delights

'of this extraordinary city.'

'Anabelle's an old friend

'and she knows some of the best places to eat.'

-Bonjour Anabelle!

-Bonjour! Ca va?

-Yeah, tres bien, merci!

-Oui?

Oui, ca va bien!

I booked a table at a typical restaurant from Lyon.

-It's called the Bouchon, isn't it?

-Yes, yes.

It's really typical from Lyon with a lot of meat.

'Bouchons are unique to Lyon

'and they are known for their pork specialities and healthy portions.'

-'Good thing I'm hungry then!

-'But did you know that in Lyon

'it's women chefs who are the cornerstone of local gastronomy?'

'Yes, dude, you're not the only one capable of reading a book!

'They are known as Le Mere Lyonnaise.'

-Souris d'agneau...

-THEY LAUGH

-Thank you!

-Thank you!

-Merci beaucoup!

-Merci beaucoup!

But, do you know, the most famous of them all

was the lady who was called Eugenie Brazier

-and she was the first woman in France....

-Brassiere?!

-Brazier!

-Oh, Brazier.

She was the first woman in France to get three Michelin stars

and Paul Bocuse trained under Eugenie Brazier.

Now, we sure that there's a mother working in the kitchen?

'Well, let's find out, eh?'

Bonsoir, Madame.

Oh, look, come and have a look at this!

These...

This is a photograph of all the generations of mothers

who work in the kitchens at Le Bouchon.

And these are all Lyonnaise mums.

And this one is La Mere Brazier,

the first female Michelin three star chef.

-Bonsoir, chef!

-Bonsoir!

Bonsoir, Madame, bonsoir!

Bonsoir. Oh, OK.

Oh, you're cut?

So, this is chef.

This is where it all happens. Look, look at this.

The tradition of a bouchon is big portions, eh?

Because it's about the home and the heart and the feel of Lyon.

So, there are no fiddly little bit and bobs here.

It's what Dave and I do!

ALL: Wow!

'It's not a nightly skimping, Dave.'

'But these places are good value too.

'25 quid for the three courses and look at the portions!'

Oh!

You know, Si, like everywhere around the world,

when it comes to food, even in Lyon, mums know best!

Yes, they do! Hey-hey!

'Kingy, do you think we ate too much?'

'No, it's Bastille Day after all!'

# I am very full! I am very full! #

'Full but ready for one last treat.'

Oh, that's amazing!

APPLAUSE

Oh, do you know, I love fireworks! Proper sense of appeal.

-I love too!

-Oh, look at that! Yeah.

APPLAUSE

Oh, guys, what a perfect way to end the perfect day in Lyon.

Fantastic food, fantastic people.

Lyon has been so good to us and you, Anabelle. Thank you.

And I'm so happy to have seen you.

We're heading out of Lyon across the Rhone Valley

-along what the locals call La Route de Soleil.

-That sounds promising!

We're travelling south towards Provence and the Mediterranean.

And, as an added treat,

the Route de Soleil goes through Montelimar, home of the nougat.

We've got to stop, man!

This small town produces an incredible

four and a half million kilos of nougat every year.

Well, let's find out how.

OK, Kingy, teeth braced!

Well, you know they've been making nougat since the Ancient Greeks.

Oh, give us a bit, go on!

Now, the challenge is to do a piece to camera whilst eating nougat.

-SLURRED:

-It's dead easy!

-MUFFLED:

-Simple as anything!

-Mmm!

-Oh!

But, you know, in Montelimar,

it's the place in France to come to eat nougat.

Montelimar is on the Route Nationale number seven,

which takes everybody on their holidays to the south of France.

Well, what happened was, this area was a bottleneck.

Everybody used to pile through, big huge traffic jams,

so what did people do?

Quite sensibly, they got out of their cars, parked up,

and came to buy nougat.

Well, then one fateful day in 1968 tragedy struck.

Dun-der-der! Well, it was nothing to do with the student riots,

it was they built a bypass!

