Attention, class—how many times do I have to say this?

Whole grains don’t have to taste whole-grainy.

Whole grains can actually taste good. No, make that GREAT. (more…)

Have you ever made pita bread? It’s a great example of the Endless Quest for Success that baking can sometimes be.

Most of the things I bake are pretty reliable. If they’re not, I stop fussing and move on. But there are two things I bake that are a roll of the dice every single time: Popovers, and pita. (more…)

I haven’t been around the blog much in recent weeks, mostly because I was tearing around getting ready to get married, so I have a decent excuse, at least. This is my brother walking me down the aisle.

When Greg and I got engaged last summer, the FIRST thing I did, in true chef fashion, was write the menu for my wedding. I wanted food that reflected my culinary career and represented my family’s tastes. It went like this: (more…)

Remember when you used to clip recipes? I mean, the days when you’d take a pair of scissors and actually cut recipes out of newspapers or magazines? (Or, since I was usually too lazy to get up and find scissors, just rip-rip-rip around the edges, being sure none of the fractions in the ingredients got left behind.) (more…)

Last week in this location PJ confessed to her birthday vice: Pepperidge Farm Coconut cake. Well, today is PJ’s birthday, and I took advantage of her being out of the office last week to create my version of that cake so we could have it on hand as we serenade her properly on this momentous occasion. It had to be square, it had to be coconutty and moist, and in this case, it’s coming out of the freezer (where it’s been hiding) just like it does in the store!

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Savory scones? Not an oxymoron. Scones don’t have to be made with sugar and spice and everything nice. They can be made with smoky bacon, and cheese, and aromatic scallions… like these.

Reader Kathleen May recently wrote suggesting that I try to duplicate the over-the-top bacon, cheddar & scallion scones sold at the Atlantic Baking Co. (familiarly known as ABC), a bakery in Rockland, Maine, a town midway up Maine’s stunning 3,478-mile coast. Naturally, my competitive urges kicked in. Just as with Berger Cookies (“Baltimore’s Finest”), or Grùyere-Stuffed Cheese Loaves (“Hot Cheese Bread”), where I simply had to figure out how to do it yourself—these scones piqued my imagination. (more…)

I’m not a passionate cake baker. I mean, I’ll bake a cake, sure. And I bake a lot of birthday cakes here at King Arthur Flour, because how can you possibly work at a baking company and NOT have a candle-lit cake delivered to you, at your desk, on your birthday? (more…)

The New York Times is at it again. Yesterday, their Dining and Wine section included a lengthy treatise on one of my favorite subjects: Chocolate chip cookies. Beginning with a short history of this American icon’s birth at the Toll House restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts (where, serendipitously for a baker, I had my engagement dinner 32 years ago), author David Leite takes us on a tour of New York City’s best chocolate chip cookie sources. (more…)

“Mom, what’s for dinner?”

My first reaction, during these busy days of summer, is TAKEOUT. But having just gotten the first monthly bill for next year’s heating oil—OUCH—I know we’re eating in. Which is usually a pleasure; I like to cook. But not when the temperature in my kitchen is 92°F. (more…)

Quick, think of five baking aromas that bring you running to the kitchen to see what’s up. (And no, you can’t count “fruit pie filling burning on the oven floor” as one of them. We’re being positive here.)

My five?
•Brownies, in the minute before they come out of the oven;
•Garlic bread;
•Cinnamon anything; apple pie and oatmeal cookies in particular;
•Pepperoni pizza;
•Yeast bread. Any kind. Ciabatta, sticky buns, raisin-pecan rye… Anything made with yeast. (more…)