One Dough, Two Breads This past week, I used half of my recent crispy sourdough bagel recipe to make bagels, of course, but then I skipped the kettle boil and used the other half to make bialys. What are bialys? Bialystok, Poland, early 1900s. A Jewish breakfast roll and what we eat now traveled west with bakers who'd already landed in the Lower East Side. (Mimi Sheraton wrote the rest of the book if you want itโand it's great). Since you're already making bagels, you already have a great...
11 days agoย โขย 3 min read
Crispy Sourdough Bagels If you haven't made bagels at home, now's the time. If you have, you already know how good they can beโbut I promise this new recipe will make you appreciate them even more. I've been reworking my (more New York-style) sourdough bagel recipe for a while now. While those are amazing, I wanted something different: a bagel with a super-thin, crispy crust, a tender, slightly chewy interior, and a light, open crumb. This new bagel recipe reminds me of some of my best large...
18 days agoย โขย 2 min read
Whole Wheat Sourdough Pita Last year, I co-taught a baking class at Chimacum Valley Grainery in Washington. On the menu: a whole-grain sourdough pita that I haven't stopped thinking about since. This week's recipe is my take on that pitaโ100% whole-wheat, same-day, naturally leavened, with a soft texture and a puff that delivers every time. It's an incredibly simple dough to make, and the flavor is a great reminder of why we bake. I think you're going to love it. Read on! In this week's...
25 days agoย โขย 3 min read
Crusty loaves and fruit galettes I've been busy over the past few weeks testing (and retesting) a new 100% whole-wheat sourdough pita recipe. I have a recipe in my first cookbook which is fabulous (light, airy, super puffy!), but it's mostly white flour, and I wanted something quick yet nourishing with an outsized flavor profile. These really fit the bill (and then some). Stay tuned for the recipe next week! Until then, read on for some of my fav loaves to bake this time of year: crusty,...
about 1 month agoย โขย 3 min read
An ode to ciambella (and a few other things) This past weekend, I made my sourdough discard Italian lemon cake: ciambella. It's a fiercely lemon-y cake that's beautifully golden, a little thick like pound cake, and, with the added sourdough starter, just a very (very!) subtle hint of sourness that really plays nicely with the lemon. Check out this incredibly not glitzy, fancy, or staged photo of the golden cake: And that's kind of the point with this one. It's a back-pocket recipe you can...
about 1 month agoย โขย 2 min read
Adjusting sourness in your loaf I've been baking sourdough bread for a long while, and for most of that time, I was adjusting the sourness of my bread instinctively without fully understanding why certain things worked. Now I've put it all together in one guide. It covers the science (accessible, I promise), the practical levers you can pull at every stage, and the approach I use in my own kitchen to get exactly the flavor I'm after. If you've ever wished your bread were more or less sour,...
about 2 months agoย โขย 2 min read
Sourdough Hot Cross Buns Ever since I developed a Hot Cross Bun (or HxB, for the cool kids) recipe for my cookbook, I've made these each year around this time. Now, HxBs are certainly not something I grew up eating out here, but once you have one of these soft, sweet, and gently spiced rolls with a thick slather of salted butterโwell, you can't stop thinking about them. I've taken my cookbook recipe and adapted it for even more softness and a touch more tenderness. If you loved those buns,...
about 2 months agoย โขย 3 min read
A dough temperature wake-up call Was it seriously 90F in my kitchen the other day? Yes, yes, it was. And I really hope it was an outlier of a day. But that first truly warm day of Spring is always a wake-up call for me to stop warming the mixing water and start cooling it instead. In fact, I divided my latest batch of bread dough a little earlier (2hr 50m), and it had a much better structure, making for easy-peasy dividing and shaping. (If you're curious, this is my Rusticoโpg 195โfrom my...
about 2 months agoย โขย 2 min read
Soft Rolls, Pizza, & More Thanks, everyone, for your enthusiasm and support for my announcement last week! Now you know why I've been working so hard on pizza the past couple of years ๐ If you're into sourdough pizza (which you definitely should be), you'll love my new book coming out later this year. BUT, let's talk about rolls, a hearty bread, banana bread, baguettes, and a few other things. Read on for some weekend baking inspo! In this week's newsletter: Recipes: Soft rolls, buckwheat...
2 months agoย โขย 3 min read