Table of contents for Spring 2017 in Bake from Scratch

GROWING UP, MY MOTHER ALWAYS SHARED WITH ME the valuable advice from Maya Angelou: “When we know better, we do better.” I’ve learned that is especially true when it comes to baking. We’ve spent the last 18 months putting those words into practice with each new issue of Bake from Scratch, and through dialogue with you we have learned the areas where we can improve to make your experience as a baker even better. In our “Expert Q&A” on page 15, we talk with experienced baker and The Baker’s Appendix author Jessica Reed about using standard gram measurements and what ingredients should be weighed for baking. Her answer—all of them! As you’ll see in the following pages, we’ve adopted Jessica’s appendix (which you can purchase at bakefromscratch.com) as our standard…

DULCE DE LECHE (Burgess Lea Press) by Josephine Caminos Oría Josephine Caminos Oría’s lifelong love affair with her Argentinean grandmother’s dulce de leche inspired Dulce de Leche: Recipes, Stories & Sweet Traditions. Whether infused into tiramisù, swirled into a jelly roll cake (pionono), or simply smeared on toast, the sweet golden spread weaves a ribbon throughout every story and recipe on these pages. CAN’T WAIT TO MAKE: Alfajores, two soft shortbread-style cookies sandwiching thick dulce de leche and rolled into coconut topping. We love the delicate contrast of creamy filling and crumbly cookie that literally melts in your mouth. TARTINE ALL DAY (Ten Speed Press) by Elisabeth Prueitt Though its author is an award-winning pastry chef and co-owner of the wildly popular Tartine Bakery & Cafe in San Francisco, Tartine…

Ron Graff LOAF Durham, North Carolina GOT HIS START: Durham Farmers’ Market Ron Graff understands the science behind baking as well as anyone—maybe even better. Before opening Loaf, he worked as a neurobiologist and baked bread at home mainly as a break from his job. Then he spent a few days at an artisan bread bakers’ festival and wondered if others might be as interested in his bread as he was. He applied and was accepted at the Durham Farmers’ Market where he sold 144 loaves in an hour on his first Saturday in 2008. For three years, he spent weekdays conducting experiments and writing grants, and spent Friday nights and the wee hours of Saturday mornings baking bread for his wife, Jaimie, to set up, still warm, at the…

You don’t need fancy equipment or a flashy studio to style and photograph your desserts like a pro. Self-taught baker, food stylist, and photographer, Linda Lomelino is all about working with what you have wherever you are. Throughout her fourth cookbook, My Sweet Kitchen (Roost Books, 2017), Linda offers simple, resourceful ways for home bakers to style, shoot, and share their creations. From a meringue-frosted cake topped with caramel glaze and a heaping pile of caramel corn to rich brownies swirled with cheesecake and studded with raspberries, My Sweet Kitchen is a diverse collection of Linda’s 50 all-time favorite dessert recipes from throughout her career. It’s the styling and photography tutorials with Linda’s expert advice that set this cookbook apart. Formerly a store clerk in a clothing boutique, Linda began…

ADEENA SUSSMAN Adeena Sussman is the co-author of 10 cookbooks, most recently two New York Times bestsellers: Cravings, a collaboration with supermodel Chrissy Teigen, and The Sprinkles Baking Book, a collaboration with chef and television personality, Candace Nelson. She lives half the year in Tel Aviv, where she is working on her own cookbook about Israeli food. Her first solo cookbook, Short Stack Editions’ Tahini, came out in September 2016. Her recipes and writing have appeared in Condé Nast Traveler, Food & Wine, The Wall Street Journal, Gourmet, Epicurious, and many others. What gets you excited about spring baking? “The prospect of summer stone fruits just around the corner! Plums, peaches, and nectarines make me (and my recipes) sing.” BEN MIMS Ben Mims is the author of Sweet & Southern…

The craft spirits industry in the U.S. has been booming over the past few years, and a number of smaller distillers have turned their talents to creating exciting and unique variations on coffee liqueurs. The emergence of fair trade and single-origin coffees has led to some really dynamic collaborations between roasters and distillers, and resulted in some delicious and creative spirits that would be great in a White Russian, sipped neat, or even incorporated into desserts like custards and creams. (Pro Tip: A little drizzle over some vanilla ice cream never hurt anybody.) We found a few American distillers doing some very interesting things with coffee, each with their own particular twist. BITTERMENS NEW ORLEANS COFFEE LIQUEUR Bittermens makes some of our favorite bitters (they are invariably somewhere on the…

GREECE: Tsoureki Also known as lampropsomo—a word derived from the Greek words for “Easter” and “bread”—the Tsoureki is a Greek tradition rooted in the Ottoman Empire’s influence over European culture. These braided works of art, often baked as an Easter gift from Greek children to their godparents, typically have eggs dyed a bright red to symbolize Christ’s blood and new life. Tradition calls for the eggs to be used in an “egg-cracking” game, tsougrima, in which participants tap each other’s eggs until one cracks. The person with the whole, uncracked egg at the end of the game is said to have good luck for the rest of the year. GREEK TSOUREKI Makes 1 (17-inch) braid Sharp, soft, and slightly sweet, our Tsoureki calls for mahleb—a spice derived from ground…