So, there used to be over 150 establishments

manufacturing and selling nougat in Montelimar,

now we're down to 15.

But, it is funny,

every time you're blasting down the old Route de Soleil,

all the service stations for about five miles either end

are rammed full of nougat!

Tell you what we need to do, we'll have a look and see how it's made.

-The magic of egg white, nuts, honey and sugar.

-Yes!

-Yes!

# C'est un repas tres grand

# On y vend la pate aux amandes des cacahuetes... #

'All right, Kingy? Teeth braced?'

'Teeth at the ready!'

'Nougat here we come!'

'Nougat is made with five main ingredients.

-'First they mix glucose and honey.'

-'Secondly, they heat sugar with water to make caramel.'

'Then the two mixtures are combined with egg white

'to produce that white fluffy paste that can pull your teeth out.

'That's basic nougat.'

'Now, you can add whatever you want to it.

'Traditionally, it's roasted almonds.'

'The last part of the process requires a bit of manual labour.

'It's not as easy as it looks but it is quite addictive.'

Can you get it smooth?

-You know when you used to lay bitumen on the roads?

-Yeah.

Yeah, does that... Ah, coming up!

-Whatcha.

-Bon.

# Enconte ons prenez le bicyclette Con siene au partit slenette

# On la menalise dans squar

# Au les prende to en jaguar

# Oh Lisette te pregons tu ca fou dire... #

'The nougat is dried in wooden trays

'before being cut into smaller pieces for the shops.'

'It's like being 20 and back in the steelworks.'

-All right.

-Oh, yeah.

-Castagne.

-Ah, chestnuts!

Ah, OK.

'I love that white stuff!

'It's sweet, chewy and crunchy. I could eat it all day long!'

'But we haven't got all day.

'Like other southbound tourists, our stop must be brief.'

-Merci beaucoup et au revoir.

-Au revoir, merci monsieur.

So, where to? What are we baking next?

I know it's our Bake-ation, dude,

but I'd arranged a bit of a non-baking detour

en route to your old student pal Patricia.

-Oh, I love surprises!

-Oh, dude, you're going to love this one!

Oh, I think I know!

-Does it include truffles?

-Yes, dude, it does.

Let's put your nose to the test and head towards Mont Ventoux,

in northern Provence, an area known for its truffles.

Two types, the white summer truffle and the black winter truffle.

-So, I guess we'll be hunting the white one?

-Clever clogs!

We're meeting truffle hunters Erik and Franck Gaumaud

and their dog Mirette.

..and the same place but different trees...

'Like the Gaumauds, Mirette's family

'have been in the truffle hunting business for generations.

-She knows were going hunting, yeah?

-Yeah, she knows that!

-There's an idea to go hunting today, white truffles.

-Right, right!

'Truffles are the fruiting bodies

'of an underground mushroom which grows on the roots of trees.'

See, she wants the, she wants the...

-HE LAUGHS

-She's had her present!

..before hunting. You see, if she knows the rewards she...

Is that a present or truffle?

Yeah, it's a present. It's an old one!

'Truffles only grow on certain trees.

'Usually oak or hazel in limestone soil.'

'That's reflected in the price.

'Over £200 a kilo for the summer truffle.

'And over £500 a kilo for the winter one.'

'No wonder they call them black diamonds.'

In this area.

-How deep can they go normally?

-Oh, it's not too deep.

It's like that.

A-ha!

'Found it!'

'No, dude, that's a stone.'

The dog show you the way. Where the truffle.

'Here, there's one here!'

'No, dude, that's a stone as well.'

-HE LAUGHS

-No! Getting deeper now.

'Yeah, dude, I don't think your truffle nose is working at all!'

'I can smell it, I just can't see it!'

-Ho-ho-hoo!

-Oh, immense!

That's superb.

What a good girl! What a good girl!

'Some people use pigs to find truffles

'but pigs are not as well-behaved as dogs

'and often try to eat the truffle themselves.'

'And, as Erik says, "Why have a pig-headed pig at your side

"when there's a beautiful and clever Mirette?"

