Sometimes it’s good to go back to your roots. I started with more decorative breads some years ago and was asked to make a nice gift bread so I put together a cardamom braided bread. It uses my basic white…
Blog Archives
Molasses Spice Cookies
There’s a reason the rhyme says, “Cinnamon, spice, and all that’s nice.” For me there’s nothing that says autumn like the smell of warm spice cookies wafting from the oven. Which doesn’t explain why I’m baking these cookies now…
Break Bread With Family
This holiday season, take some time to sit down with family and friends to celebrate the simple act of breaking bread together. Communal dining may be one of our species’ most basic activities, and what better way to celebrate the…
At Least I Can Still Bake
It’s reassuring to know that, despite my faults and impatience, my inability to clean the house without grumbling, and scathing reviews of most drivers on the road (honestly, it’s just rain! Move!) I can still put together a trio of…
The Magical Smell of Bread
Something in the electrical static of my brain produced the smell of freshly-baked bread. This isn’t unusual, considering I bake three or four loaves of bread a week, but this was an olfactory memory of the yeasted white sandwich bread…
Add Some Fat
The left side of my jaw is still sore from a bread-related incident two weeks ago. Maybe it was because I was in a bad mood. Maybe it was because I chomped down on a piece of sourdough bread with…
Holey Holes
Sometime in the distant past I proclaimed I’d finally mastered the no-knead ciabatta recipe. Wrong! Whatever my stupid self in the past thought, I didn’t have it down. Each loaf of ciabatta came out like pita bread, with the air…
The Mad Kitchen Scientist
I couldn’t have been more than three years old. My brother, two years my senior, decided it would be a fantastic idea to get into all the ingredients in the pantry and I was the perfect man for the job. …
Baguettes: The Final Frontier
Really I’ve been putting this off for far too long. I have a workable and tasty sourdough recipe, an oven setup that works well, and all the tools to make a baguette. What’s been holding me back? Fear. A baguette…
Easter 2011
As you age you forget the simple joys of Easter: the Easter bunny, baskets of goodies, egg hunts, and frilly dresses. That last one I really miss, as a young lad I had many crinoline and taffeta Easter get-ups. No,…
