The holidays led to spending a lot of time with lievito madre, the wonderful sourdough foundation of baking panettone. Refreshed and bathed to cleanse residual acidity, it demands three-hour feeds that are cycled in-between for double mixes. It comes with the need to...
Baba, which are rum-soaked yeast cakes, were a featured dessert on a party menu. I first made them while working with my chef Jean Michel. Together we turned them into savarin - a ring moulded variety with basically the same characteristics as the traditional baba....
I first met baker Sara Owens through my blog. Since both of us live in New York City, she invited me over one afternoon to her apartment to join her in baking some sourdough loaves. I still remember that conversation. I also remember how it seemed her own...
Recently I purchased a copy of Italian baker Matteo Festo's Natural Leavening. It's an insightful introduction to Italy's approach to natural sourdough baking. Below are photos of my attempt at one of his formulas using grape must. Along...
The Japanese use a fermented grain called koji to make miso paste or sake. When I first found it offered at my local Japanese food market, bells went off, a voice yelling at me, "go home, make soy, sake or pickled vegetables." But honestly, it sat in my fridge another...
My latest effort with fermented chilies was inspired by this article on Fresno chili vinegar. Alas I was missing some of the sweeter ingredients. Relying on Thai bird chilies, I added sweet peppers to tame the heat. Then I left my first batch on the shelf for about a...
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