'This is fantastic! Just look at those fresh truffles.'

It's amazing, as you brush them you just see...

the, kind of, the black gold appear

and they're no longer rocks and you got a truffle in your hand.

You know, I haven't seen Patricia for years

and when we shared that flat, when we were students,

we were as poor as church mice.

So we were lucky to get, like, a leftover curry,

you know, or a cheese sandwich.

I think it's quite fitting we turn up with truffles now!

'Let's put something together a bit special, like we ate in Lyon.'

-'With truffle, of course!'

-'And a handmade butter.'

'Oh, don't forget,

'in a couple of days, we'll be making fresh baguettes.

-'Home-made bread-and-butter.'

-'The stuff of life!'

'Making butter is easy, we've all done it at school.'

'It's double cream and some Geordie elbow grease.'

'Er, not today.

'A good food processor is perfect and this Geordie's on strike.'

The fat should separate from the liquid inside the cream.

Sort of, like, a curd and whey sort of vibe.

And then we're left with the solids, which should be butter.

Back of the net!

That's the bit you don't want.

Crikey, you can tell the fat content of that cream

by the amount of butter we've got. We've got loads!

'Slicing the truffle frees the aroma and helps to infuse the butter.'

Look at that, that's the summer truffle, the white truffle.

It's a thing of real natural beauty.

'What was that about pigs and truffles?'

'The longer you leave it the stronger the truffle taste will be.'

DAVE GROANS

'I'm using greaseproof paper.

'It'll contain the butter and it makes it easier to shape.'

-There we are, that's truffle butter.

-Yes, yes!

Oh-ho-ho-ho! Hoo-hoo-hoo!

'But it doesn't stop there.

'Our second gift for lucky Patricia is a truffle-infused brie.

'It'll be amazing.'

All we've got to do is leave it for a day,

and that will be a taste of paradise.

Not in the fridge, though.

No, it's got to breathe.

Beautiful. Come on.

'It's another glorious morning in Provence,

'and it's going to be a busy day.'

'Not only will we be catching up with my old chum Patricia...'

'Before that, we're having lunch

'with the parents of our director, Francois.'

'The scenery of Provence is incredible.

'You can see why painters like Cezanne and Renoir

'came here to capture the landscapes on canvas.'

'Francois's mum and dad are from Corsica,

'but they now live in this lovely part of southern France.'

'We're travelling to Cornillon Confoux,

'a small village not far from Salon-de-Provence.'

'It would be rude not to bring anything to the table.'

'So we volunteered to make dessert,

'and we're baking one of our favourites.'

'A tarte tatin, normally made with apple,

'but we're doing ours with apricot.'

'We spend so much time together with Francois on the road...'

'..that it's a pleasure to get to know each other's families.'

-Very happy to meet you.

-And you.

-Lovely to meet you.

Thank you for your welcome.

And I prepare for you a special Corsica barbecue.

-Wow.

-Oh, yes!

You know the special sausage? Sau-sayge? Sausage?

Friga...

-Figatelli.

-Figatelli!

Francois, your son, he brought us some once from Corsica.

They're superb.

We're going to cook a very traditional tatin.

But an apricot tatin, cos the fruit's great.

-It's time to start the fire.

-OK.

-For the cook.

-OK.

-OK?

See you soon.

DAVE SIGHS

Oh, man.

-How lovely...?

-This is your French ideal, isn't it?

-Yes.

It's beautiful, the scent of lavender in the air,

and look at that.

These apricots. These, to me, sum up Provence.

Now, Dave,

how did a tarte tatin rear its existence?

In 1898, it was invented at the Hotel Tatin by the Tatin sisters,

Stephanie and Caroline.

Stephanie Tatin was the one who did most of the cookery.

One day, she was making a conventional apple pie,

she left the apples there in caramel, and it burnt.

So what she did was, in a panic, "Whoooo!",

she put some puff pastry on the top and baked it,

turned it out on the top, served it to the guest, they loved it.

