Now that the Wild Oats sale is final, it seems Whole Foods is eager to get out and repair their image among their current (and future) customers. In the last few days they have announced that they won’t necessarily be absorbing all Wild Oats stores into the Whole Foods brand. Some will keep their identities, […]
READ ONI do hate a summer cold. I had high hopes of making a zucchini cobbler last night and blogging about it today, but all I seem to have the energy for is laying in bed. Ah well. Back after the holiday with more half-baked notions. – Joe
READ ONNo it’s not some odd, pastry-based form of birth control. It’s one of the simpler of the Big Five mixing methods, something every baker should know. Simply put, the Muffin Method is a technique whereby two mixes are created: a mix of wet ingredients (eggs, soft or liquid fat, milk and sugar) and a mix […]
READ ONIt’s a good question, since they don’t taste like much. Perhaps a better way to phrase the question is: is there any advantage to putting zucchini in a sweet bread other than, you know, getting rid of another couple zucchini? The biggest advantage is moisture. The flesh of the zucchini, as I alluded to yesterday, […]
READ ONI said I was making a bread out of zucchini, I didn’t say what kind of bread. These muffins I have to say are pretty wicked devices. After downing three of them in a row yesterday afternoon, our nanny declared she would need a support group to help her get the zucchini chocolate monkey off […]
READ ONOf course the fruit of the zucchini plant is by no means the only edible portion of it. There are the flowers, which in Italy you can find in pastas and soups. In Mexico it’s not unusual to see them stuffed with cheese or on quesadillas. The Greeks stuff theirs with ground meat or bulgur. […]
READ ONDespite much red tape as well as some truly bizarre behavior on the part of their CEO John Mackey, Whole Foods has finally acquired Wild Oats. What happens now? Well, in the past Whole Foods’ strategy has been to acquire their competitors, then simply close them down. It remains to be seen what they’ll do […]
READ ONCompared to the tomato, the zucchini is far less threatening as a sweet item. It’s vegetable-like flavor is far milder, though like the tomato it is also technically a fruit. It’s flavor gets milder still as the zucchini grows and its sugars become diluted with water. This is why true zucchini lovers pick theirs when […]
READ ONZucchini! At least I’m pretty sure these are zucchini. It said so on the tag at the State Fair, though I don’t recall seeing zucchini with such pronounced stripes before. Maybe someone out there can enlighten me. As you’ve probably guessed, this week will be a continuation of the when-life- gives-you-lemons baking and pastry strategy […]
READ ONThis I have to say wasn’t half bad for an on-the-spot improvisation. It’s a tad rough-looking, what Saveur magazine would called “rustic”, which is of course code for “sloppy”. But then that’s what makes me Joe Pastry instead of Józef Pastry (what a stuck-up twit that guy is…though I have to admit, he does great […]
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