Before you say anything, yes, this is a gluten free loaf. Not because I’m trying (and failing) to be trendy, or stirring up some controversy, but because everyone deserves a jam sandwich, every now and again. Of course, skepticism is understandable. Gluten free is, after all, ubiquitous these days. However it’s still somehow shrouded in mystery …
Our inspiration for today’s piece is a trip down the east coast of France, down to the idillic town, of La Rochelle, merrily making our way through French cities and townsteads. It killed us. By the time we reached our final destination, Bordeaux, we could barely explore the nearest supremarche, let alone the city center! There’s …
You caught me “Popularist! Popularist!” I hear you chant. But it’s hard not to adopt the properties of your environment. You are the sum of the people and places you most interact with, and for me, that’s food, and foodies. Especially, baked food, and bakers. I love it, love baking. From Bara Brith to Brown, cookies …
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 …
Got pasta? Make pesto. If you’ve got five minutes, a pestle and mortar in need of a little love, and a basil plant that’s taking over the kitchen window, then pesto’s your answer. There’s no better, or quicker meal, than some fresh pasta, smothered in even fresher pesto. With that, let’s dive in to the …
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 …
That is beautiful! – Massimo Bottura Kind words considering the mess in front of me…and the wasted hours behind me. Maybe I should explain what the original intention here was. As part of my recent obsession with thepastrydepartment.com, I was planning on trial running a pastry recipe for a lemon tart. Specifically, a recipe for making …
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 …
Speculoos! Or what should have been Speculoos. This is more of a recipe review than a how-to. It’s a test between using ground caramel or toasted sugar for infusing a biscuit with caramel goodness. Thanks to seriouseats for the original recipe and inspiration for testing: Click below for the full recipe and evaluation, with all …
A lesson in pickling and plumbing! Giardiniera is what we have on the menu today. An Italian relish of sorts, it’s traditionally made using a mix of vegetables that are then preserved in vinegar or oil. Having recently been inspired to try my hand at some fermentation experiments, I’ve put a slightly lactic spin on …