Bake anything with erin mcdowell in France
If you've ever baked from one of Erin Jeanne McDowell's recipes, you know the feeling. Somewhere between the first step and the last, you stop just following along and start actually understanding what's happening in the bowl. That's the whole idea behind her brand-new book, Bake Anything. And it's exactly what happens, in person, every time Erin joins us in France for a week-long baking retreat.
2027 will be our fourth season together. (Fourth! We've been doing this since 2024.) This time she's hosting three baking retreats in France with us: one in Sancerre, in the Loire Valley, in May, and two in Provence in October. So it felt like the right moment to tell you a little more about who Erin is, how she teaches, and why we keep asking her back.
How it all started
Julie found Erin the same way a lot of you probably did: online. She followed her, thought she was wonderful, and when Rêverie started bringing guest hosts into the kitchen, Erin was the very first person she thought of.
They met in person for the first time in France, at the château.
Since then, Erin has baked with us in Montadet at Château de Labusquière outside Toulouse. On the French Riviera at Château Saint Georges and in Pays Basque at the Chateau Lllardia. Suffice to say she’s our most popular Rêverie guest host.
Put on this earth to teach
If you ask Julie about Erin, this is the first thing she'll tell you: Erin was put on this earth to be a teacher.
The first time Erin taught a baking class with us in France, Julie walked in on it and found herself with tears in her eyes.
A lot of teachers can't quite put themselves back in the shoes of someone learning something for the first time. Erin can. She breaks everything down into small, digestible pieces, then puts those pieces back together, so by the time you're done you really understand every step of the process. Not just how. Why.
She's also, it has to be said, a lot of fun. She's engaging, she's quick, she's genuinely hilarious, and the whole room tends to fall a little bit in love with her. (How could you not?)
And if you only know Erin from her videos, here's something worth knowing: the person you see on screen is exactly the person who shows up in the kitchen. It's not an internet personality. It's just her personality. She's as generous in person as she is online, with her knowledge and with her spirit.
That matters more than it sounds like it would. Because you trust her as a person, you trust her as a teacher. The guard comes down. Nobody's worried about messing up in front of the instructor. You're in a safe space with her from the very first class.
The book: Bake Anything
Bake Anything: Essential Recipes and Techniques to Build On for Endless Possibilities came out on September 29, 2026, and it's basically Erin's teaching philosophy with a hardcover on it.
The book is built around 11 foundational recipes -- brioche, puff pastry, pudding, sugar cookies, and biscuits among them -- and then shows you everything you can do once you've got them down. Her vanilla sugar cookie can be iced, turned into sandwich cookies, used as the base of a fruit tart, or stacked into a birthday cookie cake. Her biscuits can top a cobbler, become the crust for a quiche, or turn into a sheet pan shortcake. Learn the foundation, and you really can bake anything.
It's the same thing she does in the kitchen with us: less "follow this recipe exactly," more "understand it well enough that you could riff on it forever." (She's also told Kansas City Magazine that, as far as she's concerned, the most important baking tool you own is your hands. We agree.)
Who is Erin Jeanne McDowell?
Erin grew up in rural Kansas and fell in love with baking at 14, in her mom's and grandma's kitchens. With a little sweet talking, she landed her first bakery job at 16, then went on to study Baking and Pastry Arts at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.
Her career started right there at the CIA, working with the school's publishing team to write and edit cookbooks, develop recipes, and style food photography. From there she built a career across food media as a food stylist (she won an IACP award for food styling and media in 2016), a recipe developer, and a writer, with work appearing in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bon Appétit, and more. She's taught baking on video for Food Network, Nickelodeon, and Netflix, and today she hosts Happy Baking on her own YouTube channel.
And then there are the books. Her first, The Fearless Baker (2017), was named one of the best baking books of the year by The New York Times. The Book on Pie (2020) is a New York Times bestseller. (Around here, she's also known as the Queen of the Sturdy Pie.) Savory Baking (2022) took her beyond sweets, into breakfast, dinner, and everything in between. Bake Anything is her fourth.
She even designed her own pie weights, Pie Beans, because of course she did. She's based in Kansas City these days, and by her own account, her oven is always on.
Erin McDowell's 2027 baking retreats in France
Each of Erin's 2027 baking retreats is a full week in France, built around three hands-on baking intensives -- bread, pastry, and pie -- shaped around whatever's ripest at the market that week, with plenty of time for questions along the way. If you've been saving up a question about bread, pastry, or pie, this is your week to finally ask it.
And around the baking, it's still a Rêverie week. That means some of the best food you'll eat all year, natural wine tastings, mornings at the open-air market, afternoons at local vineyards, our signature grill party, and some deeply unqualified karaoke. Everything is optional. Join in for all of it, or take an afternoon for yourself.
Baking retreat in Sancerre, Loire Valley -- May 8–14, 2027
Erin's first time with us in Sancerre! You'll land in Paris and spend your first night at the Hôtel Grand Amour. That evening is all yours (we'll send along our favorite restaurants and good streets for a wander). The next day, our vans carry you south to Château de Thauvenay, right in the middle of the Sancerre vineyards. Walk out the front gate and you're basically standing in the vines. There's a 25-meter heated saltwater pool, a wood-fired sauna, and a cave dansante we'll let you discover on your own. Erin and the team will be waiting with an apéro and a welcome dinner in the grand hall.
May in Sancerre means the season's first strawberries, a stroll through the town of Sancerre itself, and some of the best Sauvignon Blanc in France, poured with zero pretension.
From $6,500 USD
Baking retreats in Provence -- October 9–15 or October 17–23, 2027
Two weeks, same château, so pick whichever fits your calendar. You'll land in Marseille and spend your first night in Aix-en-Provence, then we'll collect you and bring you out to Château Martinay, at the foot of Mont Ventoux just outside Carpentras. A cypress-lined drive, a terrace made for lunches that run long, the kind of place that slows you down before anyone asks you to.
October in Provence means the last figs of the season, an afternoon in Châteauneuf-du-Pape with an olive mill tasting, and a very different market basket for Erin to bake from.
From $7,000 USD
Come bake with ERIN
If you've been baking along with Erin from your own kitchen, through her books or her videos, a baking retreat in France is your chance to do it right next to her. Same Erin but this time, in real life.
Not sure which week is right for you? Get in touch and we'll help you figure it out!
