Easy weekend bakes There’s a type of baking I come back to every fall, and it’s the kind that’s done before the coffee goes cold. No levain the night before, no overnight proof, nothing to fuss about. Just sourdough discard from the fridge, cold butter, and something flaky and sweet on the counter an hour later. That's what this recipe roundup is all about. Each recipe below is one that I reach for when I want the payoff without the schedule, and they taste right this time of year in a way...
5 days ago • 2 min read
Sourdough focaccia, now in the Times Earlier this week, a recipe of mine went up on NYT Cooking. It’s a sourdough focaccia, the first of several I’ll be writing for them as a contributor over the coming months. I’ve been reading the Times food section for longer than I’ve been baking bread, so seeing my name above a recipe there was a strange and quiet kind of good. It was enlightening working with the (excellent) team at the Times on this recipe. And of course, most of the back and forth was...
13 days ago • 2 min read
My best whole-grain breads This past week, I've been testing whole-grain flour in a few new ways, and it's got me thinking: this week's newsletter should follow suit! So this week, it’s all whole grains. Not every loaf is 100% whole wheat, but the flavor and nutrition are front and center in each one. Plus a few freshly milled loaves, if that’s your thing too. But first! I wanted to share a pizza I made in my home oven. Read on! In this week's newsletter: Recipes: 90 Rye; 100% Whole Wheat;...
20 days ago • 3 min read
Why I love pumpkin (in bread) Pumpkin bread isn't about flavor; at least, that's not its main point. It's about what the puree does to the dough: it hydrates like water but tenderizes it like butter, leaving a soft, golden crumb. And I always opt for canned pumpkin puree for baking for a few reasons: It's easy It's consistent It's widely available The color alone is worth it, I think, that saffron-orange you can see on the outside, and certainly when you're pulling rolls apart with a cotton...
27 days ago • 3 min read
How I make the softest sourdough pretzels The calendar says it's fall, and finally, the Southwest seems to agree. This week it's rained just about every day, and I'm reveling in that cool breeze and petrichor (what a lovely word, isn't it?) on the wind. Usually, we wait until October for this. Naturally, I've been baking fall things, starting with my sourdough pretzel, a fav of mine for this time of year. (In fact, watch me make these pretzels in my latest Reel.) I love these pretzels for...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
The butter went slack in minutes I opened the back door for some air. It's been 96°F all week, and the oven's side of the kitchen hasn't been much better. The pats of butter on the counter usually take an hour to soften; this week they went slack in minutes. Which, as it happens, is what a bun dough wants. For the cookout, I'm working with buns. A lot of buns. But also a few of my crowd favs: a jalapeño-cheddar loaf, a pizza with all the sliced pepperoni, and an uncommon pairing folded into a...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Fresh Bakes for School Lunches More often than not, I bake two loaves for school lunches because one loaf will never survive the afternoon. It comes out of the pan, cools on the counter for maybe twenty minutes, and then someone walks through the kitchen, and the heel (my favorite part) is gone. Then the slice next to the heel. By dinner, the first loaf is but a wisp and the second one is the lunch bread. And that's totally fine. This is the stretch of the year when my house kind of runs on...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Easy late summer sourdough discard bakes This past week I was still baking large, crusty loaves (and a pizza!) here in my kitchen—but I get it if it's too hot for you to turn that oven on. In this week's newsletter, I present a few easy-lift bakes that might make you go back on that rule, though. If you haven't made the sourdough discard plum cake yet, that's where I'd start this Saturday! In this week's newsletter: Recipes: Discard plum cake, banana bread, and focaccia Baking Tip: Can I skip...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Notes from the Grain Gathering; stone fruit bakes I'm back home and back to baking after a couple of weeks in the Pacific Northwest—most of it, it feels like, spent five feet off the ground in the back of a solar-powered bread truck. In and out of talks, masterclasses, happenstance encounters with so many great folks in the baking space, and a few themes stuck out at me: who actually gets paid for a $10 loaf what wheat breeders optimize for (and why grocery flour tastes the way it does) what...
3 months ago • 3 min read