Baking
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Breads - a good chew - 1 Jan 2012
Not so long ago, the only bread available in Washington came sliced in cellophane packages. Now you can't move for choice among breads studded with everything from olives to cheese. But where can you get a plain brown loaf? read more...
West Indian Black Cake - 1 Dec 2011
At Christmas time in Jamaica, a traditional black cake is baked in which the dried fruits and peel have been soaking in alcohol since the previous Christmas. It's a far more intense cake than traditional fruit cake, and covered in a dark, dark frosting. read more...
Bicarbonate of soda - magic in a teaspoon - 1 Dec 2011
It's the festive season. So you probably have a fresh carton of bicarb tucked away for digestion stabilizing.
But there's more to bicarbonate of soda than meets the stomach. This antacid solution to gluttony, fizzer of sodas and raiser of flour to baking heights with a slightly salty taste has other tricks it can perform. read more...
Bread-making with natural yeast - 10 Jul 2011
eatWashingtonian Zora Margolis has winkled out of Bethesda home bread-baker Peter Helffrich his recipe for making his own 'wild' yeast. Read her feature in Flavor magazine then bake his no-knead loaf. read more...
Love Cake from Sri Lanka - 10 Jul 2011
My Supper Club's assignment last month was a Sri Lankan feast. My assignment, the dessert. Love Cake is a legacy of the Portuguese, when they occupied the island they called Ceylon. read more...
Soda bread - 14 Mar 2011
I know I gave this recipe recently. But now's the week for Irish Soda Bread. It's the world's easiest, fastest loaf to make - no proving, no hanging about. Bought from local bakeries it's often (wrongly) a yeast-based confection of sweet dough studded with raisins. Here is EatWashingtonian Elisabeth Nicholson's authentic recipe, from the Tyrone Guthrie artsplace in Co. Monaghan, which she says is "DEAD easy". read more...
David Guas - owner-pastry chef of Bayou Bakery - 13 Jan 2011
When he was young, says David Guas, pastry chef and owner of The Bayou Bakery, "A lot of people thought I had ADD." He was an outdoors boy who loved to ski, mountain bike and, yes, garden, not study as he was supposed to.
At a local food court making cheese steaks, he found he liked trying to get his customers to smile while he was making their sandwiches. "I'm not a stage person, but I like to be a little front-and-center. Behind someone? Not." He also got his first tattoo. His father saw the bandage and gave him 30 days to find somewhere else to live. read more...
The Bayou Bakery - 13 Jan 2011
Renowned pastry chef David Guas has opened his dream, a Southern pastries-desserts-and-savouries community gathering place, The Bayou Bakery. A New Orleans native, the ex-DC Coast pastry chef delivers southern hospitality, along with an array of sugar-steeped goodies like light and fluffy beignets.
But it's not all sweet. This son of a Cuban father is also making Cuban pressed sandwiches and Southern savory dishes. read more...
More cupcakes? - 4 Nov 2010
Is there such a thing as too many cupcakes? Apparently not. CRUMBS Bake Shop has opened in the capital, joining an already long list. Founded by Mia and Jason Bauer in Manhattan in 2003, it could claim to be the cupcake leader, not the follower. read more...
Gluten - what is it? - 18 Aug 2010
Gluten is the natural protein surrounding kernels of wheat, barley, rye and oats. It's what makes a dough stretch. And what makes some people intolerant of anything made with regular flour. read more...
Chestnut flour products for the gluten intolerant - 18 Aug 2010
Chestnut flour has traditionally been used in the pasta of the Liguria for which pesto is the classic accompaniment. Both chestnut trees and basil grow prolifically in the broad stretch of coast around Genoa.
Now Turkish scientists have found that chestnut flour makes the most nutritious flour that is gluten free. read more...
Pizza - how many calories in your favorite pie? - 11 Aug 2010
When you order a pizza, it's hard to resist wolfing down the whole thing. But a 4-ounce slice may contain more calories than you realize. So know the score when you choose your pizza topping. From Margherita to Pepperoni, here's what they deliver. read more...
KoGiBow - 21 Jul 2010
KoGiBow is not a market - it's a bakery, selling the kind of cakes that look like a 1960s prom dress, all color, frills and furbelows. I go there, though, for its lovely owners, Mr Manh Phung and his wife Mrs LeKinh Phung who have been on the corner next to the petrol station at the top of 18th St NW since 1993. And for the bubble teas and other weird and wonderful drinks. But if you want to consult about a cake for a graduation, a wedding or a celebration, here's the spot. read more...
Baguettes the French like - 2 Jun 2010
With grilling and picnic weather now in, a meal al fresco can be made or broken by your choice of bread. A bad baguette is almost as bad as that squish-flat-between-forefinger-and-thumb Kleenex bread. But there are some good ones around. read more...
Cream teas - a summer staple - 20 May 2010
The British love their afternoon tea in town. Cream teas are another passion and no tourist to Devon or Cornwall should leave without having had one. They're named for the fresh baked scones smothered in jam and a cream so yellow and thick you could hang tiles with it. The great debate between the two English counties is whether the cream or the jam goes down first.
Clotted cream, the ultra heat-treated, stiff white paste sold in glass jars here is no relation to the real McKoy which you can make yourself. read more...
It may look like a Big Mac but it isn't. - 10 Mar 2010
You think you know junk food when you see it? Betcha you're wrong... read more...
Teff - a gluten-free grain - 3 Feb 2010
If you are gluten intolerant, one bread you can eat is injera, the Ethiopian flatbread made with flour ground from teff. This ancient and tiny grain grown in the Ethiopian highlands is gluten free. read more...
Injera - what is it and how to make it? - 3 Feb 2010
Injera, like Indian parathas and naan, is not just bread. It's cutlery. It's a pan liner. It's a plate. Tear off a strip, sweep it through the stew in the common bowl and bring the food to your mouth. At least, that's what you do if you're a skilled Ethiopian. If you're me, you're one fragile step away from a dry cleaner's bill... read more...
Saint Michel Bakery - one of my favorites - 8 Jul 2009
I've been mourning the deterioration in quality of Bonaparte Bakery's baguettes. They've lost that balance between crustiness and crumbiness and Wagshal's, where I go to buy them, no longer stocks their ficelles which I preferred to the baguettes. I don't know if that means that Bonaparte's doesn't bake them any more. But at any rate, I don't mind too much. I've discovered a proper French bakery - Saint Michel Bakery, owned by a proper French baker, Bertrand Houlier. read more...
Alternatives to pita bread - 1 Jul 2009
Looking for an alternative to pita? There are plenty. read more...
The lunch shift is over and chef Peter Smith, owner of PS 7’s restaurant is surrounded by gin. No, he’s not relaxing over a drink. The gin is in bowls in an pre-formed state. It’s the mash, a mix of herbs and berries and peels and roots that Smith has worked out how to use in his food as flavorings.
Chew On This: Your first 'Duh' of the year...
Eggplant
Baked beans - the musical fruit
Ribollita - wondersoup or wodge?
Yasaman Persian Bakery - one of my favorites
Breads - a good chew
Duck & goose
A festive 'Special': Foie Gras Creme Caramel
Festive presents weird and wacky at World Market
Walnut oil
The perfect Yorkshire pudding
Chew On This: The acai berry diet can only thin your wallet...
The Queen Mum's favorite cake
West Indian Black Cake
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