Well it’s been a relaxing ten days, minor disciplinary episodes aside, but that’s just living with a three-year-old. Now it’s back to work! There’s another Pastry headed to day care in a week and I need to get earning. I also need to get baking. But before I do, I feel the need to address […]
READ ONWell, I’m off. I’ll be back in ten days, hopefully less tired than when I left…but you know how vacations with little children can be. Until my return, keep practicing those spatula techniques: on icing, off icing. On icing, off icing. See you soon!
READ ONThe wife has tasked me with another Chicago-style pizza project to help get her through our Kentucky exile. This time it’s a pan-style crust. Deep dish, but not a corn meal-based crust like before. This style is thicker, breadier, and heartier than an Uno or Gino’s East crust. Yet it’s not actually bread, something that […]
READ ONWhen buying replacement cartridges for your seltzer bottle or siphon, be aware that there are two different types of identically-sized gas cartridges that you can buy at gourmet or party supply shops. One is specifically made for seltzer bottles and contains CO2. The other is made for cream whippers and contains N2O, a.k.a. dinitrogen oxide, […]
READ ONWhere to acquire the makings of a do-it-yourself soda fountain? Seltzer bottles (soda siphons) can be had at most Target stores, or on the Target web site. Places like Williams Sonoma have them, but you can pretty much guess what the main drawback is there: price. At a discount store, you can expect to pay […]
READ ONI’ve always thought that one of the great missed opportunities of the high-end dessert scene is the classic soda fountain. From where I sit, sodas, phosphates, malts and the like are wide open territory to an enterprising restaurant pastry chef. I can imagine a three-part dessert in some chic eatery composed of a key lime […]
READ ONA couple leftover brownies, some unused ice cream mix, a little peanut butter…sounds like peanut butter brownie ice cream to me. For all those who are having trouble with icy, crystal-filled ice cream this summer, try peanut butter. Commercial peanut butter has all kinds of emulsifiers in it to keep it from separating, and those […]
READ ONWhat do you get when you mandate that the government purchase seven and a half billion gallons of ethanol? Really, really expensive ice cream. Such are the strange and unexpected wages of micro-managing energy policy. Maybe leave it to the market next time, Saxby.
READ ONBefore I change topics today I thought I’d try to bring a little closure to some of the broader points I’ve been making about home baking over the last week. One of the things I like about a blog so much is that like most other types of long-form writing, it’s as revealing to the […]
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