Bread & Pastry
Workbench
Q: Many formulas call for half milk and half heavy cream. Can I just buy half and half from our suppliers?J.K., Troy, Mich. A: If you mix whole milk with...
Classic croissants with a new twist
Some bakers might say it's a sin to even consider changes to the croissant. After all, it is a pastry enjoyed by Europeans for hundreds of years and by...
The Workbench
Q: Do you have a formula for hand-rolled, scratch-made flour tortillas?Dan, via e-mail A: I have been very successful with this formula. Flour tortillas...
Local charm sells Turtle Bread
Head Baker Solveig Tofte knows it's not just her high-quality bread and pastries that draw customers to Minneapolis' quaint...
The Workbench
Q: Do you have a beignet formula that can be used in a retail bakery?G.L., Raymondville, Texas A: This is one of my favorite formulas for beignets. Beignets...
Pastry case–Classic pie crusts without trans fat
For many people, pie conjures images of home and comfort. Pie dough traditionally was made with either lard, all-purpose vegetable shortening or both....
Modern uses for ancient grains
Add new flavor profiles to products or create gluten-free items by incorporating ancient grains into existing formulas. This teff apple pie provides a nutty contrast to tart apples. ...
Mixing 101: Methods for making the perfect dough in your bakery
A capacity class of rain-soaked bakers dodged thunderstorms and floods to get to Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts outside of...
10 New directions impacting bakeries
That people need to eat is a constant, but how they eat is always evolving. Forces are at work, both invisible and in plain sight, that stand to change...
Tim Healea makes a name for himself
Longtime head baker at Portland's well-known Pearl Bakery and member of 2002 Baking Team USA, Healea is more than a year into owning his own bakery in...
Kouing aman: sugar-charged croissants
The kouing aman, a specialty pastry that originated in 1865 in northwestern France, is a perfect fit for the national obsession with sweetness, saltiness...
How Clear Flour finds its balance
Loyal customers of Clear Flour Bread Bakery, Brookline, Mass., are patient. Consider that they wait in queues often stretching 50 ft. or more down the...
Rheinish brot: rye bread for all palates
An entertaining passage in the book, Six Thousand Years of Bread by H. E. Jacobs, cites the polarizing dogma between wheat bread lovers and rye bread...
Diamond cookies are forever
Diamond cookies are tender butter cookies that act as a blank palette for flavors, such as vanilla, chocolate, praline, pistachio or lemon. The cookies...
Snap, crackle, crunch bread
Thirty years ago, I landed my first bakery job. My responsibility was mixing from the early morning until all products were baked and the kitchen was...