And the tarte tatin, by Stephanie Tatin, was born.

Right, to start the apricot tarte tatin,

we make a very simple caramel, which involves melting sugar.

Now, a good trick when making a tarte tatin

is to use one of those frying pans, the type you can put into the oven.

It just saves messing about.

The appliance of fire.

We put the sugar in.

Now, you leave this to melt.

You don't use a spoon, just leave it to melt,

until we have caramel.

'Today, for our tarte tatin, we're using local apricots,

'but as well as apples, you can use peach, you can use prune, pear,

'and even pineapple, to make your own tarte tatin.'

Look in the pan. That's what you call caramel coloured.

And you want it, till it's all melted, and keep it moving,

just wash it round the pan,

so just till it's that golden caramel colour.

A bit like a finely-honed labrador.

So to this, we put some butter.

This is just going to make it rich and just nice and soft.

Now watch this, cos it can spit a bit.

And this is very hot.

And it will burn you.

So please take care, and don't let the kids near this one.

-Righto, Si.

-Thanks, mate.

Just put that on the board, now...

Now, you want about seven apricots.

'We're using ready-rolled puff pastry to create the top.'

'You mean the base?'

'The top.

'Er...the base. Well, you know what I mean!'

'To create a nice finish,

'tuck the puff pastry under the apricots

'around the edge of the pan.'

That's just to let the steam out.

'Just pop the lot into a hot oven for 25 minutes.'

We should go and help Monsieur and Madame Gandolfi.

Oui, allez!

Oh! Madame Gandolfi, shall I help you?

Oh, yes.

'Mr Gandolfi is grilling three sorts of sausages,

'including the wonderful Corsican figatelli.'

This is my favourite sausage of all time.

Oh...

That's pure meat.

You know when your mam used to say to you,

"Oooh, that tastes like carrots used to taste like," that's what this is.

Everything that the pig has eaten, you can taste it.

So you can taste the acorn, you can taste the earth that it's walked on,

and that's a very special thing about figatelli.

And, er...

It's my favourite sausage, without a shadow of a doubt.

'To soak up the juices and the flavour,

'Francois's dad is pressing the figatelli into some bread.

'Here, they eat bread with everything,

'and it'd be sacrilege to have a meal without it.

'Provencal loaves come in all shapes and sizes.'

This one is called baguette du patron.

Oh, OK.

Is not white.

It's not wholemeal either, though, is it?

When is white, is not good.

There is no white bread, really, it's kind of...

-It's off-white because they mill the flour differently.

-Yes.

And it's so, so good.

So these are the breads of Provence.

Yes, yes.

Because I have a good baker.

-Ah.

-You know?

You know, we're very lucky today, it's a family day.

You know, and our crew's like a family as well,

so today, the crew, Francois, us, his parents, we all eat together.

The most wonderful Corsican barbecue, and our tarte tatin.

'To accompany the barbecue,

'Mrs Gandolfi has baked her lovely anchovy and olive flatbread, as well as some spicy pickled vegetables.'

'And for dessert, our own apricot tarte tatin.'

Voila!

ALL: Oooohh...

Very nice!

-THEY APPLAUD

-Merci.

-Ooh-hoo.

-OK.

Tarte tatin.

# Tarte-ta-ta-tin-ta-ta-tin-ta-ta- tin-tin-tin-ta-ta-tin.

Whoa, that's lovely.

It's beautiful, because, er...

How you call, the apricot...?

-Yeah.

-..are nice in it.

-Yeah.

-Very good.

Puff pastry draws the caramel into the layers, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

-It's really nice. Really nice, good.

And you're with four ingredients, the butter, the sugar, the fruit

and a packet of puff pastry, you can create a French classic.

It's very good with fresh apricot.

-Good, eh?

-Yeah.

FRANCOIS: It was peach, Mum.

C'est des peches.

-No!

-No, no!

THEY LAUGH

I am not stupid!

-THEY LAUGH

-'You should know better, Francois. Mums know best, remember.'

