Its other names are “family”, “occident” or “plain” flour. It is by far the most common type of flour sold in stores, but at the same time, the hardest to define. Why is that? Because all-purpose flour is a blend of hard and soft wheats that almost every miller combines in different proportions. Part of […]
READ ONCobbler has come to be synonymous with a too-sweet top crust over a too-sweet filling. The result is, er…you know. This recipe sweetens both of the key elements only slightly, so as to let the taste of the fruit shine through. For the biscuit topping: 6 ounces (a generous cup) all-purpose flour 1 1/2 ounces […]
READ ONBleaching gets a very bad rap in many baking circles (I’m thinking specifically of artisan bread bakers), though it can be a very important thing when it comes to pastry making. Why? Is it so important that our flour be perfectly, pristinely white? And isn’t that racist? The truth of the matter is that bleaching […]
READ ONThe ground seed of wheat grass. How complicated can it be? In fact flour is a much more complicated subject than most people think. Far from being a simple white powder we buy in five pound bags, flours come in a bewildering variety of types and styles. High gluten and low gluten, high extraction and […]
READ ONI refer you to Mexico Bob’s masterful post on the subject, here.
READ ONThis week I’m going to deliver on a promise that I’ve made to several readers over the past six months or so, and put up some posts — some “crib notes”, shall we say — on different types of flour. The content will be used to make up a new category under Joe’s Baking Basics […]
READ ONLast week’s posts really brought the crackling lovers out of the woodwork! I received all sorts of great stories and literally scores of recipes. Here’s one from reader Brigitta: Your blog post brought up old memories for me! My mother was Hungarian, and she would occasionally render her own lard. She did it on the […]
READ ONChef James L. from Tennessee points out that true Southern Cracklin’ corn bread is made from white corn bread, ideally White Lily if you can find it. Yellow will work too, of course, but for that extra touch of authenticity, well, you know what to do. Like all truly great things to eat, this is […]
READ ONWhat’s a great use for cracklings? Brothers and sisters, here’s one of the best: cracklin’ corn bread. Talk about a definitively southern bread, this one has it all: lard, corn, buttermilk. Pleasantly coarse and rustic, you’d have found southerners eating something almost exactly like this 150 years ago. To give it that extra country flare, […]
READ ONYou can start by piling some onto a piece of toast, adding salt to taste, maybe a drop or two of tabasco sauce, and consuming them greedily with beer. However it is possible to get a bit more creative…
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