COCONUT BUNS Makes 12 Forget cinnamon, these buns are the best breakfast treat around. Enriched with coconut milk and oil in the dough and filled with a sweetened, toasted coconut butter, this recipe is for the serious coconut lover. Make the dough and assemble buns the night before you plan to bake them for breakfast—their flavor deepens with a long, slow rise in the refrigerator. But if you don’t have the spare hours to wait, you can let them rise at room temperature for an hour and a half. 1¼ cups (300 grams) warm unsweetened canned coconut milk (120°F/48°C to 130°F/54°C) ⅓ cup (67 grams) granulated sugar 2 tablespoons (28 grams) unrefined coconut oil, melted 1 teaspoon (3 grams) kosher salt 1 large egg (50 grams), lightly beaten 4 cups…

Before you learn the backstory, you should know the name is charming, but entirely misleading. That’s because the much-loved (and downright hefty) Hummingbird Cake is hardly a delicate affair. In its most famous incarnation, it is a dense, cinnamon-scented layer cake packed with tropical fruit (typically crushed pineapple and ripe bananas), lavished with cream cheese frosting and topped with pecans. Other variations might include shredded carrots, dried fruit, or coconut. Dense, moist, and packed with flavor from the riot of ingredients, there’s nothing diminutive about it. Most credit Southern Living magazine with the cake’s widespread fame, when their original recipe came from a reader—Mrs. L.H. Wiggins of Greensboro, North Carolina—and was first published in 1978. Since then it’s become the most requested recipe in the magazine’s history, and inspired variations…

This pairing is one of the most popular on the menu at Butter & Scotch. It’s no surprise, as it marries the best parts of being a kid and an adult. You get to dunk chocolate chip cookies into a glass of milk, just like you did in your youth, but the milk is actually a cocktail, and it all ends with a most excellent combination booze-and-sugar buzz. What’s more, we swear these are the best chocolate chip cookies you’ll ever have, and that cocktail is the platonic ideal of a White Russian. Bonus: Nobody will tell you that you can’t have seconds (and trust us, you’ll want seconds). Sometimes adulthood is a pretty sweet deal! WHITE RUSSIAN Makes 1 serving Deviously boozy and easy to drink, White Russians were…

MASCARPONE PRETZEL STRAWBERRY TART Makes 1 (9-inch) tart By swapping the traditional cream cheese filling with vanilla bean-scented Mascarpone Cream and replacing the congealed topping with fresh strawberries, we’ve given this classic pastry a modern salty-sweet makeover. 1½ cups (160 grams) crushed pretzels ⅓ cup (73 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar ½ cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted Mascarpone Cream (recipe follows) 4 cups (680 grams) fresh strawberries, hulled and halved 1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray a 9x1-inch removeable-bottom round tart pan with baking spray with flour. 2. In a medium bowl, stir together crushed pretzels, brown sugar, and melted butter. Transfer mixture to prepared pan, pressing into bottom and up sides. 3. Bake until set, 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.…

LAYERED MERINGUE TERRINE Makes 6 to 8 servings You read that right. This recipe calls for a perfect dessert union of meringue and ice cream. Infused with Irish cream, chocolatey fudge, and—oh yes—meringue cookies, it won’t take long for this chilled decadence to vanish from your freezer. White Chocolate Cream (recipe follows) Coffee Cream (recipe follows) Coffee Chocolate Fudge (recipe follows) 1. Prepare White Chocolate Cream, Coffee Cream, and Coffee Chocolate Fudge. 2. Line a 9x5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper, letting excess extend over sides of pan. 3. Spread a ½-inch layer of White Chocolate Cream in bottom of prepared pan; spread a ½-inch layer of Coffee Cream on top. Swirl 3 to 4 tablespoons Coffee Chocolate Fudge into coffee layer. Repeat layers once. 4. Cover top with plastic…

CLASSIC SODA BREAD Makes 1 (8-inch) boule A traditional take on quick bread, this recipe is brought to life by buttermilk and baking soda. These two ingredients combine to create a crunchy crust and a subtle tartness that’s definitively mouthwatering. 6 cups (750 grams) plus 1 teaspoon (3 grams) all-purpose flour, divided ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar 2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking soda 1½ teaspoons (4.5 grams) kosher salt 2 cups (256 grams) raisins 2⅓ cups (560 grams) whole buttermilk ¼ cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, melted 1. Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Spray an 8-inch tall-sided round cake pan with baking spray with flour. 2. In a large bowl, whisk together 6 cups (750 grams) flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Stir in raisins. Gradually add buttermilk and…