Knowing a few words for bread and baked goods can help you understand what you see in a French-speaking bakery or on a menu. Some names, such as croissant and baguette, may already be familiar. Others give you clues about the type of bread, the ingredients, or the flavor.
You will see this vocabulary in a boulangerie, on a café menu, or around the breakfast table.
Bread
The general French word for bread is le pain. You will often see pain followed by another word or phrase that identifies the type:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| le pain | bread |
| une baguette | baguette |
| le pain de campagne | country-style bread |
| le pain complet | whole-wheat bread |
| le pain aux céréales | multigrain bread |
| un petit pain | bread roll |
Another useful word is une tartine. A tartine is bread served with something on it rather than a particular kind of bread. At breakfast, it might have butter or jam. On a café menu, a tartine can be an open-faced sandwich.
Croissants and other pastries
Viennoiseries are baked goods such as croissants, pains au chocolat, and brioches:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| un croissant | croissant |
| un pain au chocolat | chocolate-filled pastry |
| une brioche | brioche |
| un chausson aux pommes | apple turnover |
| un pain aux raisins | raisin pastry |
A pain au chocolat and a croissant can use similar dough, but they have different forms. A croissant has its characteristic curved shape, while a pain au chocolat is rectangular and contains chocolate inside.
The word croissant is also connected to the shape of a crescent. You can see the same word in un croissant de lune, "a crescent moon."
Cakes, tarts, and other baked goods
You will also encounter many names for cakes, tarts, and individual pastries:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| un gâteau | cake |
| une tarte | tart |
| une tarte aux pommes | apple tart |
| un éclair | éclair |
| un macaron | macaron |
| un mille-feuille | mille-feuille |
| un flan | custard tart / flan |
Words with au or aux can give you a useful clue about an ingredient or flavor. For example, une tarte aux pommes is an apple tart, while un éclair au chocolat is a chocolate éclair.
You will see the same pattern in many names for breads and pastries, including pain aux raisins and pain aux céréales. Recognizing the ingredient can help you understand an unfamiliar item even when you do not know the whole expression.
For more about pâtisserie and how it differs from boulangerie and viennoiserie, see Boulangerie, pâtisserie, and viennoiserie.
Describing bread and baked goods
Descriptions can tell you more about what something tastes like or how it is served. You may also recognize the same ingredient patterns used in the names of breads and pastries:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| frais / fraîche | fresh |
| chaud / chaude | warm / hot |
| sucré / sucrée | sweet |
| salé / salée | savory / salty |
| au chocolat | chocolate / with chocolate |
| aux pommes | apple / with apples |
| aux raisins | raisin / with raisins |
The adjective changes to agree with the noun. For example, you can have du pain frais but une brioche fraîche.
From learning to practice
When you encounter an unfamiliar bread or pastry, look for the parts of the name you already recognize. Words such as au chocolat, aux pommes, complet, and aux céréales can tell you about an ingredient, flavor, or type even when the complete name is new to you.