WHAT CAN YOU DO with flour, water, milk, yeast and salt? You can turn them into Naan, just as I did this week. Naan is an ancient, Central-Asian flatbread with a wonderfully-wheaty taste and a crisp but chewy texture. I like to form the dough into long "snowshoe" shapes, and serve them with dinner or as an appetizer at parties. The dough is remarkably easy to make, and forming it with wet fingers is fun-fun-fun: Read more » Snowshoe Naan
May 3, 2012
WHAT CAN YOU DO with flour, water, milk, yeast and salt? You can turn them into Naan, just as I did this week. Naan is an ancient, Central-Asian flatbread with a wonderfully-wheaty taste and a crisp but chewy texture. I like to form the dough into long "snowshoe" shapes, and serve them with dinner or as an appetizer at parties. The dough is remarkably easy to make, and forming it with wet fingers is fun-fun-fun: Read more » Perfect Popovers
April 25, 2012
I THINK SUNDAY MORNINGS were meant for "popovers." Popovers are buttery, eggy, deliciously-light pastries which rise to the heavens as they bake in the oven. They are fun to tear apart, and then top with honey or jam. Make the batter in a blender, as I do, and you can have these puffs of perfection in no time at all: Read more » English Muffins
February 25, 2012
I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, but there are times when I crave a homemade English Muffin. Like when I want something toasted and crisp, on which to smear my morning ration of butter and jam. Or when I need a superior substitute for a hamburger bun. So it is a lucky thing that English Muffins are ridiculously easy to make. There's no hand-kneading required, nor do you need any fancy equipment, like a standing mixer. In fact, if you can make a pancake batter, you can make this bit of nook-and-cranny bliss: Read more » Recipe: Brioche
February 9, 2012
FOR VALENTINE'S DAY (or any day), why not treat yourself to the most luxurious bread in the world? I'm talking about buttery, eggy, Brioche. I've found that Julia Child's easy-peasy recipe produces as a good a dough as any long and involved recipe. If you have a food-processor, brioche can be yours in a snap: Read more » Whole Wheat Pita Bread
February 5, 2012
MY KITCHEN resembled a Middle-Eastern bake-shop yesterday, as I turned flour, water, yeast, salt and olive oil into Pita bread. The recipe I played with, and how I tweaked my oven to get the dough to form a balloon, or "pocket:" Read more » Giveaway: Pullman Loaf Pan
January 28, 2012
HOW DID I PRODUCE the perfectly rectangular loaf of Pain de Mie (French sandwich bread) you see pictured above? By baking it in a Pullman pan. A Pullman pan is a bread pan with straight sides and a lid that slides over the top. The lid keeps the bread from forming an arch as it bakes. This flat-topped, straight sided loaf is a pleasure to slice. And its entire crust can be removed with just 4 flicks of a knife. Frankly, I'm enjoying my 13x4x4 Pullman so much that I bought a second one to give away. Who'd like to win it in a random drawing? Read more » Pain de Mie: French Sandwich Bread
December 31, 2011
OKAY, I'LL ADMIT IT. I'm addicted to French sandwich bread, or Pain de Mie. What a versatile loaf! I use it for sandwiches, toast, French toast, croutons and canapes. Pain (pronounced "pan") is French for "bread," and mie (pr. "mee") means "crumb," or "interior." And the crumb in this instance is soft and moist. Yet the bread is so deliciously dense that you can cut it into paper-thin slices. My New Year's resolution is to have this lovely loaf on hand at all times. Fortunately, it is incredibly easy to make: Read more » 