'It's a wrench, but it's time to get back on the road.'

Bye bye! Au revoir!

'We're travelling to the village of Vinon-sur-Verdon.

'And who lives there, Dave?'

'Patricia.

'She was my flatmate and friend when I was an art student in London.'

Hey!

David!

Patricia!

Aah-ha-ha!

-I'm so happy!

-30 years, maybe!

-Oh, God!

You look fantastic!

I'll take me hat off.

-You look great!

-I feel like I'm going just to cry, that's...

Aah.

Hello! Bonjour!

THEY LAUGH

It's lovely to meet you.

It's very nice to see you too.

-Right, so that was...

-That was my bedroom.

-My bedroom.

-That's me!

-You look so...

Dude, you still have that real confused look on your face!

-Whatever happened?

-Cos I got there two days before Patricia.

-PATRICIA LAUGHS

-And they said to me, um...

They said, "We have this 20-year-old French girl, would you mind sharing the apartment with her?"

I'd just split up from me girlfriend, I thought, "Oh, that sounds great!"

And then when I saw Patricia, I thought, "Oh, this is double great!"

THEY LAUGH

-I painted you! Yes, you painted me...

-What happened to that picture?

I don't know.

-Because I know...

-Man! That's curly hair!

-Yeah!

-I know, I don't know where it come from.

It was with you, the first time we went to the Chinese restaurant.

-Yeah.

-And you showed me all London. I stayed because of him.

And I remember that first time at the Chinese restaurant...

-Yeah!

-..we had spare ribs...

-Stop it, stop it!

-..and the finger bowl came...

-No! Stop it!

So Patricia being very chic,

she threw the finger bowl on the spare ribs!

I thought it was the sauce!

Nice sauce.

THEY LAUGH

'Oh, Kingy, I feel 25 again.

'So many memories.'

'Well, mate, there's more to come.'

'You and French Pat are going to cook together one more time.'

Clafoutis with framboise.

-Raspberry.

-Raspberries.

-So, for the clafoutis, we need four eggs...

-OK.

'Clafoutis is a sweet batter with fruit in it,

'originally from the Limousin region.

'Now, though, it's a family favourite across France.'

-It's good, you like it, huh?

-Yeah!

-THEY LAUGH

'Patricia's recipe doesn't use flour,

'which is good if you have a wheat allergy.'

'Because there's no flour, French Pat uses double cream to thicken the batter.'

-Really, it's like a custard mixture, isn't it, over the raspberries.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-And then we bake this?

Yes, you bake it, and it gets, er...

-Like a pancake, some...

-Yeah, yeah. Lovely.

-..sort of creamy.

'Clafoutis is normally made with cherries,

'but we're fruity rebels,

'so we think you should use any fruits you like.'

Voila.

'Unlike a traditional clafoutis, this wheat-free version won't rise,

'so it'll have the consistency of a sweet omelette.'

'Now, though, it's truffle time.'

'Mais oui!'

-This is our present to you, Patricia.

-Oh, that's nice.

And, um... We picked the truffles only yesterday.

-Oh!

-So...

-Mmmm!

There we are.

-We made some butter, there's a whole truffle in there.

-Wow!

'Whoa! How much more Frenched-up can you get?'

'Butter and cheese, infused with our beautiful white summer truffle.'

'All it needs is bread and friends to share it.'

What do you think of the truffle butter?

It's excellent, it's very good. My God.

Oh, look at that!

SI CHUCKLES

It's five minutes in your mouth and all your life on your hips.

-Oh, Dave...

-THEY LAUGH

-It's not baking, but it's good, eh?

-Yeah, it's very... Yeah.

Look at that.

'What a difference from the simple cooking of our student years.'

-Whoa... Here we go!

-Wow!

-DAVE LAUGHS I know, everything...

-You're always bothered.

-Oh, hey!

Right, let's see if it's improved after all these years.

-Oh...

-The cauliflower cheese has matured into a clafoutis.

