Original subtitles

♪♪

[ Bicycle dings ]

♪♪

-So most people come to Paris for the beauty.

The grand boulevards, the amazing architecture,

the wrought iron balconies,

some of the greatest museums in the world.

But me, I've come for the greatest art form of them all...

the art of patisserie.

I mean, look at this. It's perfection.

Like, how do they do this?

How does it even keep its shape?

Oh, my God, look at this.

That is some serious baking,

and I think I gotta get studying.

Well, it's heaven. I'm in heaven.

I'm Eva Longoria, and I'm a serious Francophile.

[ Speaks in French ]

Over the past 20 years, my career as an actor

has brought me to France time and again.

It's my home away from home.

But those trips were more about work than joie de vivre.

[ Laughs ]

Now I want something deeper.

This is going to be an adventure.

So I'm setting out to really experience France...

-This is Cabernet Sauvignon. -[ Gasps ] That's my favorite.

...to savor its world celebrated cuisine...

Wow.

...and explore the country's rich history.

And there's one culinary delight I'm obsessed with.

♪♪

The creme de la creme French pastry.

Guys, I'm basically French now.

[ Laughs ]

Paris is home to more award winning pastry chefs

than anywhere else in the world.

Your brain is on another level.

Here, the day revolves around patisserie.

Morning begins with the buttery flakes of a croissant.

Oh, my God.

Whoo.

At midday, a baguette tucked under the arm signals lunch.

[ Crunches softly ]

-Voila! -Voila.

And by afternoon, the ritual of La Goutte arrives

where breathtaking sweet treats...

[ Laughs ]

...are savored like miniature works of art.

Is that a real flower?

-Cake. -It's cake.

-And tasting these creations...

It hits you with the chocolate.

Cause it's like, pow!

...is pure seduction.

Hold on, hold on.

-We like? [ Chuckles ]

-And honestly, resistance is futile.

Whoa, that's a mic drop.

♪♪

♪♪

Paris style is less about trends

and more about timelessness...

clean lines and elegance.

It's je ne sais quoi comes more from what you leave out

than what you add in.

There is one classic design

that has long represented this Parisian style --

the artisanal French baguette.

There are hundreds of boulangeries in Paris,

so when you spot a line of locals outside of one,

you know these must be special.

But these aren't just special.

They've been crowned the best in Paris.

Excuse me. I'm just gonna cut the queue.

♪♪

Mickaël Reydellet has won Le Grand Prix de la baguette,

the ultimate honor for the art of bread making,

not once, but twice.

♪♪

♪♪

Wow.

[ Speaks in French ] criteria?

I didn't know that.

I thought baguettes were all sizes.

-But it's a size. -Yes.

-Okay, so there's a weight.

Okay.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, my God.

Oh, no. I could smell it all the way down the street.

-[ Crunches softly ] -Oh. [ Laughs ]

-Voila. -Voila.

Yeah, it's got to make that sound, everybody.

-It's gotta... -[ Crunches softly ]

There you go.

♪♪

-I'm so excited. You have no idea.

I'm so excited, Mickaël.

I'm gonna make a baguette in France with you.

-Okay, and a little flower.

[ Laughs ]

-Each wheat brings its own characteristic to the baguette.

Oh, it's really soft. [ Speaks in French ]

[ Laughs ]

Oh, wow.

He's like, "Watch out."

Mickaël already told me I wore the worst color possible

for this activity.

-[ Laughs ]

In 18th century Paris,

bread was the cornerstone of every meal,

a lifeline for working people.

So when prices soared, hunger turned to anger.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

From a loaf stolen in Desperation in Les Miserables

to the bread riots in the 1700s,

bread has played a key part in the story

of the French Revolution.

Ultimately leading to the downfall of the monarchy

and the king losing his head.

♪♪

♪♪

Oh, my God.

[ Laughs ]

-Yes. Perfect.

-Yay! I made one.

-It's yours. -This one's mine?

-Yes. -Oh, wait. Let me do it again.

I want to do it again.

So you're just sealing it?

You're just closing it.

Oh, my God, I could do this all day long.

