Almost every puff pastry recipe I know calls for equal amounts of butter and flour (by weight). They only vary in the amount of salt or lemon juice they use, or in the case of this recipe, by the types of flour used. In my experience, you don’t need to worry about cutting down the […]
READ ONBeing new to the South (I actually think of Louisville as being only South-ish), I was naturally blindsided when a local friend asked if I’d ever heard of salt rising bread. Some sort of odd Appalachian delicacy, I assumed. On investigating it a bit I’m fascinated, since it’s a type of bread that’s leavened by […]
READ ONConsistent measurement is the key to consistently great baking. Sadly, the great error that nearly all baking recipes make is in listing ingredients, especially DRY ingredients, by volume instead of by weight. Baking is a precision sport. It therefore demands precision measurement. A scooped cup of all-purpose flour can vary anywhere from 3 to 6 […]
READ ONAll those home bakers seeking to produce a baguette equal to the one they had in Paris last summer may need to scale back their expectations a little. Not because Americans aren’t capable of making excellent baguettes (we are), but because there are a few factors of the baguette-making process that we in the New […]
READ ONI had a look at the poolish a little while ago and…yikes! Only nine hours had passed and already the thing was domed, bubbly and rarin’ to go! So I went ahead and mixed up the dough. It’s supposed to rise for two hours before being shaped, which means the loaves will be finished some […]
READ ONI changed the source for the puff pastry recipe I’m going to do this week. I was planning to get very democratic and go with this recipe from About.com that seemed serviceable. However, I’ve since visited King Arthur Flour’s web site and found a far superior one. So that means I’ll be doing two King […]
READ ONSo ya know…I made a little pizza last night. I know, I didn’t say a word about it, but come on, do I have to tell you every little thing that goes on between me and my oven?. Normally the wife and I order out, but since pizza really isn’t so great around here (we’re […]
READ ONI’ve actually been doing quite a bit of baguette baking the last week, but haven’t budged an inch on the Danish dough. Seeing as how it’s already Wednesday, I’m thinking I’ll pick that up next week…which will be just shy of too late for my $20 stash of butter. Much longer in the fridge and […]
READ ONWell, the upgrade went swimmingly I must say. Though I have to confess the whole look and feel thing didn’t go quite as well as planned. The site design skin I picked out, the red and black one with the bat wings and erupting volcano, failed to download. But we can’t always have everything we […]
READ ONIf you will please excuse me for a short while, I’m planning to implement some new software. Back in a week.
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