A hundred years ago, my grandmother came to this country at age 22, having grown up on plain Eastern European fare like beets, cabbage, and potatoes, plus the occasional meat or fish when her family could afford it. Sweet desserts weren’t really in the picture. In America, when others would grab a doughnut to go […]
We’re doing the restaurant route with friends again this year. It’s sure to be a decadent, relaxing treat, but we already know we’ll miss the leftovers — maybe the best thing about Thanksgiving? So, Laura and I are going to cook a mini-Thanksgiving of our own favorites sometime this weekend. We don’t mind turkey twice in […]
It’s the heart of summer now, and with Fourth of July entertaining on the immediate horizon (and super-hot temps all over the country), the grill is the place to bake bread if you don’t want to heat up the kitchen — and yes, it works. I’ve posted many gas-grill recipes over the years, because its such a great way to keep baking fresh bread […]
For Thanksgiving last year, my wife, Laura, and I went out to eat with friends — a first for us. It was lovely, liberating, and delicious. But this year we wanted to bring it back home. After all, what is Thanksgiving without the leftovers? And, more seriously, we’ve been empty nesters for a couple of […]
It’s almost Father’s Day and that might mean pulling out the grill this weekend and serving Dad up some serious burgers. Here’s a soft and delicious Potato Brioche Bun to serve alongside your favorite burger recipe, and it’s easy to put together. As with all my no-knead, refrigerated dough recipes, you can bake as little […]
Minnesota is in a heat wave, so I can’t say that I’m itching to fire up the oven and bake fresh buns for hot dogs or bratwurst. It’s a cinch to do it on the same grill that you use for your hot dogs or bratwurst, and this video shows you how. Use any lean […]
In all my books, I call this fast and delicious flatbread “naan,” which is a specialty from India, but truth be told, it isn’t really naan, because the authentic article is made in a massive ceramic oven (“tandoor”), and the flatbreads are slapped onto the sides of its huge bowl-shaped surface and cooked over charcoal. […]
They say that everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, and I hope that’s true, because I loved my trip to Ireland—the music, the literature, the Guinness Stout, and yes, the food. It’s been many years since I was in Ireland, but I remember swooning over the fresh, wild salmon, buttered potatoes (of course), and the […]
In all of my books, you’ll find a bagel recipe made the traditional way, by forming the ring and then submerging it into a brief boiling-water bath before baking–but I don’t do that anymore. I did this every Sunday morning for years, and had lovely family brunches, reading the paper, drinking coffee, and munching on […]
This is the New York-style rye bread that got me interested in baking bread when I left New York for Minneapolis in 1987. It continues to be very hard to find–pretty much anywhere in the US. Why? It’s too complicated (and for commercial bakeries, expensive) to create the rye sour that defines the taste of […]