Every time, and I mean every time, I rest bread dough overnight in the refrigerator, I’m put in mind of Claudine Pépin. That’s Jacques Pépin’s daughter for those of you who might not be familiar with her. She isn’t heard from much these days, but a few years ago it seemed as though her daddy […]
READ ON(It can’t be all that hard can it? I mean, they’re unicellular organisms.) One example of the way commercial yeast can be manipulated to brilliant effect is Peter Reinhart’s pain à l’ancienne. This is one of my go-to breads since it performs so well in a standard oven and is so darn easy to make […]
READ ONThe sale of sliced bread was banned by the United States Secretary of Agriculture on this day, January 18, 1943. The reason: World War II. At the time grain was considered an essential resource, critical to the war effort. Since sliced bread stales more quickly than unsliced bread, banning sliced bread helped curtail waste. Or […]
READ ONAre fortune cookies actually Japanese? Seems they might be. Oh, and your lucky numbers are 8, 12, 34, 67 and 93, by the way.
READ ONSo then, what is the precise difference between commercial yeast and a starter? If both came packaged, with microbial ingredients labels on the side, you might not think there was much at all, for both contain many different kinds of yeast and lactic acid bacteria. Yet as in all things relating to microbial leavening, the […]
READ ONMy Woodford pudding is standing up. The challenge now is to get some fruit back into it. And that’s not as easy as you might think, since fruit is pretty wet stuff. Mixed into a batter and baked, it releases its moisture, creating sogginess at best and undermining structure at worst. Which is why, at […]
READ ON…make for an odd intro to a feature on silicone bakeware. But then the traditional media is really hurting for readership these days. I myself like this kind of bakeware, especially for fussy little cakes and chocolates that can be difficult to unmold from metal forms. I’m not as big a fan when it comes […]
READ ONSo, the Woodford pudding is standing on its own. Now all I have to do is teach it to walk (I have a few ideas on that). So what did I do differently? The big change, as mentioned, was whole eggs instead of yolks. I also swapped a 1/2 cup of whole buttermilk for the […]
READ ONYes you can, since wine-making also produces cultures of yeast and other bacteria as a by-product. However it’s pretty musty, strong-tasting stuff and makes fairly foul bread. Beer barms can be pretty rank too, especially if they have a strong hop flavor, hence the reason why the invention of compressed yeast was greeted with such […]
READ ONSo how do you get from sourdoughs, starters and barms to packaged yeast…and what’s the difference anyway? Both good questions, the answers to which, pleasantly enough, start with beer. Brewing, as many of you already know, is an extremely ancient art. It dates back at least as far as the Egyptians (likely much further, though […]
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