THEY LAUGH

-It's better.

-That's really good!

Patricia, this is fantastic. It's really good.

-This is fantastic. Nice, light, and it's very good.

-Exactly.

It's like a fruity quiche.

'Si, I'm so happy to be here.'

'Me too, mate.'

THEY PLAY MUSIC

# Clafoutis, big and fruity

# You mix the egg with the sugar and the berries... #

'I always wanted to be a singer.

'We should record a song and storm the charts!'

# Make the clafoutis and beat the hairies... #

'Absolutely not!

-'Let's stick to baking, dude.'

-# Whoo! #

Whoo!

THEY CHEER AND APPLAUD

Mon cherie!

Ma cheri!

Yay, bravo!

'Oh, what a night!'

'Yeah, man, I'm really glad we made the time to stop by.

'Really special, it was.'

COCKEREL CROWS

# Whoa! I feel good

# I knew that I would, now... #

'Another day, another great ride, but a long one, over 200 miles.'

'Yes, we have a rendezvous to bake a baguette. I've been waiting for this all week.'

# So good

# So good

# I got you... #

'We're travelling east, leaving Provence behind,

and heading for the Languedoc.'

'To the medieval city of Carcassonne,

'a UNESCO world heritage site.'

'Man, the traffic is crazy!

'The French are all going on holiday.

'This is going to take all day.'

'I'm not happy.

'Bakers don't work late, so the secrets of the perfect baguette

'will have to wait until tomorrow.'

'We can still do some baking.

'How about a favourite of mine with a regional twist?'

'Ooh, go on then!'

'It's a posh creme caramel, or flan de St Jean de Minervois.

'It's for grown-ups, made with sweet white wine and lavender honey.'

Here we are, Carcassonne.

A beautiful medieval city in the heart of the Languedoc.

Carcassonne was founded by the Visigoths during the Golden Age.

And...

Here's one we did earlier.

Now, I'm going to talk a little bit about quiches, flans,

tarts and pies.

'Go on then, dude, what is the difference between quiches, flans,

'tarts and pies?'

'A quiche is generally a kind of generic term

'for something that comes from Alsace-Lorraine,

'the quiche Lorraine, and it's like a pastry case,

'with a savoury custard which contains Gruyere and ham.'

'So what's a flan?'

This is a traditional French flan parisien - pastry, custard.

Hold on, so what you're saying is that a quiche has got a pastry base,

and a flan has got a pastry base.

However, what we have just cooked, which is called a flan,

has neither of those things.

I know, I know, but it's called a flan de St Jean de Minervois.

However, a 'tarte' is a pastry case, quite shallow,

that contains jam, or anything, or even custard,

like a flan and a quiche.

Well, er...

What's an open-top pie, then?

A pie is generally something that has a top and a bottom,

but the pie can be open-topped...

-Which is just like a quiche...

-A quiche or a flan.

Or a tart, really.

But the Flan de St Jean de Minervois is none of these,

it is an entity in itself.

It's got no kit on. That's what it's got.

Not a pastry case nothing to cover its embarrassment.

It's like the best creme caramel you've ever tasted.

First we make a caramel.

But, unlike the tarte tatin, we use water instead of butter.

Now, to make the body of the said naked flan,

in a pan we're going to put 900 millilitres of whole milk.

To that, we're going to add four tablespoons of lavender honey.

And the zest of one whole orange.

You just want to infuse all those lovely flavours.

Yes. I mean it's a classic.

You know for Carcassonne it doesn't get much more regional than this.

And then once we've done that, we take it over to the heat.

Because we want to bring this to a simmer, so the flavours infuse.

Don't let it boil, and don't let your caramel burn either.

Now this is blisteringly hot, so take care.

Just pour that into the mould.

What I want to do is to coat the side of the mould with the caramel.

And as it cools, it's going to give us like this toffee caramel coating.

Once infused the orange zest has done its job.

Nine eggs are needed. It may seem a lot, but without them the flan won't set.

Neuf. That's neuf oeuf!

