Frozen Potential Originally posted on September 8th, 2021 In Discworld, Nanny Ogg would say “They make it with banananananas.” She knew how to start saying the fruit’s name but didn’t quite know how to stop. I’ve written down my basic recipe for banana bread long ago but was asked in a forum to be a little more … Read More →
Zeus Has Them Delivered To Mount Olympus A flavour combination fit for Greek Gods. Inspired decades ago by a pizza joint named Spiro’s that used to be a hundred paces out my front door. Been making them ever since. Tomatoes Oregano Feta Cheese Roast Chicken Artichoke Hearts Black Olives Sundried Tomatoes Mozzarella Basil (or pesto) Enjoy with a Greek salad on the … Read More →
Don't rush the crust Pandemic supply line constraints have forced a change in my brand of rye flour which led to a rework of ratios and the addition of a little malt. You might need to adjust a bit too. Rye is tricksie that way. Find the newest formulas in the just-revised original post here. More Spork Here
Begging To Be Filled Chinese buns in their many forms, known collectively as “bao”, are a delight. Baked golden brown, steamed baozi, filled with crispy charred pork belly, stuffed with sticky sweet bar-b-que (char siu bao), made springy with alkali water, pure white mantou, covered in toasted sesame, or a crispy sweet ‘pineapple cookie’ atop bolo bao… there are … Read More →
Now With More Cheese Than Necessary Here’s another update to a post from Christmas Past that I finally got around to translating into video. My original recipe here gets a boost from rosemary and far more cheese than you should eat in one bun but it’s Christmas and indulgence is encouraged. You can of course exercise some restraint and make a … Read More →
Don't Stuff This Anywhere I’m only six years late getting round to putting this on video but it’s still the same delicious holiday “dressing” – the more enlighted version of “stuffing” – I’ve made for decades and talked about in my original post on the topic. Easy. Cheap. Sagely Tasty. Go make some for your next feast but try … Read More →
Personal size cornbread is gone before it has time to go stale Cornbread is easy anytime with only a few pantry staples. From idea to eating in under an hour – half that with a little practice. Only problem is that it doesn’t stay fresh very long and is best eaten right out of the oven or most certainly before the day is over. If you can’t … Read More →
Frozen Potential In Discworld, Nanny Ogg would say “They make it with banananananas.” She knew how to start saying the fruit’s name but didn’t quite know how to stop. I’ve written down my basic recipe for banana bread long ago but was asked in a forum to be a little more precise with the directions for fledgling … Read More →
Just enough for a day or two As requested in some of the food forums I haunt, here are the ratios I use for my “little bloomer” loaf. If you’re a family of four (or more) stick with full-sized versions but for one hungry or two normal humans this is just about the right amount to get through in the cruicial few … Read More →
Time Well Spent So it’s Thanksgiving today in Canada. Virus woes have put a crimp in dinner gathering plans the world over so for the first time in decades, I’m not cooking the usual fare today. I’m sure I’ll correct that omission when the American version of the holiday rolls around in a few weeks. In the meantime, … Read More →
Brownies Without The Brown I’ve never been a huge fan of chocolate. Sure I’ll take the odd piece from grand Swiss or French choclatiers and love a cocoa-laced red velvet cake at holiday but other flavours are more apt to tempt me. Vanilla for example. Or butterscotch. When the mood strikes for something like a brownie in texture and … Read More →
Today's Loaf. It really is automatic around my place nowadays. Ever skeptical, the internet needed a bit of convincing when it came to my claim of six-minute daily bread. So I timed it. See the results below and find the price analysis and recipe in the post right before this one. So there commercial bakeries and bread doubters of the world. But honestly, if you … Read More →
Thirty Five Cents Every Other Day A forum of internet bakers I occasionally haunt recently went on a “daily bread” tangent. Specifically how much does it really cost to make your own ‘everyday’ bread? The original comment gave a fair estimate of US$0.25 but then a litany of know-it-all responses began to chime in with haphazard estimates for everything from the … Read More →
Rye Needs Extra Water Which Makes An Interesting Crumb I’ve been wanting to add to my “everyday loaf” repertoire where an oatmeal & molasses version has reigned supreme for quite a while. To measure up to that flavour I’ve had to resort to another grain in the mill, namely rye. Bread from rye flour can be tricky even when mixed in small proportion with … Read More →
Bread Twists By Hand Fair warning: Jump past my rant about television to the bread recipe & video if that’s all you want to see. I’m not a fan of food ‘competition’ shows. In fact, I find them somewhat distasteful and disturbing on many levels. Food and cooking are basic human needs that everyone should enjoy regardless of skill … Read More →
Don't Ignore The Bun Wrapped Around Your Burger Sometimes you just need a sandwich. For me it’s usually in the middle of the night during hot summer months and yesterday was a prime example. I had all the pieces of the puzzle just waiting in the fridge – my horseradish coleslaw, homemade mayo, habanero pepper jelly, and the choice bit of meat that … Read More →
Don't be afraid of the deep, dark spice Brownies are as much about texture as they are flavour. Whenever I’m trying to dance those two attributes around each other in a recipe I inevitably think of the buzz that chiles can add to the tongue which leads me to experimentation. Where better to try than inside a chocolate sponge laced with other exotics? … Read More →
Same Dough, Three (or more) Flavours Like my fast scones, I make a quick dozen cookies for teatime often. Baked naked or with only a dusting of sugar I call them plain old ‘sugar cookies’… or ‘biscuits’ if your local terminology prefers. When the cinnamon rolling mood strikes, they pass for what North Americans would call ‘snickerdoodles’. If I’m really feeling … Read More →
Foolproof Everyday As regular readers will know, I’ve sworn off most all bread from the local factory bakers. Try as they might, they can’t afford to invest the time that makes bread taste great. My everyday oat bread has gotten a lot of attention lately it seems and so I thought I best share my even quicker … Read More →
Faster Than Waiting for the Banana Boat to Dock Technique is everything in baking. An abundance of cheap bananas had me making my stock standard banana bread a few different ways this week in an attempt to get the lightest version possible. Not an easy task sometimes thanks to a few factors in the classic recipe. Bananas lift about as well as a lumpy … Read More →
Beach not included Quick breads are really just overgrown muffins but they’re so much more convenient to make you can’t help but whip one together around teatime to satisfy a craving. The clue is right there in the name – they’re “quick”. The trick is keeping them light in texture and getting them to cook through properly. After … Read More →
Tastes nothing like footwear Bread is one of those things that people put off making at home for far too long because they believe it to be kitchen witchcraft which takes years to master, especially for anything beyond basic loaves. Not so. And while it might take a few casual hours rising before you’re eating bread with an artisan … Read More →
Quick. Delicious. No Cardboard. For those of you that don’t know, I’m addicted to pizza. Thick, thin, pan, deep dish, Italian, American, Naples, New York, Chicago, Naples again, Ancient Roman, wood oven, kamado, tandoor, vegetarian, Japanese squid and egg, Mongolian yak cheese… you name it, I’ll try it on a flat crust. I absolutely can’t get enough of the … Read More →