Parisians take the quality of their baguette tradition

so seriously that it's now protected by law.

♪♪

♪♪

-So Mickaël and Florian are certainly not going to let

the quality slip on my baguette.

-What I didn't do -- -[ Laughs ]

♪♪

Oh. [ Speaks in French ]

-[ Laughs ]

-Each baguette is scored with a baker's signature.

And these are for today's special delivery.

♪♪

-You get to make baguettes for the president?

-Oui.

-That's a big honor.

Had I known that before, I would have made them better.

I didn't know we were going to the president's house.

When the baguettes emerge from the steam oven,

they look incredible, but the smell is divine.

And just when I think my day can't get any better...

Ah!

This is my dream car.

[ Laughs ]

[ Engine starts ]

Oh, my God.

♪♪

[ Horn honks ]

We're going to the official home

of every French president since 1848 --

the Elysée Palace.

Well, this is a unique experience.

Oui.

I feel properly attired for a palace.

Who needs designer handbags when you have

a perfectly baked baguette under your arm?

Is there a doorbell?

Oh, there is a doorbell.

-[ Laughs ]

♪♪

-After everything I've seen,

it's no surprise that this baguette

is still the favorite bread of the people

and the president alike.

Oh, my gosh. [ Gasps ]

Oh, my God.

The spirit of égalité lives on.

Oh, my God, it's still warm.

♪♪

♪♪

-This is not only a French pastry classic.

It's my favorite French pastry.

It's a [speaks in French] but this one is filled with rhubarb.

♪♪

Mmm.

That is Sweet and tart and tangy and delicious.

And the crazy thing is, because of the rhubarb,

this is only available about ten weeks of the entire year.

♪♪

I've hopped across the Seine to the left Bank of Paris,

or Rive Gauche, a haven for thinkers, dreamers,

and the beautifully unconventional.

So, of course, there's a street famous for its patisserie.

-Eva. -Nice to meet you.

-Florence Mazo Koenig,

a gastronomy expert and left Bank resident,

is going to be my guide to the treasures on the Rue de Bach.

♪♪

Why sweets, specifically of all other things?

Mmm.

♪♪

[ Laughs ]

Affectionately known as the Sweet Street.

In the 17th century,

quantities of sugar from France's new colonies

began arriving here via barge along the river Seine,

paving the way for Paris's

opulent new haute patisserie culture.

♪♪

That caramel.

-Yes. -And the nuts.

-And the cream.

-Oh my God, the cream is so good.

I could never live on this street.

This is all too tempting.

The street's association with decadence

was cemented with its cathedral of food...

the Grande Épicerie.

This is gourmand heaven.

♪♪

♪♪

Oh, wow.

♪♪

Florence has arranged for me to have a lesson in the kitchens.

A hidden Wonka world

where chefs bake bread and sculpt sugar delights

for the Parisians above.

-Wow. -This is really nice.

-Oh, my gosh, look at all this.

-Bonjour. -Bonjour.

Another place -- secret place.

-It must smell good in your neighborhood.

-Yes.

♪♪

-Oh, my God, I'm in heaven already.

-How are you? -Fine, and you?

-Nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you.

What are we doing? Croissants!

-Yes, we're gonna make croissants.

-Oh, my God. I -- I make croissants --

-Yeah? -At home.

-So you're gonna show me?

-I'm going to show you.

[ Laughs ]

♪♪

Yeah.

This is called laminated dough

as it's been folded with butter four times.

It's this technique that gives the croissant

its characteristic flakiness.

-Okay.

♪♪

-He's already fixing mine. [ Laughs ]

♪♪

What -- [ Laughs ]

Don't press on the middle. Press on the sides.

-Yeah.

-[ Laughs ]

Guys, I'm basically French now.

[ Laughs ]

Look, you can't even tell whose is whose.

He goes, "I can." [ Laughs ]

-Now -- no, [chuckles] you can't.

♪♪

-Okay.

-With the raisins. -Yeah.

-And is this very popular?

♪♪

Yeah.

-Savoir-faire is that great French phrase

that proudly boasts, we know how.

You show me first.

