Lidded Cake Pans?

Reader Evan asks: if we use lidded Pullman pans to create perfectly rectangular loaves of bread, why don’t we use lidded cake layer pans to make cake layers that don’t dome? That is an ingenious question, Evan! You may have a big future as a product designer. However in this case my guess is that you’d find a lid did you more harm than good. Why? Because the centers of rising cake layers are much more delicate than the tops of rising bread loaves. If you’ve ever tapped the top of a cake layer before it’s completely done you’ve probably noticed that the indentations you make with your fingers don’t spring back even after the layer is

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Replacing Granulated Sugar with Maple Sugar (or Syrup)

Reader Lee-Ann writes:

Tis Maple season up here in Canada and I have found a good source for Maple sugar, which I have heard is better for you. I love baking and have tried a couple recipes switching out the brown or white sugar for Maple sugar. What is your view on baking with Maple sugar and is it a one to one ratio with white sugar?

Hey Lee-Ann! I’m not sure about maple being better for you, however I can totally understand wanting to make the substitution from a flavor and convenience standpoint. When you say “sugar” I presume you mean “syrup” (we in the Midwestern U.S. often conflate those two words where maple is concerned). I know there is such a thing as granulated maple sugar

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Ode to a Trout

Can I jump in at this point from Florida to say that of all the God’s swimming creatures, trout are the fish I love the most? You can catch them in mountain streams, lakes, rivers and in the ocean. Everywhere you find them they’re delicious. We caught a couple speckled gulf trout just before lunch […]

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And with that…

I’m outta here for close to a week. I’m blowing this cyber popsicle stand and heading to the South Florida coast for several days of fishing and gratuitous fried shrimp consumption. I’ll bring you back some shells!

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Making Chocolate Babka

Imagine a mouthful buttery, fluffy brioche. Its cottony texture is interspersed with a creamy-decadent bittersweet chocolate swirl. Notes of cinnamon fly high overhead while bits of crunchy baked streusel dot the terrain. That’s what a big bite of chocolate babka tastes like, friends. I can’t sell it any harder than that.

There’s word on the street that babka takes a lot of time and effort to make. Which isn’t true. You can have the whole thing done in about four hours and have a cooled loaf waiting for you by tea time. Trust me, this isn’t hard. Start by assembling your ingredients. Next, grease a standard 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan and place a piece of parchment in it like so. Grease a little more.

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Salt vs. Salt

Reader Barbara points out that there is no salt post in my ingredients section and asks that I include one. I am vey happy to do that, though I’ll warn you it’ll be short. Why? Because I never use anything other than plain ol’ iodized table salt in my baking. There’s good reason for that: because all baking recipes call for standard table salt or its very near equivalent. Commercial table salts are virtually identical the world over. Those table salts, sea salts (both coarse and fine) and pickling salt all deliver the same amount of salinity by volume. All can be used interchangeably.

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What sort of babka are we making here?

That’s an excellent question, reader Margaret, for in fact there are several kinda of babkas out there. I’m making the Jewish version which originated in Eastern Europe and is almost certainly a relative of potica, another rolled bread baked in a loaf. There are at least two other varieties, however. One is a bundt-style version that’s more like a brioche cake, sometimes made with raisins and occasionally iced. Those babkas often look like this, and it’s said that the name “babka” — which literally means “grandmother” in Polish — is actually a reference to a grandmother’s skirts. That’s the story at anyway.

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Hello E.R.

I was just getting down to posting when the call came in from school that little 7-year-old Joan Pastry had broken her finger by slamming it in a door. So…off to the emergency room. Fortunately there was no break, more like a crack. A splint and some aspirin and she’s mostly back to normal. More […]

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Chocolate Babka Recipe

Most babka recipes, I’ve noticed, are not only complicated they make enough for 2-4 loaves. This one, thanks to he addition if instant yeast, is quite simple. It makes a single loaf but can be scaled up to your heart’s content (remember, baking recipes — especially yeast-based recipes — can be doubled, tripled, quadrupled, quintupled, whatever) with no ill effects).

For the Dough

9.5 ounces (1 3/4 cups) bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1.5 ounces (3 tablespoons) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces (1/2 cup) whole milk
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

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