Anyone ever wondered what exactly the term “Third Reich” stood for? It’s one of those things you hear all the time on the Hitler, er, History Channel and in movies, but it’s never explained. If there was a “third” reich, what was the “Second Reich”? And for that matter, the first? Well, I’m here on […]
READ ONWhat’s the cultural capital of the world? What place, more than any other is known for its art, its fashion, its intellectual output, its music and its food? I’d say if you were to scratch music off of that list, and put aside any national biases, most of us today would probably say Paris. And […]
READ ONIt’s astounding how much attention last week’s no-knead bread recipe has been getting. Even the venerable Rose Levy Berenbaum has gotten in on the act, which is, how do you say in your country, big time. Casting about the web I’ve found all sorts of posts and threads about no-knead bread adventures. Oddly enough, one […]
READ ONOnce again we have a happy coincidence on our hands. Today’s New York Times food section just so happens to have a lengthy article on baking and fat. In it the author (Melissa Clark) recounts her adventures using various animal fats to make sweet pie crusts. Sound disgusting? Actually it isn’t. In fact animal fat, […]
READ ONIt’s been a while since I’ve done a layered dough, and since layered dough is really the backbone technique of pastry making, I see no reason why we shouldn’t dive back in again. And while we’ve done quite a few breakfast breads over the relatively short life of this site, I don’t think we’ve ever […]
READ ONI think one of the things that discourages a lot of would-be pastry makers is the difficulty of getting new and lively presentations out of the same-old-same home baking forms. Let’s face it, there’s only so much you can do with pie plates, muffin tins and loaf pans. A great way to break up the […]
READ ONNever try to whip egg whites in a plastic bowl either. It’s probably the one thing tupperware isn’t good for. Fat is chemically attracted to plastic, as anyone who’s ever washed out a plastic measuring cup that’s been filled with oil can attest. It can stay greasy even after several washings. In fact plastic that’s […]
READ ONIt occurred to me last night that if there was ever a candidate for one of those faux-sourdough flavor enhancers, this bread is it. Being a bit if a purist in these matters (OK yeah I’ll say it: snob) I’ve frowned on such things in the past, but there are two types of flavor booster […]
READ ONAs promised, a late-day review of Mark Bittman’s greatest-thing-since-sliced- bread-except-that-I-hate-sliced-bread bread recipe. For what I put into this bread, I was very, very impressed. As you can see from the photos, it baked up almost too well. This is what I got baking it in my oblong 4-quart Le Creuset chicken roaster. Essentially a football: […]
READ ONRarely do food columnists get excited over a bread recipe, which makes it especially amusing that we find Mark Bittman positively hyperventilating over a new home baking technique in a front page article in this week’s New York Times food section. He writes: INNOVATIONS in bread baking are rare. In fact, the 6,000-year-old process hasn’t […]
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