The holiday season is upon us and I decided that I wanted to try making some fudge for gifts. When I researched the issue, I was intrigued by the simplicity and odd variety in the recipes – recipes that were usually paired with staunch warnings about how fiendishly difficult fudge is to make. As it … Read More →
In a previous post about how to think about bread, I discussed the importance of the hydration of bread dough relative to the structure of the final baked bread: “The amount (by weight) of liquid in bread dough, expressed as a percentage of the total flour weight, is called the “hydration” of the dough. The … Read More →
Warning – Warning – This Post Is Incredibly Long – Warning – Warning Some 25+ years ago, when I was living in Connecticut, I started baking bread for the first time. I was introduced to the Zen of bread by way of The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown. After working my way through … Read More →
The next stop on my Arkansas Black Apple Express was apple fritters. While there may be a ton of recipes that appear wildly different, most fritter recipes show a fundamental underlying similarity. In simplest terms, an apple fritter is a fried sweet batter with apples – but this one approach can yield dissimilar results. Some … Read More →
In the first post I wrote about brownies, I may have seemed dismissive of apple pie. Oh no. I simply argued the point that apple pie didn’t deserve its exalted place on the list of things “As American as…” Apple pie is great. But since crab apples are the only variety of apple native to … Read More →
Better known as a “device.” As much time as I spend playing with very sharp knives, I have never cut myself with a knife from my arsenal. My hands have chosen another arch enemy: the vegetable peeler – a device designed to take skin off in strips instead of slices. I can’t blame the vegetable … Read More →
As Thanksgiving approaches, many cooks will be reaching for a can with miraculous custard-making powers: evaporated (i.e. condensed) milk. Yes, technically, pumpkin pie is a sweet custard – pumpkin and sugar cooked with the thickening custard duo of egg and milk or cream. In most cases, the milk is evaporated milk. Condensed milk. A lot … Read More →
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