Author: joepastry
Of course…
If you really do want to decrease your total sugar intake you could go for a sweetener that really does have less sugar in it. Honey is one option, since it’s about 15% water. It’s also up to 50% fructose, which means you’re getting a lot more sweetness bang-for-the-buck than you get with something like […]
READ ONSugar Rant
Monday’s question about malt syrup touched a nerve in me. Not the question, the syrup. Or rather, some of the people who buy the syrup. They’re not all care-free, life-loving baker types like you and me. Some of them are hard-core health-junkie sweet haters. So depending on who you happen run into there in the […]
READ ONDo over…and over
Gelatin’s weak bonding properties have other implications, especially for error-prone dessert makers. Since heat is all it takes to separate gelatin molecules from one another, even after they’ve already bonded, you can repeat the melting and setting process over and over again. Which means that if your panna cotta is too thin (as mine probably […]
READ ONThe Nervous Dessert
Making panna cotta has reminded me once again what a truly remarkable substance gelatin is. It has the ability to turn virtually any liquid into a wiggly, trembling semi-solid. Something for which my 2-year-old daughter will be forever grateful. How can a mere protein powder be responsible for feats as spectacular as these? Because of […]
READ ONGood! Fake, but good!
Just took a moment out of a full day to get the caramel sauce made for the panna cotta (company ETA: 7:00 PM). It’s nice. Light…aromatic, it’ll be a perfect match for the cream. There’s just one thing: it isn’t actually a caramel sauce, it’s a syrup. It plays at being a caramel…it’s got the […]
READ ONGilding the Lilly
But then a little of the sweet stuff never really hurt anything. And anyway, I don’t want to get branded as some sort of pastry purist, a Quaker with a whisk. I’ve been known to drizzle any number of condiments on a panna cotta. Caramel is a classic match with dairy, followed closely by fresh […]
READ ONOh…
…and why is it called “malt” when it’s really barley? Because malt isn’t really a type of grain like the the beer adds seem to imply (we use nothing but the finest malt and amber hops…). It’s a process. “Malting” just means “sprouting”, like when you make your own bean sprouts or start the Chia […]
READ ONAnd the extra credit goes to…
One fun thing about Food Network recipes are the comments people make about them. Much of the time, a click on the “Reviews” button takes you to a bizarre universe of praise, cheap shots, rants, non-sequiturs, and slow-motion arguments that take years to resolve. Amusing as they are though, they’re almost never useful. Especially when […]
READ ONFor the Week of April 24, 2006
This week’s theme is foods with double consonants. In that spirit I have two Italian offerings for you. This week’s pastry project is a simple-but-elegant Italian stand-by known as Panna Cotta This week’s bread is the same as last week’s because well, I did absolutely nothing with it. Ciabatta I promise I’ll make more headway […]
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