The corn bread recipe I posted this morning reveals me as a true Northerner. Why? Because there’s sugar in it. No self-respecteding Southerner would ever admit to putting sugar in his corn bread, something I’m going to have to work on if I’m to continue living here (the admitting I mean). What can I say, […]
READ ONYes, alright, I’ll give you permission to go and read Peter Reinhart’s blog if you want to. He’s a better baker than me, I’ll admit it. He’s got lots of awards, five cookbooks to his name, and a teaching post at Johnson & Wales University. I can certainly see why you’d be attracted to him. […]
READ ONI’m very excited to be able to put up the corn bread recipe below, as it’s a near exact copy of my all-time favorite corn bread by my baking hero, Peter Reinhart. In fact this recipe is by the man himself, likely a prototype that appeared in either Gourmet or Bon Appetit magazine just before […]
READ ONAll this talk of leavening and early American quickbreads put me in the mood for some good ol’ Southern Corn Bread Some of you may also have noticed that I didn’t talk much about cookies last week. The explanation of course is that I didn’t make them. So let’s try that again, shall we? Hermit […]
READ ONThe latest version of the Chicago cornmeal-crust pizza was a success. It baked up well, browned nicely, and the sauce was an excellent match. Yet and still, the missus declared it not quite Gino’s. Too bready and a little too much corn meal. So I’m cutting the leavening to a mere 1/4 teaspoon, cutting the […]
READ ONI’ve spent much of the week writing on the what of chemical leavening…the various types, the chemistry involved, the way the chemicals were produced. I’ve expended comparatively little energy discussing how they were used. There’s actually not as much information on this subject as you might think, since the specific leavening innovations are fairly well […]
READ ONI must be getting punchy. I just got this and thought it was funny: How Smart is your Right Foot? 1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles with it. 2. Now, while doing this, draw the number “6” in the air with your right pointer […]
READ ONI made biscuits last night and I have to confess my bag of White Lily is old. The biscuits rose, but not all that well. Strangely, the wife declared that they were the best biscuits I’d ever made. What a shock after all the trouble I’ve gone to to make fancy, ultra-light biscuits these last […]
READ ONDon’t know what it’s like where you are, but in Louisville we’ve got one wonderful warm, rainy, daffodil-poppin’ morning on our hands. Hope it’s as nice where you are.
READ ONFor you gardeners out there, the potash I was just talking about is indeed the same potash that you use in the garden. I forgot to mention that one of potash’s other critical uses is as a fertilizer. Being so strongly alkaline, it’s ideal for neutralizing acid soils. Jeez, I am turning into Martha Stewart.
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