Author: joepastry

Most people call it “potica” (poh-TEET-sa) but “povitica” (poh-VAH-teet-sah) is the name I know the best. That’s the way my high school girlfriend’s mother pronounced it. It’s sort of a nut strudel baked in a loaf pan. This should be fun!

Reader Flip writes to say that his kringle had some large cracks down the middle. He also mentions that cracks are a recurring problem with his laminated pastries, especially croissants, and wonders what he might be doing wrong.

Flip, my guess is it’s an egg wash problem. Though you might not think it, egg wash is a very strong glue, at least once it’s heated. If you paint your wash too low on the pastry, trying to increase the amount of glossy real estate, there’s a good chance you’ll get some egg wash on the pan or parchment. That can be disastrous from a presentation perspective.

Reader Philip writes:

In the first picture [of the Making Kringle post] you seem to have put the sugar and salt on one side of the flour and the yeast on the other. Our British telly cooks tell us we must do it this way, as letting the salt come into contact with the yeast will kill the yeast. And yet once we switch the machine on the salt and the yeast are mixed together. Is this another kitchen myth?

Terrific question, Philip. Way to pick up on the details! It depends on the type of yeast. It’s true that concentrated sugar or salt will sap the moisture from live yeast and effectively kill it. Whether it has the same effect on dry, dormant yeast is open to question. Makers of instant yeast (the yeast I use almost exclusively) claim that you can pour their product on a heap of salt or sugar with no ill effects. That strikes me as

Reader Amy writes:

Joe — you said in your most recent post that chocolate goes grainy when you bake it, but that doesn’t seem to happen to chips in chocolate chip cookies. Maybe they’re an exception?

Nice, Amy! That’s correct to some extent. Different chocolates respond to heat differently. It all has to do with the amount of chocolate solids they contain. Chocolate chips are are loaded with non-chocolate, non-cocoa butter ingredients like sugar and powdered milk. As a result they don’t suffer as much from heat exposure. They lose their temper, as it were, and that’s pretty much it. Their shape and texture mostly hold.

Ever since the announcement a few days ago that the bones found under a parking lot in Leicester really are those of the hunchbacked king Richard III of England, Shakespeare has been much on my mind. Yes, now that Richard is in the news much is being made of the recent efforts to rehabilitate him as a nice guy and champion of the poor. However it’s beyond dispute that Richard had his two nephews (one of whom was twelve, and the future king) imprisoned in the Tower of London and later executed. This after he had been appointed their Lord Protector, following the death of his brother, King Edward IV. Not really the actions of good guy. So if you ask me, Shakespeare had it right.