Oh, just like that.

Oh, this I can do.

He doesn't give me the important thing to do.

He doesn't give me the cream,

but he lets me sprinkle the raisins.

Why yellow raisins?

Oh, yeah. They're -- they're softer.

-Small, small, small.

-That's really small.

Ooh, we're getting somewhere. We're getting somewhere.

♪♪

-And you gotta work fast right before the dough gets warm?

-Yeah.

♪♪

-Oh, and you put them in these little things?

-Yeah.

-And after 40 minutes in the oven...

Oh, my gosh.

-Oh. -That looks beautiful.

Oh, look at this. Look at this, look at this.

Oh, my God. Like an escargot.

Oh, that's so much easier.

Oh, my God. Really good.

The pain aux raisins uses the same dough as the croissant,

but the addition of raisins and creme pâtissière

creates a totally different pastry.

-[ Speaks in French ]

-Oh, my God, that one is amazing.

-Look at that. -It's really nice.

-Wow.

So it's like, whoom.

You cannot beat a French croissant

in France by a French baker.

-Yeah.

-It has to be all of these things

for it to be a really good croissant.

-And a good coffee, too. -And a good coffee.

-So the world of pastry has long been dominated by men.

And today, I am going to meet the woman

who has broken that streak.

Nina Métayer has been honored

as one of the best chefs on the planet,

twice named Pastry chef of the Year by Gault & Millau,

and in 2023, she became the first woman

to be crowned World Pastry Chef.

She now leads an award-winning team of her own,

creating thousands of edible masterpieces each week,

shaping not just desserts

but the future of French pastry.

♪♪

-Bonjour. -Nice to meet you.

I want to hug you

and squeeze you over this counter.

Oh, my God.

Is that a real flower or is it a cake?

-A cake. [ Laughs ] -It's a cake?

Wow. I need to know how you do this.

Let's go because if I stay here, I'm eating this whole thing.

Most chefs have a kitchen,

but Nina has a laboratory, complete with a 3D printer.

This combination of craft and technology

take her famous floral cakes

like The Dahlia to another dimension.

How do you even begin something as beautiful

and complicated as The Dahlia?

That's just you sketching something out?

That's beautiful.

♪♪

The 3D printer turns the drawing into a model,

and from this, Nina casts a silicone mold.

-That's so high-tech. -[ Chuckles ]

-Like we haven't even gotten to the baking yet.

But as with all cooking obsessives,

it's still all about the flavor.

♪♪

-Yeah. -[ Laughs ]

-I feel like there can never be enough.

So this mold will be filled

with a rich vanilla cream mousse.

How hard was it as a woman to make it in the pastry world

that has always been so dominated by men?

♪♪

-So it's okay to work with them

but not tell them what to do.

-Yes. -[ Laughs ]

Look at you now with your 3D-molds.

-[ Laughs ] -Now I love it.

-Do you find it hard as a mother to balance it all?

♪♪

Oh, wow.

Prove them wrong.

-Yes. -Yeah.

And that it's possible to do both.

♪♪

Okay.

It's precise.

Once it is cooled and thickened,

Nina folds the vanilla mousse into the whipped cream

and pipes it into the mold.

How many times did it take you to perfect this cake?

♪♪

♪♪

Yeah.

♪♪

Yeah.

♪♪

-Well, you want to involve all the senses.

-Yes.

-These creations are designed to do just that.

Nina adds a layer of verbena cream

and a red berry compote to the vanilla mousse...

It's frozen, then you put it in the middle?

♪♪

-...and then tops it with a cookie layer.

♪♪

Then do we bake it, cook it, freeze it?

-Freeze it.

-The cake will be frozen

to bind each layer together

before it can be hand-finished.

Nina and her team make around 1500 cakes every day.

So pretty, like I don't want to bite it, but I will.

[ Laughs ]

This is how it comes out of the mold?

-Yes.

-In a city devoted to art and innovation,

Nina has redefined what a cake can be.

Okay.

Yet more Vanilla cream is piped onto each petal

to bring this flower to life.

Usually when I'm with a chef,

they cook something and I go, "I could do that."