Now take 100 millilitres of Muscat.

And this is Muscat de St Jean de Minervois,

so it doesn't get any more authentic.

But Sauternes or any other dessert wine will do.

POP

Oh! You see you don't get that with a screw top do you?

-That...

-POP!

Yeah, you don't get corked wine with a screw top though do you?

Get off. Get away. Get away.

So you see the idea is, it is

really the most wonderfully delicately perfumed creme caramel.

Right. So take a roasting tin and you're going to make a bain marie.

Take your toffee coated pot, like so,

and fill it with your flan mixture.

It will be quite full.

And we take some boiling hot water, and put it into the roasting tin.

The flan is baked for 45 minutes.

After 20 minutes,

cover it with foil to ensure that the top doesn't burn.

If you can't get lavender honey, use normal honey

and infuse your milk with fresh lavender instead.

Ooh! Now, so we're going to put this in a cool box

with some ice packs in there, for it to cool quickly.

But honestly, it's going to be better at home

if you leave it to cool overnight.

And, it gives an opportunity for all those flavours to infuse

and become even more unctuously gorgeous than it really is.

Now in the meantime...

-Oui.

-We are going to go and play petanque.

-Boules.

-Steady.

Oh, man!

Miles away.

Come on. Come on, mate.

We've got one out. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!

Yes! Look at that. Absolutely "flantastic".

Oh, man, nice.

There are two ways you can approach eating this.

You can take a little piece like that.

Oh, this is nice.

Or...

..you can do it like this.

-SLURP!

-God that's revolting.

It's lovely.

The flavours are delicate.

You've got the Muscat coming through the lavender, the honey,

undercut with the orange zest. Simply put, this is lovely.

I would like it with some cream or creme fraiche.

But take your time over it. It seems Jean de Minervois is worth it.

Si, it's our last day in France.

More than that though dude, this is it the baguette baking day.

I cannot wait.

Yes. Today's the day. We find out how to make the perfect baguette.

Hey this is it! At last!

The secrets of the baguette unleashed.

We get to bake it, dude, we get to make it.

We get to make it, we get to bake it, and we get to eat it.

'We've arranged to meet artisan bakers,

'father and son combo Dominique and Francois Noez.'

Can we go and have a look and see what you do?

Come in. Perfect. Thank you.

The French take their food so seriously, that they

have laws about it for wine, cheese and even bread.

A real French baguette must be made with wheat flour, water,

salt and yeast, and that's it.

No preservatives or additives. It's the law.

As a result, it doesn't last well. So that's why the French bake it and buy it fresh every day.

DOMINIQUE SPEAKS FRENCH

-Wa-hey!

-Oh look at this.

It's so elastic.

Yeah, yeah.

It's the gluten.

It's interesting what we've ready in books many times.

The dough is ready when you pull it and it goes like a window.

But that's the first time I've really seen it properly.

Oui.

So once it's at this stage and it's kneaded,

-it rests for did you say 24 hours in the fridge?

-24 hours.

To see the next stage, we're now using the dough made by Dominique yesterday.

Once rested the dough is divided into small pieces. Each will become a single loaf.

-C'est bon?

-Tres bien.

Then we just need to shape the baguette.

'It seems easy, but the shaping is important.

'It helps create the crust we know and love.'

And you know this will be left for another 24 hours to

kind of rest again.

So there's kind of like two day's work in a baguette, a proper one.

But that's why it tastes so good. You can't rush perfection.

We are now baking the next batch, which was started two days ago.

Using a razor blade, each baguette is finely sliced on the top.

'That way while baking,

'the crust will form into the shape we know so well.'

The baguette is baked in a steam oven.

At home, just put a tray of water in your oven. It should do the trick.

The steam caramelises the starch on the surface of the baguette,

giving it a golden crust and a nutty flavour.

This baguette we make about 1,000 per day.

Wow! And French people like to eat and buy their bread fresh?

Yes. It's a tradition.

With over 27 million baguettes sold in France

every day, that's more than a tradition it's love.

