Brioche is technically a French pastry (although I tend to use it in my repertoire as a rich yeast bread). Its high egg and butter content gives the pastry a flaky crust and tender crumb and although it is excellent when served plain, I also like to change the flavor of the dough with the seasons. For spring, I... Continue Reading →
Chocolate-Dried Cranberry Panettone
“Panettone, the Italian part-bread, part-cake monstrosity that is…inevitably on sale for a knock-down price right up until spring…tastes like Gandhi’s flip-flop after three months in the desert.” --Julie Bindel A most unfortunate description of the Italian Christmas bread that relegates it to the lowly ranks of American fruitcake and German stollen—stale, dry and with little flavor.... Continue Reading →
Parker House Rolls
Parker House rolls are a traditional American bread that was developed at Boston's Parker House Hotel (now the Omni Parker House) during the 1870s. As the hotel never bothered to trademark the recipe or the name, the roll has become the standard bearer for soft dinner rolls with international cooking tomes and American bakeries boasting their... Continue Reading →
Earl Grey-Orange Marmalade Tea Cake
I’m an avid coffee drinker and by extension, a lover of tea cakes. Tea cakes are simply flavored, barely sweetened, and dressed with a light glaze or unassuming sprinkle of powdered sugar. Depending on where you live, a tea cake can mean different things. In England, tea cakes are light yeasted breads with dried fruit... Continue Reading →
Fruit Kimchi (with Coconut Tapioca)
Fruit seasons can be remarkably short and I am always looking for techniques to preserve fruit to use during the off-seasons. Earlier this year, I wrote about a burgeoning obsession with harnessing the power of fermentation in desserts because under ideal conditions, most foods naturally ferment and the results are digestible and delicious. So much of... Continue Reading →
Flexi-Chocolate
Flexi-chocolate is also known as pliable ganache or pliable chocolate. (Pliable chocolate is not the same as modeling chocolate, a blend of chocolate and glucose syrup that is also referred to as plastic chocolate.) Texturally, this ganache feels like a creamy chocolate gel but melts readily in the mouth. Like many modern culinary techniques, pliable chocolate... Continue Reading →
Buttery. Salted. Caramel. 