It took quite a while to get my ultimate Chicago pizza crust just right. Yet spurred on by the wife’s desire for a taste of home, I kept after it week after week. The early results were disappointing. Just like most “deep dish” pizzas, the prototypes were too thick and too bready. My models wee […]
READ ONYou learn a lot about pizza growing up in Chicago, and not just about the thick stuff. Most people think that’s all the Windy City has to offer pizza-philes, though in fact you can find just about any kind of pizza under the sun there, from the cracker-thin and crispy to the deep, deep dish. […]
READ ONI’ve been promising for a while now to revisit pizza, primarily because several readers have expressed an interest in Neapolitan-style pizza, which is a style I’ve been working on quite a bit since I got the brick oven up and running three months ago. However I’m planning to start the week talking about a topic […]
READ ON…a reader recently alerted me to the existence of this product sold by King Arthur Flour: glazing sugar (http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/detail.jsp?id=1275). It’s powdered sugar, but without the cornstarch. Leave it to King Arthur to come up with such a simple, useful thing. Would that I had a bag last weekend for my rolled fondant. It would have […]
READ ON…rushing to get my rolled fondant cake finished and decorated before dinner guests arrived last week. In fact one of the main virtues of rolled fondant is that it acts like tupperware, preventing a cake from drying out for up to a week. Indeed this is another reason for its popularity among professional cake makers, […]
READ ONLike for instance improper food handling? Look for the warning signs.
READ ONIt always pays to make extra. If you’re making layers for a birthday cake, it’s just as easy to make four as it is two (provided you have the pans). The same thing goes for buttercream. If I’m going to the trouble, why not make a double batch? For it too freezes very nicely and […]
READ ONIt should be obvious from the photo series below what a boon frozen layers are to the cake builder. For indeed freezing is the only practical way to stack and shape tender buttercake layers which are so prone to breaking, tearing and crumbling at room temperature. Frozen layers, by comparison, can be turned on their […]
READ ONHere’s a skill that every aspiring baker needs to master. The good news is it isn’t difficult, especially if you work with pre-made and pre-frozen layers. Take the crumbles and tears out of the process and it becomes, well, a cake-walk (sorry). So then, armed with two frozen 9-inch layers, begin by trimming them to […]
READ ONSince a well-prepared cake is the literal foundation of a good rolled fondant icing (or any icing for that matter), it occurred to me that it would be a good idea to back up and demonstrate how to put together a basic layer cake. One of the most common misconceptions about rolled fondant is that […]
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