-This is the first time I -- -You want to try?

-No, I really feel not qualified.

-Try it. -Oh, gosh.

God.

♪♪

Oh, that's better.

Okay, now I'm getting the hang of it.

Thank you.

I know.

I just want to eat this, though.

♪♪

Nina's team mounts the cake on a crunchy base...

-[ Speaks in French ] -Oh, wow.

-...and transforms the flour with a fine mist of color.

So this is sprayed with red chocolate?

-Yes.

♪♪

-Raspberries filled with compote are placed on top

and then crowned with tiny flowers.

All right, so can I taste it now?

-Yes.

-I would never even cut into this.

It's so beautiful. How are you going to do that?

-You do? -Yeah.

-You find pleasure in that? -Yeah.

-I get anxiety, but you go.

Oh, my gosh.

[ Gasps ]

Oh, you're right, there's a sound.

-Mhm. The sound.

-There's a sound to it. Oh, wait, wait.

Look inside.

Look at the inside.

Look, look, look, look, look, look, look.

Oh, my goodness.

Look at all of this.

This is the most beautiful slice of cake.

Mhm. Mmm!

-Wow. -[ Laughs ]

-Wow. It is like air. It's so fluffy.

And this little cake at the bottom and the crust

and all of that custard and whipped cream.

Wow.

That...

is incredible.

This is extraterrestrial.

Like your brain is on another level

to create something like this.

Only a true artist could recreate the perfection

of a flower that's savored for a moment,

but etched on the memory forever.

I'm gonna just take the whole cake home with me.

-So happy.

♪♪

-There are over a thousand pastry shops in Paris.

Some of the best in the world.

And this Parisian love affair with patisserie

is one of pure devotion, bordering on obsessive.

[ Indistinct chatter ]

Bonjour.

-Bonjour. So nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

Muriel Tallandier is a mover

and shaker in the Paris food scene

and won't mind me saying,

she's a little crazy about patisserie

and the chefs behind its evolution.

-Where are we? -We're at Stohrer.

It's the oldest bakery in Paris.

-Really?

-Yes. -How long has it been here?

-It's been here for 300 years.

-1730. -No.

-Founded by King Louis, the 15th's Pastry chef.

-Should we go in?

-Bonjour.

-Wow. This is beautiful.

I cannot believe it's endured 300 years.

What made this store so special in the 18th century?

-In those years, you know, people had to go

to the bakery to have bread,

to the pastry shop, to have pastry

and to have candies in another shop.

So everything was in different places.

So Nicolas Stohrer was the first

to blend everything in the same place.

-And now it's all together.

-It's all together in the same shop.

-So what is the thing to order here?

-You have to order the Baba au Rhum.

It was invented by Nicolas Stohrer.

It's a really true innovation.

-Yeah. -And it's here for 300 years.

-And they still make it. -It's the same recipe.

-Wow.

-Oui.

Only, you know, the brioche and the rum.

-Bread and alcohol.

-Why not? -In the morning.

[ Laughter ]

[ Both speak in French ]

Oh, it's rummy.

A lot of rum.

-Oh, but it's good. -Yes.

That's a good combo, brioche and rum.

-And that just, you know, an apricot jam on the top.

-Mm. It's so sweet.

-Mmm. -But why rum?

-Oh it's Caribbean rum.

It's linked to the French history with the colony

like Martinique and Guadeloupe.

-So all the rum came from

the French colonies in the Caribbean.

Must have been very exotic at the time.

-Look -- -Oh, my God.

-Look at you! You're already drunk.

-No, I'm not. -Pull yourself together.

-I know. -[ Laughs ]

In the 1600s, this area was

the center of the Paris pastry scene.

Thanks to the royal chefs at the Louvre Palace

and its proximity to the markets of Les Halles.

[ Bicycle dings ]

-So we're here.

It's where Les Halles was founded.

It was the original food market of all of Paris.

And in those times, all the merchants

were coming from everywhere in France,

in the heart of Paris, to bring --

-Their products. -All the products, yes.

-Chefs like Nicolas Stohrer

would make early morning pilgrimages here in search

of the fine ingredients that became

the hallmark of Parisian pastry.

