Table of contents for July/August 2018 in Bake from Scratch

THE LONG, HOT DAYS OF SUMMER ARE HERE, and for me, that extra bit of daylight means one thing: more time to bake. Time to head to the farmers’ market because we’re baking with all the fresh summer fruit for this issue, from berries to stone fruit. But we’re not keeping it basic. We’re shaking up your summer programming with a pizza primer from Ken Forkish, an ice cream cake bonanza, and a foolproof guide to THE fluffiest Milk Bread (see the luscious rolls I’m holding). It was also high time for me to give a little shout-out to my new favorite ingredient. Black cocoa has changed my baking game, turning my cookies (check out our cover star!), brownies, and cakes rich black velvet and bringing in the deepest, darkest…

HOW TO BE A DOMESTIC GODDESS (Hachette Books, 2005) by Nigella Lawson “Nigella Lawson’s style is such an inspiration to me and so many others. She doesn’t make anything seem impossible; instead, she helps home cooks view baking as something that’s doable at a moment’s notice. This is one of the few books I have that lives on my countertop as often as it lives on my nightstand. I love reading her headnotes just for fun.” BAKEWISE (Scribner, 2008) by Shirley O. Corriher “Ahhhh, Shirley Corriher. Brilliant, fun, and so, so good at getting people to understand the minutia of food science. When I’m developing a recipe and I’m stuck on why something isn’t working the way I want it to, I can always count on this book to help…

It was raining in Gent, Belgium. This is not uncommon: Gent has roughly the same weather patterns as London and spends a good deal of time under a blanket of not-quite-rain, not-quite-fog. But on this particular September day, I had decided to walk halfway across town—the scenic route, obviously, to swing by a food hall and a new library—to go buy some bread from a Midwesterner. And by the time I got to the pizzeria-bread shop in a former grocery store, I was soaked through. Two months earlier, my boyfriend had yelped from deep within a travel research rabbit hole. “Did you know there’s someone from Wisconsin making bread in Gent?!” I’m from Wisconsin, and he was born in Brussels; we have a vested interest in Midwest-Belgium crossovers. There aren’t…

1972 Bob establishes his first mill, Moore’s Flour Mill, in Redding, California. They sell stone-ground flours and cereals locally. After five years, Bob sells the business to his sons. 1978  Bob moves to Oregon City, Oregon, where he discovers an old commercial mill. Bob fixes up the turn-of-the-century mill, paints it red, and hires a few employees to help out. He calls it Bob’s Red Mill. 1982 Beginning with the Fred Meyer stores, Bob’s Red Mill products are carried by large grocery chains and distributors nationwide, making freshly milled grains widely available to consumers for the first time. 1985  The company releases its initial line of gluten-free products and is one of the first in the health food industry to do so. 1991  Bob’s Red Mill’s state-of-the-art milling, packaging, and…

A wild yeast culture is created when yeast in the air and in the flour combine to form a living culture that makes bread dough, pizza dough, and even pancakes rise. You can create your own by mixing flour and water daily for 7 days. It takes 5 minutes a day, including cleanup. And the result can be a very special pizza that will be very distinctly your own. LEVAIN VOLUME CONVERSIONS I highly encourage you to measure your levain ingredients by weight rather than volume; volume conversions are approximate. 100 grams whole wheat flour = ¾ cup plus ½ tablespoon 100 grams water = ½ cup plus 4 teaspoons 50 grams levain = 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon MAKING THE LEVAIN Start with one empty container with a lid…

Peel – A peel is a wooden paddle you use to move your pizza in and out of the oven, and it’s an essential tool for making great pizza at home. Those thin-crust pies have a tendency to fall apart otherwise. A peel should cost you about $15, and you can order one online or pick one up at a store like Sur La Table. Pizza Steel – For these pizzas, we’re trying to recreate the baking style of a brick oven, so you want the cooking surface to be as hot as you can get it. Ken recommends a pizza steel instead of a stone because steel releases heat more energetically than stone. Translation? You’ll get a little more oven spring on the crust, a puffier rim, and a…

