That is a question for the ages, for it seems that as long as humans have had access to both stale bread and milk, they’ve put the two together and baked them. Bread pudding predates the concept of sweet pudding as we know it, probably by millennia. Virtually all our modern dessert puddings are descendants […]
READ ONThough I’m not in the habit of giving plugs, the queen of gelatin desserts, Lourdes Reyes Rosas, will be coming to the States — to my old home town of Chicago — to teach some classes on gelatin dessert design. Lourdes Reyes’ skill with gelatin simply amazes me. If you haven’t seen her site you […]
READ ONBecause so many bread puddings can get mushy, I like Gaston Lenôtre’s version the best. Not only is it classic Lenôtre — simple and light yet elegant — it delivers a range of textures from crispy to tender to soft. You’ll need: 6-7 ounces sliced sandwich bread, crusts removed and cut into triangles about two […]
READ ONA simple bread pudding doesn’t have terribly many ingredients, which means, according to Joe’s Inverse Law of Ingredient Dynamics*, that the ingredients you use should be good ones. Good milk, fresh eggs and fresh, real vanilla beans are all desirable. However no single ingredient will effect the quality of your pudding like the bread. It […]
READ ONThough I’m technically onto another project, it’s hard to say no to more questions about butter. The topic is just that interesting. Reader Austin asks: You mentioned that winter butter has more saturated fat in it than summer butter. Why? Great question. The reason is simply because pasture grasses have more unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats […]
READ ONI confess that as with tiramisu, I’ve experienced repeated twinges of anxiety as I’ve watched bread pudding creep up the list. That’s for good reason, for just like tiramisu, bread pudding has been done to the point of absurdity over the years. Once monuments to simplicity, today you can find bread puddings built on everything […]
READ ONReader Nicole writes: You mention in several places the importance of relatively dry butter, and it got me thinking – could you make laminated dough with cooled browned butter, since the cooking process will drive off some water? How about something more solid at room temperature, like cocoa butter or coconut oil (the kind that […]
READ ONReader Diane offers a flurry of interesting questions: I was under the impression that salted butter has more water content than unsalted butter. I may be wrong. And it seems you wanted drier butter for Kouign Amann. So why not use unsalted butter in Kouign Amann? Also when buying salted butter I do not know […]
READ ONReader Mike writes: Growing up, we never kept butter in the fridge, we kept it in a cupboard, in a cool dark dry place. I mentioned this fact aloud when I lived in CA or NY or one of the places in between, and my roommates looked at me like I had said I wanted […]
READ ONSeveral questions have come in along those lines the last few days. “Dry butter” is a term that French pastry chefs frequently employ, usually in regard to the cultured butter they use for laminated pastry. I confess I don’t know what the technical definition of dry butter is in France (France being France, I’m sure […]
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