Author: joepastry

Joe TV

I hope other history buff/bakers out there are as impressed as I am with the new HBO series John Adams. The first two episodes began airing this week, with more to follow. I confess I’ve lingered over both the last few evenings, savoring every last historical morsel. It’s well past time someone gave Mr. Adams […]

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Applying Ze Poured Fondant

So when last we left off I’d made a batch of poured fondant and left it sitting in a plastic bag on the countertop. Today I’d like to show you how you use that block of sugar putty on an actual cake. Of course most of the time bakers don’t use poured fondant on large […]

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So where was I now?

Oh yes, sugar and fondant. When I left I was about to answer a question that had come in, specifically: if sugar turns opaque as it cools, then how are clear hard candies made? Ah yes, very interesting question. For the answer it helps to look at a chart that shows the various phases that […]

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Irish-ish Soda Bread

It’d be fun to hold a yearly contest for the least Irish version of Irish soda bread. For trust me ladies and germs, nobody — not even the Irish — want to eat the real thing. Taste it and you’ll understand why. Real Irish soda bread is dry, hard, mealy and packs a nasty alkaline […]

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Good luck with that.

All you non-Catholics out there may not be aware of it, but St. Patrick’s Day has been canceled for this year. Yes you heard right. Easter being so early, St. Patrick’s Day falls on the first day of Holy Week, so the Pope made the executive decision to ban the observance of St. Patrick’s day […]

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Guff from the Corn Belt

I had a feeling I wouldn’t get off scott-free from last week’s post on ethanol, and sure enough when I went home to Chicago last week, I didn’t. Wondering exactly what business a baker has criticizing the ethanol lobby, select ag interests (i.e. family and friends) invited me to put a sock in it. Flour […]

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First it was dairy…

…and now, of course, it’s flour. No surprise there since farmers like all other business people are driven by profit. If corn is where the money is and they have the option to grow it, then they’ll grow it. That of course leaves less land on which to grow other things, like wheat, which means […]

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Dork, Interrupted…again

A series of minor calamities kept me from posting much today. I didn’t even get to bake off the cake layer that I was planning to glaze. It’s the way things go when you’re preparing for spring break, which for U of L begins tomorrow. The Pastry clan is/was supposed to be getting out of […]

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Yes MSG?

Interesting to see the New York Times attempting to quell a little food hysteria instead of their normal practice of fanning its flames. This article is a surprisingly balanced look at an additive that’s been causing fits of (media induced) apoplexy for 40 years.

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