Baking requires patience. There is a lot of downtime to clean the kitchen or watch the timer while waiting for your dough to rise or your crust to brown.
While Waiting For (En attendant que)
The conjunction en attendant que translates to "while waiting for" or "until (in the meantime)." Because the action you are waiting for is anticipated and hasn't actually happened yet, this conjunction always requires the subjunctive mood.
| Wash the bowl while waiting for the dough to rise under the dish towel. | Lave le bol en attendant que la pâte gonfle sous le torchon. |
| Let's do the dishes while waiting for the oven to be hot. | Faisons la vaisselle en attendant que le four soit chaud. |
Just like with other conjunctions, que contracts to qu' before a vowel or a pronoun like il or elle.
| I prepare the warm water while waiting for him to finish the kneading. | Je prépare l'eau tiède en attendant qu'il finisse le pétrissage. |
En attendant que vs. Pendant que
Be careful not to confuse en attendant que (while waiting for) with pendant que (while).
Use en attendant que + subjunctive when actively waiting for an anticipated outcome. Use pendant que + indicative when describing two actions happening at the same time.
| The timer makes no noise while the dough rises. | La minuterie ne fait aucun bruit pendant que la pâte gonfle. |
(Note: For regular -er verbs like *gonfler, the il/elle form is spelled exactly the same in both the indicative and the subjunctive!)*