Category: Bread

Making Melon Pan

For a first attempt at melon pan, I was pretty pleased with these. Little 4-year-old Joan Pastry certainly was. Judging by her level of enthusiasm I’ll be making these quite a bit in future. But a very interesting item melon pan is. It’s not terribly sweet, nor does it have an especially pronounced flavor. However the textures are extremely interesting, and that jibes with what I know of Japan. Food lovers there are every bit as excited by texture as they are by flavor, perhaps even more so. Begin your melon by preparing the cookie dough. Put the butter and sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle (beater):

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Melon Pan Recipe

Melon pan is an oddity (at least for most of us in the U.S.) in that it’s basically a sweet bun surrounded by a cookie crust. Despite what I’d initially heard about melon pan, the cookie dough actually isn’t flavored with melon, but rather vanilla and perhaps a little lemon zest. The first step is […]

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Making Arepas

Uh oh, this is the third hero shot in a row to include the Authenticity Towel. I’d better watch myself, or bits of pre-Colombian pottery and stone tools are going to start creeping into my pictures. A few months from now you won’t be able to tell me from Marths Stewart Living. Lord help me […]

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Making Corn Tortillas

For years I avoided making corn tortillas, for the simple reason that I’d never been able to shape them without getting huge cracks. Much later I learned an easy trick that helps the tortilla maker figure out whether the dough has enough water in it. It worked like a charm. Oh, the wasted years. Begin […]

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Making Flour Tortillas

It didn’t even occur to me until I was putting this post together that these might seem a little well-done to some of you. But I like deeply toasted tortillas. Store bought tortillas usually sport a few polite light-tan spots on them. I view those as the flatbread equivalent of par-baked bread loaves, meant to […]

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Corn Tortilla Recipe

I wish there was a way to somehow transmute humble corn meal into the masa harina that’s needed for corn tortillas, however there’s really no substitute. Corn masa (dough) comes in two forms: ready made dough which is sold in tubs and is only available in larger cities with established Mexican communities, or dried instant […]

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Flour Tortilla Recipe

Flour tortillas get a bad rap, widely thought of as “Americanized” tortillas, but they are a staple in many regions of Mexico. Yes they contain fat and yes they contain white flour, but then so do more than a few commercial yeast breads. Combined with some rice, beans and a few pieces of pan-fried plantain, […]

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Making Wheat Sandwich Bread

This bread works every bit as well as a free-form rustic loaf as it does in a loaf pan. If that’s the sort of thing you’re after, you can shape it as you wish, then follow the instructions under the How to Make Your Oven More Brick-Oven Like post under the techniques menu to the […]

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Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread Recipe

It’s said that if you’re going to steal, you might as well steal from the best. So I did. This is recipe is from Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads, a book that every serious or aspiring bread baker should own (along with all his other books). I’ll be making the 100% whole wheat version of […]

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How to Make Crackers

World, witness the way Americans prefer to consume cheese. I’m not sayin’ it’s right, I’m not sayin’ it’s wrong, it’s just the way we do it (and that’s before our main meal, not after). Crackers are a low-effort bit of savory bakery with a high payoff. (“Excellent crackers!” Thank you, you know I make them […]

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