"Ellie C" > wrote in message
...
> I've been trying some favorite baking recipes from my American cookbooks
> but I'm now living in France and they don't come out right. Cakes come out
> a bit heavy and leaden. I know that French flour is different from
> American flour, and I wonder if there's some way to figure out how much
> more (or less?) to use. I do have American baking powder, so it's not
> that.
>
> I think French sugar is coarser than what I'm used to as well. I find it
> takes a lot longer to cream butter and sugar if I use standard French
> sugar.
===========

Hmmmm... well, I'm not an expert nor do I play one on TV but my guess is
that the flour you are using is made with 'hard' wheat and what you're
needing (kneading! Ha!) is soft wheat. Unfortunately, I have no idea how or
where you would find what you.... WAIT a Minute... can you get "cake flour"?
That might fix your problems. Also, according to my B H & G New Cook Book -
you can substitute 1 cup Cake Flour with 1 cup of All-Purpose flour MINUS 2
Tablespoons. <shrug> Does that help?

Cyndi