Including umami. The fifth taste may have been discovered by a Japanese food scientist 100 years ago, but that might as well have been last week as far as the Wall Street Journal is concerned. Oh what the heck, they published a great article about it yesterday. Not only does the author, Katy McLaughlin, do […]
READ ONLittle Josephine’s first gingerbread house, and it’s a beaut. The lines, the proportions…a 3-dimensional music of icing and skittles. I couldn’t have been a prouder Pastry papa on Saturday morning. She of course was much more interested in Santa Claus. Or should I say she was fascinated. For of course it was the first time […]
READ ONAfter fruitcake, I can’t think of anything more Christmas-y than gingerbread. I meant to make some last year, though as longtime readers of joepastry.com might remember, I was interrupted by Mrs. Pastry’s sudden and unwelcome trip to the hospital, where she remained for some six weeks waiting for the metaphorical bun she was carrying to […]
READ ONNow there are the makings of one fine fruitcake (actually two, I cut the recipe in half). You may notice there are cranberries in there. The reason for that is I couldn’t find any figs at Kroger yesterday afternoon. I could have gone somewhere else, but I’d already spent enough time in the supermarket. The […]
READ ONCompared to what? I suppose would be the counter-question. Is it dry compared to a tiramisu? Yes. Is it dry compared to a chocolate lava cake? Yes. What about a caramel sticky bun? A chocolate-covered bûche de Noël? A white chocolate-iced red velvet cake? Yes, yes and yes. However when considering the relative dryness of […]
READ ONSeems America’s favorite cookie, the Oreo, is extending its dominion to any quick service restaurant that can think of a way to put it on the menu. Kraft is even offering custom “grinds” of it to meet various incorporation needs. Heck I like Oreos as much as the next guy, though I wonder just how […]
READ ONOld news to bakers. However the information on how bacteria impact the release of aroma compounds is rather intereseting.
READ ONI’ve gotten a few emails from folks out there asking how in the world I’m going to be able to fill a brick oven of the size I just built. The answer to that is: it’s not nearly as big as you think. In fact the actual interior baking space isn’t a whole heck of […]
READ ONWell Long Tall Sally, she’s built for speed, she’s got everything that Uncle John needs — oh baby, havin’ me some fun tonight. Those lyrics were sung on pop radio in 1956, if you can believe it. Saw Uncle John with Long Tall Sally, he saw Aunt Mary comin’ so he ducked back in the […]
READ ONYou’ve probably noticed I haven’t baked much the last ten days or so. That’s because my time has been occupied by light contruction. The roof went on over the weekend, and while I still have to add shingles (I’m thinking slate) and paint the trim, I’ve finally, at long last, reached the point of operability. […]
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