To make the base loaf recipe into rolls, all you need to do is shape everything on a smaller scale. Divide dough into 24 equal portions instead of the larger original 6 portions. Roll each portion into a ball (about 62 grams). Roll out each ball into a 7x3-inch oval. Folding lengthwise, fold right third over middle third. Fold left side over middle. Using a rolling pin, reroll dough into a 7x2½-inch oval. Starting with one short side, roll dough away from you into a cylinder. Place in a prepared 13x9-inch pan, seam side down. Repeat method with remaining dough, placing 12 rolls in each prepared 13x9-inch pan. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place (75°F/24°C) until doubled in size, about 1 hour.…

Making banana bread is beholden to overripe bananas, which can take almost a week to get to that black peel sweet spot. To make sure you never have to wait on your produce, keep a batch of overripe bananas in your freezer. Keep the bananas in their peel (which protects them from freezer burn and odors), and store in a resealable bag. Once you’re ready to bake, allow the bananas to defrost before peeling. The bananas should come out as a purée—freezing breaks down the cell walls and naturally produces a mash.…

DEVRA FERST  Devra Ferst is a food writer, editor, and cooking instructor living in Brooklyn, New York. She previously served as an editor at Eater NY and as the senior editor of Tasting Table. Her work has appeared in Bon Appétit, NPR, Vogue, Mic, Food & Wine, and numerous other publications. When she’s not typing away, you can find her exploring a market in her adopted hometown of NYC, or in the Middle East, where she visits every summer. She has exceptionally strong opinions about what makes a good babka. Favorite Pizza: “Speedy Romeo in Brooklyn makes exceptional pies, but the best part is always the house-pickled chile peppers.” ANDREA SLONECKER  Andrea Slonecker is an award-winning cookbook author, food stylist, and culinary teacher based in Portland, Oregon. She was formerly…

I still remember the first time I tried cocoa powder: dipping my finger in the tub, bringing it to my lips, and quickly recoiling at the bitterness. Clearly, my 8-year-old palate was expecting something sweet, like the brownies my mom was in the process of making. Of course, I now know that while this super-concentrated ingredient doesn’t itself taste like dessert, it’s what gives most chocolate baked goods their deep, rich flavor. Natural cocoa powder is chocolate in its purest form—and it all begins with the cacao bean. These fermented, dried, and roasted seeds are cracked into nibs and ground into what’s called chocolate liquor, a thick paste that is then pressed to separate the wet (cocoa butter) from the dry (cocoa solids). These solids are finely ground to become…

BAKED ALASKA Makes 1 (9-inch) dessert One of the most famous half-baked desserts, the Baked Alaska was actually created in New York. In 1867, the head chef at the illustrious Delmonico’s restaurant designed a new cake to celebrate the United States’ purchase of Alaska from the Russians. In our Neapolitan version, dramatic peaks of torched meringue encase a medley of chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla ice creams. For this recipe, you will have leftover ice cream of each flavor if you make the following recipes from scratch—lucky you. Vanilla Sponge Cake (recipe follows) 3¾ cups (627 grams) Strawberry Ice Cream (recipe follows) 2 cups (456 grams) Vanilla Ice Cream (recipe follows) 1½ cups (342 grams) Chocolate Ice Cream (recipe follows) Meringue (recipe follows) 1. Remove bowl or mold with Vanilla Sponge…

To find the world’s greatest pizza, you might visit Naples or Rome, or Portland, Oregon. Yes. Portland. There, at Ken’s Artisan Pizza and Checkerboard Pizza, James Beard Award-winning Ken Forkish, a Silicon Valley veteran-turned-baker, turns out some of the most transformative pies you’ll ever eat. He dug deep on his research, traveling and eating around Italy, for his book The Elements of Pizza (Ten Speed Press, 2016), and the proof is in the crust. It’s tender, with a puffy rim, a crisp bottom, and the most gorgeous leopard pocking. In short: perfection. When he invited us to Oregon for a casual pizza party, we jumped at the chance. In his hilltop home, tucked under a moody canopy of evergreens, a domed wood-burning oven sits (rightfully) as the focal point of…

Use Large, Dry Pieces of Bread: “Always start with dry bread. This isn’t about creating an ideal texture for the bread pudding. The fact is, if you have fresh milk bread, it’s perfect just the way it is. Bread pudding is about making the most of your leftover bread, so save this for when the bread is about 4 days old. Don’t tear up the milk bread into too-small pieces; instead leave them in sizable chunks so they keep a natural, rolled shape and won’t get an oversaturated, soggy texture.” Infuse Your Custard: “I like to steep my heavy cream with whole spices, like torched cinnamon sticks and black cardamom pods. You can blacken the spices in the oven on a sheet tray by broiling them under the broiler. That…

