To dunk or not to dunk? That is the question. In French we say “faire trempette” to take a little dip. The French are elegant, especially the ladies, but I’m not sure there’s an elegant way to dunk your croissant unless you’re dunking a petit biscuit. Yet, there’s nothing more delicious for breakfast than a buttery croissant dunked in a big bowl of coffee, tea or hot chocolate. The art of “ faire trempette” dans son café or the technique of “dunking” is to dunk lightly and not to make your baguette or croissant too soggy, but just enough. Even Marcel Proust in A la recherche du temps perdu, used a spoon to delicately dunk his Madeleines but it’s not quite the same.
“… je portai à mes lèvres une cuillerée du thé où j’avais laissé s’amollir un morceau de madeleine…”
To indulge in this French habit for starters, you’ll need a big French bowl for your Café au lait to dunk your favorite tartines, baguette, croissant, brioches, biscottes , Madeleine, or viennoiseries etc… There is no limit to what can be dunked. I love the traditional French bowls reminiscent of childhood, you know the personalized bowls made in Bretagne or “bol breton” with your name on it, and I also like this one. Of course, you can also use your oversized American coffee mug but you won’t look too French.
I have a confession to make… not only do I love to dunk my croissants or tartines beurrées in my coffee, I also like to slurp my café au lait, but that’s another topic! 😉
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