Avec une spatule, j’étale la pâte dans tout le moule.

Because je becomes j’ before a vowel sound or a silent h. This is called elision.

So:

• je étale → j’étale
• je aime → j’aime
• je habite → j’habite

It makes the sentence easier to pronounce and is required in standard French.

Étale comes from the verb étaler.

In this context, étaler means to spread out or to smooth out over a surface. With batter or dough, it often means spreading it evenly so it fills the pan.

So j’étale means I spread or I am spreading.

The phrase avec une spatule has been moved to the front of the sentence, so the comma marks that introductory phrase.

• Avec une spatule, j’étale la pâte...
• J’étale la pâte... avec une spatule.

Both are possible. The comma helps show a small pause and makes the structure clearer.

Yes, it can go somewhere else.

French often allows this kind of phrase to move around:

• Avec une spatule, j’étale la pâte dans tout le moule.
• J’étale la pâte dans tout le moule avec une spatule.

Putting avec une spatule first gives it a little more emphasis, as if saying using a spatula, I spread...

The version with it at the end is often a bit more neutral.

French usually uses an article where English might not.

So French says:

• la pâte
• le pain
• le beurre

Even when English might say dough, bread, or butter without the.

Here la pâte means the batter/dough already being talked about in the recipe or situation.

In cooking, pâte can mean several things depending on context:

• dough
• batter
• pastry
• sometimes paste

In this sentence, because you are spreading it into a moule, it most likely means cake batter or a similar mixture.

So the exact English word depends on the recipe.

Adding tout gives the idea of the whole pan or all over the pan.

Compare:

• dans le moule = in the pan
• dans tout le moule = throughout the whole pan, all over it, from edge to edge

So tout adds the idea that the batter is not just being put into the pan, but spread so it fills the entire thing.

Because tout has to agree with the noun.

Here the noun is moule, which is:

• masculine
• singular

So the correct form is tout le moule.

The full set is:

• tout le = the whole, masculine singular
• toute la = the whole, feminine singular
• tous les = all the, masculine plural or mixed plural
• toutes les = all the, feminine plural

Examples:

• tout le gâteau
• toute la pâte
• tous les moules
• toutes les cuillères

Because a moule is thought of as a container, and the batter is being spread inside it.

So dans is the natural choice:

• dans le moule = in the pan/tin

If you wanted to focus specifically on the surface, French might say something like:

• sur le fond du moule = on the bottom of the pan
• sur toute la surface = over the whole surface

But in this sentence, the idea is spreading the batter throughout the inside of the pan, so dans works best.

Here moule means a mold, cake pan, tin, or baking dish, depending on the recipe.

In cooking French, un moule is something you pour or press a mixture into so it takes a shape while baking or setting.

A funny detail: moule can also mean mussel. But in this sentence, because of la pâte and une spatule, it clearly means the baking container.

Yes, but it sounds more like someone describing what they are doing than a standard written recipe instruction.

J’étale is the first-person singular present: I spread / I am spreading.

This is very natural if someone is speaking while demonstrating:

• Avec une spatule, j’étale la pâte...

In written recipes, French more often uses:

• the imperative: Étalez la pâte...
• the infinitive: Étaler la pâte...
• sometimes on: On étale la pâte...

So this sentence sounds like live narration or an explanation.

Yes, at least in spelling.

The word is written pâte with a circumflex accent: â.

That accent helps distinguish it from other words, especially patte, which means paw or leg of an animal.

In modern pronunciation, many speakers pronounce pâte and patte very similarly, or even the same. But the spelling difference is still important, and in some accents there may still be a slight vowel difference.

So for a learner, the key point is:

• pâte = dough, batter, paste
• patte = animal leg/paw

Yes, that is possible, but it is a slightly different phrasing.

• dans tout le moule = throughout the whole pan
• partout dans le moule = everywhere in the pan

They are close in meaning. In a recipe, dans tout le moule sounds neat and natural. If you wanted to stress complete coverage even more, French could also say something like bien répartir la pâte dans tout le moule or sur toute la surface du moule, depending on the exact idea.