PISTACHIO APRICOT CAKE Makes 1 (9-inch) cake If a German apricot cake (Aprikosenkuchen) and a Sicilian pistachio cake did the tango, this jammy cake with creamy White Chocolate Ganache and fluffy pistachio frosting would be the result. ½ cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, softened 1cup (200 grams) granulated sugar 2 large eggs (100 grams) ½ teaspoon (2 grams) vanilla extract 1⅓ cups (167 grams) all-purpose flour 1¼ teaspoons (6.25 grams) baking powder ½ teaspoon (1.5 grams) kosher salt ½ cup (120 grams) whole buttermilk ½ cup (80 grams) chopped fresh apricots ¾ cup (240 grams) Apricot Jam (recipe on page 95), divided 1 tablespoon (15 grams) fresh lemon juice Pistachio Buttercream (recipe follows) White Chocolate Ganache (recipe follows) Candied Apricots (recipe follows) 1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter and…

“In Lisbon, every day has a kind of eating rhythm,” writes chef Nuno Mendes in his new book My Lisbon. “Pastéis (pastries) are taken in the morning,” and none are more beloved and iconic than the pastéis de nata, the palm-size golden tarts made from a sweet egg custard that’s cradled in a bowl of flaky pastry, caramelized on top, and often dusted in cinnamon or confectioners’ sugar. Best when served warm from the oven, the tarts almost collapse on themselves when held by their edges, the custard interior still soft and the crust delicate enough that it leaves the diner with a bib of crumbs. Their golden orbs are spotted through the windows of bakeries and cafés, not only in Lisbon but throughout Portugal. And more than port or…

LAURA CRANDALL  Laura Crandall is a food stylist and recipe developer at Bake from Scratch who studied baking and pastry arts at Johnson & Wales University. She was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, and recently moved back home with her husband and 1-year-old son after living in New York and Virginia. She and her husband share a passion for food and hope to open their own restaurant and bakery one day. Laura loves to spend her time taking her little one on new adventures and cooking for others, from breakfast feasts at home—her biscuit game is strong—to birthday celebrations and even weddings. Favorite Pizza: “The best pizza in the world is in Italy. You can’t beat eating a simple margherita made with a light dough and fresh, local ingredients…

Valrhona Cocoa Powder 100% This high-quality Dutch process variety imparts a deep chocolate flavor. valrhona-chocolate.com ; $12.99 for 8.82 ounces Guittard Cocoa Rouge As its name suggests, the strong, bittersweet Dutch process powder has a redder-than-average hue. guittard.com ; $7.99 for 8 ounces Hershey’s Cocoa Perhaps the best-known (and least expensive) brand in the biz, Hershey’s naturally unsweetened is a consistent, nostalgia-filled favorite. hersheys.com ; $5.29 for 8 ounces Pernigotti Cocoa If this Italian-made, smooth Dutch process powder is good enough for Ina Garten, it’s good enough for us. williams-sonoma.com ; $22.95 for 12 ounces King Arthur Flour Black Cocoa A little of this super-rich, extra alkalized version goes a long way to making the darkest of desserts. kingarthurflour.com ; $9.95 for 12 ounces BAKE WITH COCOA In this issue,…

Ultra-Dutch process black cocoa. And what does “ultra-Dutch process” mean? During the Dutch process, cocoa beans are rinsed in an alkaline solution, eliminating its natural acidity, darkening its hue, and concentrating its flavor. Black cocoa has been Dutched to the most extreme level, creating a product with a pitch-black color and a robust yet smooth cocoa taste. The benefits of baking with black cocoa are twofold, yielding baked goods with incomparable dark cocoa flavor and a velvety black hue.…

SATURDAY PIZZA DOUGH Makes 3 regular or 5 thin-crust dough balls This same-day dough is the answer when you wake up in the morning and decide you want pizza for dinner. Good call. Me, too. This dough was inspired by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) pizza dough rules. After mixing, the dough rests for 2 hours. Then dough balls (panetti) are made and set aside, covered, and held at room temperature in their second stage of fermentation for 6 hours. The dough balls are ready to make pizza anytime following the second fermentation and hold for 4 hours at room temperature. The dough will be a little gassy, very easily stretched, and a little delicate near the end of its 4-hour hold time. To extend the dough balls’ life…