As the Paris population grew in the 1960s,

the market was moved to the suburbs.

It used to be here?

-Yes, but there's still,

you know, the spirit of it.

-The market may have gone,

but some of the centuries-old food stores remain,

devoted to the art of patisserie.

Oh my God, it's beautiful.

I want to buy everything.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Both speak in French ]

Muriel is taking me to her own patisserie.

So you're not a pastry chef?

-I'm not at all pastry chef.

-No. -No, I'm a pastry devotee.

-Devotee? [ Laughs ]

-I'm completely made of pastry.

-This is it? -Yes, it's Fou De Patisserie.

-[ Laughs ] You are crazy about pastry.

Muriel's concept is simple.

She brings the best patisserie from the best chefs

all together under one roof...

[ Gasps ] Wow.

...an art gallery for all the senses.

-Oh, Bonjour. -Bonjour. [ Speaks in French ]

-She's Jolie. She's my partner.

-Nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you.

-This really is the all-stars of pastry.

You have a really nice balance of historic,

iconic pastries with some up and coming chefs.

-It's really the concept here.

We are curator, we want to make it accessible, you know?

-We'll curate me a plate, lady.

[ Laughter ]

-So the Paris-Brest of Maxime Frédéric,

best chef of the year.

-The Paris-Brest is a famous French hazelnut dessert.

-It was done in 1910,

in homage to a very famous bicycle race.

♪♪

-I get nervous cutting into these beautiful things.

I get so nervous. I don't know why.

It gives me anxiety to ruin something so beautiful.

-And you know, it's made with eggs and hazelnuts

from his farm in Normandy.

Maxime is very known for that, for sourcing the best product.

That's the only secret, you know?

-The secret, huh?

-And so let me introduce you,

this marvelous mango from Cédric Grolet.

-I was hoping you'd pick the mango.

-Cédric Grolet. Yes. He's massive.

No, he's known all over the world.

And he has so many followers,

like 30 millions on Instagram.

Because, you know, pastry today is really visual.

-Let me clean my spoon because I'm so excited

for the Cédric Grolet.

Oh, my God.

[ Gasps, chuckles ]

This one I wasn't afraid to break

because these are very exciting.

-Look at that filling. -The secret is inside, you know?

-It is like a surprise.

-You know, you have the cream, the mango cream, chocolate.

Everything is balancing the perfect fruit.

-That is amazing. Bravo, ladies.

You guys definitely are crazy for pastry.

[ Laughs ]

This concept is just an evolution

of the original 18th century store,

putting everything in one place for people to enjoy.

-Blending all different kind of pastry.

True. You're right. Yes, that's it.

♪♪

♪♪

-So legend has it that the macaron landed

in the French courts in the 16th century,

thanks to the Queen of France, Catherine de’ Medici.

But what amazes me is what happened here in Paris

when the macaron evolved to the two shell version.

It didn't just rise in popularity,

it became the superstar of French pastry.

♪♪

And on the Champs-Élysées, Paris's most famous boulevard,

stands Ladurée, where in the 1930s

the humble macaron was first transformed

into the double-decker gem called the macaron.

I'm meeting it's executive

pastry creation chef, Julien Alvarez.

Bonjour, Julien. -Hello, Eva.

-How are you?

-Welcome to Ladurée Paris.

-In 1900, Ernest Ladurée wife, Jeanne Souchard,

combined the fashionable Paris cafe with the patisserie

and the first French tea-room was born.

It revolutionized the lives of Parisian women,

finally giving them a place to socialize unchaperoned.

Wow.

Is this all for me?

-Yeah, especially. -[ Laughs ]

Especially for me.

You can keep Breakfast At Tiffany's.

I'll lunch at Ladurée.

Paris knows how to spoil a girl.

What's this one?

-Oh, this one is Marie Antoinette.

-Marie Antoinette? -Yeah.

It's one of the most iconic of Ladurée.

It's a blend of tea.

It's a black tea with roses,

with some citric, with pomelo.

Very unique.

-That is beautiful.

When did you first have a macaron?