'And after 25 minutes, at last we can taste it.'

CRACKLING

Ah! Can you hear that?

DOMINIQUE SPEAKS FRENCH

-Oui.

-Oui.

'My French is improving. I can understand Dominique.'

'Ah you've just read the subtitles.'

It's such a lovely colour and texture, isn't it?

Fantastic, mate. Absolutely fantastic.

Like good wine, it needs time for the fermentation to develop,

to develop the flavour.

And it's even got the flavours of caramel and nuts.

-Yeah, we have. That's indeed those flavours.

-Yes.

Thank you so much for introducing us to Carcassonne's daily bread.

And unravelling the mysteries, gentlemen, of the baguette.

-It's brilliant.

-C'est magnifique!

-Wahey!

Ha-hey!

Well, I do believe we've truly unravelled the secret of the baguette.

Now all we need to do, is to find something to eat with the baguette.

-And what's famous here mate?

-Cassoulet.

But not just any cassoulet.

We've been invited by the Academie du Cassoulet to take part in this evening's activities.

Mate, cassoulet and fresh baguettes,

the perfect combo for our last evening in France.

-Have you got it mate?

-Yeah.

-Ah!

-Bonjour.

-Bonjour monsieur.

-Bonjour.

Kingy, we're just in time.

Chef Jean Claude is about to unveil his masterpiece.

'I can smell the cassoulet. And what an aroma!'

-Oh!

-C'est magnifique.

That's one big pot of magnificence isn't it?

Oh it is. Oh smell that one mate that's fan...

CHEF SPEAKS FRENCH

-Oh it's sizzling.

-Oh it's singing.

-Yeah?

It's the singing of the cassoulet. Yes.

Let's hope it will taste as good as it sounds.

Well, everyone has gathered for the feast, so let's find out.

The Academie takes cassoulet very seriously,

even dressing up for the occasion.

HE SPEAKS FRENCH

APPLAUSE

Wow!

THEY SING IN FRENCH

'Mate, what are they singing about? I can't understand a word anymore.'

'Si, it's in old French.

'It's a song praising the wonder of the cassoulet.

'It's the ballad of the bean.'

-Kingy?

-Yeah?

-Good cassoulet needs good bread.

Well, let's break bread at the table, dude. Oh, what a lovely thing to do.

You take a piece of duck, put it on the bread.

'And mm! Perfection.'

I hope the locals like our bread too.

-Enough air.

-Yeah?

Fluffy. Very good.

Two days to make.

'Here, my language skills have returned no end.

'I can understand every word she says.'

'She's speaking in English, Si. Nil points.'

'Si, are they asking us to pay?'

'No dude, it's time to embrace the cassoulet.'

HE SPEAKS FRENCH

CHEERING

Oh merci beaucoup.

Now Simon.

HE SPEAKS FRENCH

'Kingy, I can't believe it. Not only did they feed us,

'but they're giving us a diploma for eating the food.'

'I know mate. I love France.'

Vive la Cassoulet!

THEY HUM

# It's the ballad of the bean and it makes you very happy!

# Da-dee! #

-What a journey.

-What a trip.

Over 500 miles across our director Francois's hood.

-Where we baked.

-And fought.

-And ate.

I've never had a sausage roll like this.

-With family.

-With friends.

Oh, that's amazing

'And we baked. And ate some of the best food in the world.' Truffle!

-'Home of the baguette.'

-C'est magnifique!

-Wa-hey!

'And a certain je ne sais quoi.'

It's that joie de vivre.

-It is.

-The joy of life.

-Fantastic.

It made me smile.

Vive la France.

Join us next time as expectations are high for the last leg

of our Bake-ation.

We're finally hitting Spain, land of tapas, sea food and witchcraft.

We'll be making pintxos, baking bread.

And even some tarts and pies.

Join us then as our Bake-ation reaches its grand finale.

If you've been inspired to master your brioche.

And your croissants. Go to...

and follow the links to the Open University.

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