PIZZA MARGHERITA Makes 1 (12-inch) pizza The best possible ingredients—a simple tomato sauce, fresh fior di latte mozzarella, and basil—and a great dough make this Italian classic a perennial star. Rub a little olive oil on the basil leaves before you put the pizza in the oven. The oil helps the leaves slightly fry in the oven and helps preserve the vibrant green color. 1 dough ball (260 to 300 grams) ¼ to ⅓ cup (54 to 92 grams) Basic Tomato Sauce (recipe follows) 1 tablespoon (14 grams) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling Scant ¼ cup (10 to 15 grams) grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese 3.5 to 4 ounces (80 to 100 grams) fresh whole-milk mozzarella cheese (fior di latte) or brine-packed mozzarella di bufala, sliced into…

Kindred | Davidson, North Carolina, United States The signature clover-shaped milk bread roll served with dinner at Kindred has earned rabid acclaim. The secret to these golden rolls lies in two unconventional ingredients added to the mix: honey and milk powder. Their second soon-to-be famous dish? The restaurant’s milk bread pudding, courtesy of pastry chef Justin Burke-Samson. See “Make Milk Bread Pudding Magic,” opposite page, for a look at his process. kindreddavidson.com Centre The Bakery | Ginza, Tokyo, Japan Over 2,000 loaves of fresh milk bread are sold each day from this Japanese hot spot. It’s their singular specialty, and it keeps lines of tourists and locals snaking out the door. Try the toast set for three slices of different white bread (including Japanese milk bread), your pick of toaster,…

CARAMELIZED BANANA BREAD Makes 1 (8½x4½-inch) loaf Think of this as a breakfast bread version of bananas Foster. Crowned with golden Caramelized Banana halves and offering a hint of cinnamon flavor, this loaf is all about taking the banana to the nth power of sweetness. 1⅔ cups (209 grams) all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon (1.5 grams) kosher salt ½ teaspoon (2.5 grams) baking soda ¼ teaspoon (1.25 grams) baking powder 1⅛ cups (255 grams) mashed banana (about 3 medium bananas) ¾ cup (165 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar ⅓ cup plus 2 teaspoons (86 grams) unsalted butter, melted ¼ cup (60 grams) sour cream 2 large eggs (100 grams) 1 teaspoon (4 grams) vanilla extract ½ teaspoon (1 gram) ground cinnamon Caramelized Banana (recipe follows) 1. Preheat oven to 325°F…

Makes 16 Portugal’s most famous contribution to pastry is a simultaneously crisp and creamy mini tart. In our warmly spiced version, we spike our vanilla bean-speckled egg custard with cinnamon and cardamom. For that iconic spot-blistered top, high heat and a final sear under the broiler help you bring the quality of the Portuguese pastelerias to your home oven. 1⅓ cups (167 grams) all-purpose flour ½ tablespoon (4.5 grams) kosher salt 1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, frozen 4 tablespoons (60 grams) ice water, divided 2 cups (480 grams) heavy whipping cream 1½ cups (360 grams) whole milk 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved 2 green cardamom pods*, cracked open 1 cinnamon stick 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (224 grams) granulated sugar ¼ cup (32 grams) cornstarch…

BLUEBERRY MASCARPONE BABKA WITH LEMON CURD GLAZE Makes 1 (9x5-inch) loaf Freeze-dried blueberries are a wonderful alternative to fresh berries, whose high water content makes them difficult to incorporate into this already wet dough. ½ cup (120 grams) warm whole milk (105°F/41°C to 110°F/43°C) 1¼ teaspoons (4 grams) active dry yeast 2½ cups (313 grams) all-purpose flour 3½ tablespoons (42 grams) granulated sugar 2 teaspoons (2 grams) lemon zest 1½ teaspoons (4.5 grams) kosher salt 2 large eggs (100 grams) 1 large egg yolk (19 grams) 1 teaspoon (4 grams) vanilla extract ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (141 grams) unsalted butter, softened and cubed 1 large egg white (30 grams) 1 tablespoon (15 grams) water Mascarpone Filling (recipe follows) 1 cup (46 grams) freeze-dried blueberries Lemon Curd Glaze (recipe follows)…