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

How does that feel to have this job?

-Very happy.

-There are now over 200 flavors of these edible jewels

developed by a prestigious line of pastry chefs.

-Welcome in my world.

-[ Laughs ] This is your world. -In the kitchen, yeah.

I would like to create a special macaron for you.

-You mean like a new flavor?

That you've never made before?

-Like this, in this way? No, never.

-Ah!

Not only do I get to see

the artist at work,

but today I get to be his muse.

God, this is so intimidating. You have a thermometer out.

First, we make the shell.

-In Ladurée we make with Italian meringue.

-Italian meringue, known for its stability,

is made by adding hot sugar syrup to whipped egg whites.

-The Italian meringue is ready.

You can see the texture of the meringue.

-Wow.

That's what you want it to look like,

that has strong peaks.

-Yeah, we can see it's perfect.

-It's perfect. Of course it is.

Freshly ground almonds are mixed with icing sugar

and a splash of egg white...

So you want a paste. It's very smooth.

...before folding in the Italian meringue.

-You can see at the beginning it's a little bit matte.

-And now it's getting shinier.

♪♪

-I'll show you 1 or 2 and after --

-Oh, I'm gonna make them? -Yeah.

-Your own macaron.

-Okay.

-At the end, we want a shell of

three and four centimeters of diameter.

-Okay. [ Laughs ]

-You push, you pipe. -Yep.

-And after you cut.

-Looks easy, but getting each one identical and precise?

This is years of craftsmanship on display.

Oh, wow.

Do you just know this size by heart?

-I pipe so many macarons

-I can make without -- -Blindfolded.

-Yeah. -[ Laughs ]

-And after.

Just before to wait to put in the oven.

-So aggressive for something so delicate.

Oh, that's what makes it bigger.

-[ Laughs ] -S’il vous plaît, Madame.

-Okay.

♪♪

-Perfect. -Oh!

-The piping bag, a little bit more --

-Straight? -Straight, yeah.

-Told you, Julien, I'm coming for your job.

-Bravo. -Yeah!

-Good job.

-Okay, now do your pop, pop, pop.

-Do that thing. -Yeah.

-[ Laughs ]

Hard-baked sugar shells will be sandwiched together

with a filling inspired by my Mexican roots.

-We have dark chocolate,

but the main ingredient was the mix of Chile from Mexico.

-Ooh, that smells wonderful.

-And the special vanilla from Mexico also.

-And this vanilla is -- -Is the best.

-Is the best. -Yeah. For sure.

And the combination between the ingredients

are for me, very, very good.

I show you an example.

It's a little bit stronger for some people.

-Yeah. -Yeah.

-It has a kick. Mmm.

I mean sweet, spicy, and a little fiery?

If that's not me as a macaron, I don't know what is.

-When you push and you turn a little bit --

-Twist. -Yeah, you twist.

Yeah, it's perfect.

-I feel like it's just the glue

to hold the two sides together.

But the filling matters.

-Obviously the shell, the texture, it's very important.

-But the glue is -- -The glue.

-Is the balance, and it's the interest of the macaron.

-And it wouldn't be a modern macaron

without its own signature color.

You painted these?

Oh, my God, you painted them

the color of the Mexican flag.

♪♪

Mmm.

-It hits you with the chocolate. -Yeah?

-My God, because it's like -- it's like, pow!

-Do they have names? -No.

I need your help.

-Well, I think since you think it's spicy,

maybe it should be the Diablo.

[ Laughter ]

But at least that'll indicate to the clients...

this one's a little spicy.

-Yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you for your help.

-Thank you so much.

This experience was the treat.

The macaron embodies the art of living beautifully.

It's Paris in a bite.

♪♪

♪♪

-So Paris has a reputation for being hard to break into.

Fiercely protective of tradition.

But today, I'm meeting a visionary

who dared to open the first

Parisian artisanal donut shop.

-Hello. -Hello!

-Oh, my God. Do we hug?

Do we double kiss? What are we doing?

I don't know, we can do both. Americans in Paris.

-Pastry chef Amanda Bankert

is the brains behind Boneshaker Donuts.

