Mea Maxima Culpa

Last week’s posts on laminated doughs elicited a worldwide outcry from the mechanical leavening community, pointing out that there is more to mechanical leavening than just layered dough. It is very true, and my oversight, since soufflés, angel food cakes, meringues and other egg foam-based devices are all excellent examples of unaided mechanical leavening. I admit my bias there. It’s simply that layered doughs are so central to pastry making (yet so many people demure from attempting them for fear of being made fun of by a Frenchman) that I focused so heavily upon them. I therefore offer this apology to all those who have spent their lives furthering the mechanically-leavened baking arts (both of you).

Oh, and on that note there was a good article on meringues in the New York Times food section this week. Oh and, while you’re there there’s another one on the return of milk chocolate (I didn’t know it had gone anywhere). Those who enjoyed previous posts on the role that dairy and fat play in flavor (also last week) will find it especially interesting.