Eggs. The backbone of the kitchen. Young and old, toddler to Michelin, we’re all ovivorous beings. Perhaps you’ve just had some scrambled eggs for breakfast, or braving the stink of an egg mayo sandwich for lunch. Or maybe there’s just nothing in the fridge, but it’s OK, because there’s always omelet, or a quick quiche, …
The Plan Down at the restaurant, my dough of choice, is of course, sourdough. Everyday, I’ll take a portion of sourdough starter, and mix that in with my flour and water to make the pizza dough. Simple enough. Usually, I’ll use around 4% by weight of flour of starter. That is for every 10kg of …
Croissant, or Mille-Feuille? An innocent enough question. An idyllic one, when I was a child. Food’s power comes from fostering relationships. It comes from the fact that two people eating together, are sharing. Sharing an activity. Sharing clumsy mouthfuls of custard caked pastry. Sharing happiness. No surprises then that one of my (literal) sweetest memories …
Fianlly, the moment has come. I’ve mastered Amaretti, the ultimate coffee biscuit. But it didn’t come easy. From sugar choice to your perfect ‘almond’, this is the definitive, final chapter on how to make, and understand, perfect amaretti. Experiment 1: Comparing bases What makes a biscuit base? When it comes to choosing a …
The morning after the party. Strange place to start a recipe, true, but bear with me. Arms heavy (thankfully no spaghetti or vomit), air even heavier, I trudge blind into the kitchen. It’s clean, a testament to OCD’s power over alcohol. However, a functioning kitchen is only the first step of the leftover re-purposing marathon …
I just wanted a biscuit! Caramel biscuits, hazelnut shortbread, every one a disappointment. Maybe I’m to blame here. Maybe attaining the perfect coffee biscuit was just too lofty a goal. Or maybe, I just need something simpler, something, like Amaretti. The archetypal coffee biscuit. Conceived, according to legend, in village of Saranno, up in the …
For some reason, I’ve been playing with caramel for a fortnight. It’s part of living with the internet isn’t it, one minute your looking at how many ounces are in a gram, the next your marathonning behind-the-scenes interviews with the Breaking Bad cast. In this particular case, it was after dinner biscuits that started me …
The crispy part of the lasagne. The cause of many century of family feuding and so highly valued that it features as it’s own dish in one of the world’s greatest restaurants – Osteria Francescana. Today, we’ll be channeling our inner Massimo Bottura, attempting to create an all-crispy lasagne. Here, there’s no room for stodgy …
Our daily brioche Pain bénit, the blessed bread. For the last 400 years, France has been at war. No, not with Germans, and no, not even themselves, but with butter. Yes, butter. Brioche, that soft, pillow miracle, was originally a holly bread. Up until a 17th century clergyman got a hold of the butter that …
The gluten-free gospel Yes! The gluten-freevangelicals have won. Welcome to the first, and last long form post, on flour-less cake. Strap in, this is a long one. This post, was inspired by Angels. Or at least their food. Like a true gluten free cake, Angel Food Cake’s structure is not supported by wheat starch but …