Being an American chef in Paris is bold,

but to take on the city's

legendary pastry chefs with a donut...

now that's next-level courage.

-It was not the easiest route. [ Laughs ]

French people had an absolute preconception

that it was kind of like the worst of everything American.

-[ Laughs ] Yeah.

-We tried to get like, bank loans and stuff like that.

-Everything was refused. -They said no.

-They said donuts will never work in Paris --

-Not because of your talent and not because you're American.

-Because -- -Donut.

-I gotta say, I've been in Paris so long,

I'm actually craving a donut.

-Amazing.

♪♪

Yeah, so one of the things that we got kind of famous for

is doing sort of like French-American --

-Yeah. -Mash.

-With Le Cordon Bleu training

and a decade as a pastry chef,

Amanda had already conquered the city's food scene.

But then she tore up the rule book,

betting it all on bringing Paris a taste of her homeland.

What kind of dough is donut dough?

-Our recipe is based on a brioche dough because,

again, I wanted to bring that kind of French aspect in.

-Brioche is typically a sweet dough enriched

with egg and butter.

-I really love this idea of mixing traditional French pastry

with, like, classic American baking.

American Donuts often have nutmeg in them,

so I added a little bit of nutmeg to the brioche recipe.

-Once the donuts are cut out,

they are lowered into the hot fat.

-What do you fry them in? -Vegetable shortening.

-It actually makes them less greasy.

-Oh, yeah.

-When you fry in shortening, when it cools,

it kind of almost creates like a little layer.

-A little fat layer. -A little fat layer. [ Laughs ]

-Little fat layer never hurt anybody.

One minute it's dough and the next it's donuts.

With the smell already out the door, enticing customers.

-They're puffy. -Yes.

-And while they're hot, we have to roll them in sugar.

This is just regular run of the mill sugar.

That's actually the line of a well proved donut.

So when you bite into that, that means your donut

is going to be really, really airy.

-Yeah, we want that. -Yeah.

-And so now -- -Now we're going to fill it?

-We're gonna fill it.

-Today's donut is based on a famous French summer dessert,

cherry clafoutis, which is a cherry and vanilla flan.

-So the first thing that I have is a compote.

So it's made using Griotte cherries.

-So why the Griotte cherry? Is that a special cherry?

-Yeah, so they're in season now. -Yeah.

-And I like them because again they have that real tartness.

So with any dessert you don't want it to be too sweet.

-I'm like, hurry up and fill it.

My mouth is watering for this donut.

I want to bite into this so bad.

-We're almost there.

And then we're gonna go in with a vanilla pastry cream,

which is going to act as the flan aspect

of the cherry clafoutis.

Okay, so you just pop it in there.

-What?

And you serve them like this

with this filling flowing out of it?

-Yes, ma'am. -Okay, so now do we eat them?

-Now we eat them. -Here?

-I think upstairs. -Oh, fine.

-Yeah. [ Laughs ]

-I'll go upstairs.

Look at that.

♪♪

-Hold on, hold on.

-We like? [ Laughs ]

-The dough.

I mean, the filling is amazing,

but the star of this donut is the dough.

How do you get it to be so light and fluffy?

-So there is a secret. We are fully vegan.

-What? -Yeah.

No butter, no cream, no eggs.

-There's no cream in the cream?

-There's no cream in the cream.

[ Laughs ]

-What? I'm so confused.

Just when I think I understand

the secrets of Great patisserie,

Paris throws me a curveball.

That is crazy.

-A vegan donut shop in Paris.

Like the land of cream and butter.

Yeah. We're lucky. We have been, like,

very much embraced by the Paris pastry scene 100%.

So incredible.

-You're breaking a lot of rules here, lady.

♪♪

I have sampled the finest pastries this city has to offer.

And what I've discovered is that being a pastry chef is a craft.

And their creations are much more than indulgence.

They demand a moment of your time.

Because where bread was born from necessity,

pastry was born from imagination.

Proof that we've always hungered for something beyond survival,

for art, for beauty, and for wonder.

Especially if you have a sweet tooth.

♪♪