Now that’s what I call ‘old school’.
Spruce tip jelly, from who else? Carolyn Smith-Kizer at 18th C Cuisine.
READ ONAuthor: joepastry
The Almost Certainly True History of the Croissant
If you’ve looked over the instructions for this week’s recipe at all, you know that like puff pastry, croissant is a layered (also called laminated) dough. It consists of either 36 or 81 alternating layers of butter and dough, depending on the folding technique you employ. I know that sounds like a lot, but it […]
READ ONBread on the Edge
Hands down the weirdest, and riskiest, type of starter I’m aware of is that which is used to make salt rising bread. Not a yeast-bateria combo at all but a one-bug show featuring a food pathogen called clostridium perfringens, it’s made from potatoes fermented in milk (though even tree bark can be used to start […]
READ ONOh, opinionated me.
It was pointed out that I came out a little forcefully against fruit-based sourdough starters the other day. It was further pointed out that they’re a perfectly sound way of getting a yeast-bacteria tag team culture going. To that I have to say that I’ve never had success with that particular method, possibly because the […]
READ ONWhat’s a Starter?
A question came in regarding a post from yesterday: if the starter recipe is just flour and water, where does the yeast come from? The answer: from the air. Though there’s some laying dormant in the flour, too. And there’s a little in the water…oh, the stuff is everywhere. But the difference between the yeast […]
READ ONThe Entirely Bogus History of the Croissant
Croissants are one of those classic foods about which there’s so much misinformation it’s impossible to know how it really came into being. What we do know is that the first printed references to croissants come from French cookbooks dating to the 1850’s. Yet croissants as we know them today (yeasty, buttery, usually savory things) […]
READ ONDrowning in Doughnuts
Dunkin Donuts was always the 400 pound gorilla of the doughnut world, no matter what it looked like in the Krispy Kreme boom years (DD had well over ten times as many locations: 5,000 vs. 400). But triple the number of Dunkin’ Donuts shops by 2020? If they say so.
READ ONFor the Week of June 12th, 2006
The wife has been asking for chocolate croissants for months now, and I’ve continually put her off. Well, I can do so no longer. But it’s not easy to find a good online recipe for chocolate croissants to link to. My favorite croissant dough recipe is from the contemporary classic Baking with Julia. I did […]
READ ONThomas Keller’s Burger Barn
The most accomplished chef in America, chef/owner of the French Laundry, Bouchon, and Per Se is opening a burger joint? Good for him!
READ ONNot Ready for Prime Time
But not to worry, I’ll make the list next year (obviously, it’s highly selective). Some of the sites he included are really terrific, yet I couldn’t help but notice that not one of the blogs posts with the regularity of yours truly. (Ehem.)
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