"We're bringing our childhood memories to the table, and now people are paying attention," said Erick Rocha, pastry chef at Corima in Manhattan and the all-day cafe Vato, in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where conchas regularly sell out.
It's kind of like a pseudo-cheesecake - more so than other no-bake varieties. Our own two-ingredient version of it doesn't even require cream cheese. Instead, shortbread cookies are set into a vat of Greek yogurt and allowed to sit overnight so that they can soften. The result is a creamy, cheesecake-like dessert packed with protein and endless customization options.
A burnt bottom is simply caused by the bread coming into direct contact with a hot Dutch oven or stone. Luckily, this is the simplest issue to fix - all you need to do is place some aluminum foil between the bread and your cooking vessel. The foil will create a barrier between the loaf and the hot surface and absorb some of the heat, lowering the temperature of the bread's bottom without impacting the overall temperature of the Dutch oven.
You can skip the entire cumbersome step of straining your rice by placing a fine mesh sieve or strainer on top of your pot and pouring the rice directly into it, rather than into the water. Leave the sieve in the pot for the whole cooking process with a cover placed on top. The steam rising from the water will cook the rice, giving you a perfectly separated, airy result.
Whether you believe it's cheesecake or not, you can't argue that it's not a terrific (and super easy!) breakfast, snack, or dessert on its own merits. For something so easy to make, this two-ingredient Japanese cheesecake sure did come out delicious.
One piece of evidence is that there are actually quite a few cake mixes out there sold in bulk and specifically marketed to bakeries. A 50-pound bag of red velvet cake mix doesn't have a lot of uses aside from a fairly large-scale operation. But beyond that, there are plenty of bakery employees on the internet spilling the beans.
To keep a sourdough starter active, it has to be fed regularly using flour and water. However, I didn't realize this until I inherited my first one. How often it's fed depends on where it's stored. For example, if I leave the starter on the counter, I feed it once every 12 to 24 hours. When I keep it in the refrigerator, however, I can feed it less, typically about once a week.
The step is coating blueberries with cornstarch before adding them to your mix. "Blueberries leak a lot as they bake, and that juice can mess with the crumb or make things a bit wet," Daud explains. "The cornstarch soaks up some of that moisture, so the berries stay more contained." Dredging in cornstarch gives you more control over the berries and resulting texture of your bake, as it keeps them intact and their moisture in check.
Something as classic as banana bread is often overlooked as a simple bake, but you shouldn't underestimate how some key tips can help you bake banana bread that's perfectly moist, not overwhelmingly sweet, and tender to the bite - ultimately, a classic recipe that stands out from the rest. As a professional baker, to make the best banana bread, I like to get specific with my ingredients.
We first have to answer the question: What actually causes cookies to go stale? Well, it's due to a chemical process called starch retrogradation; once baked goods leave the heat of the oven, the starch molecules recrystallize - a process that's expedited by exposure to air. The most logical solution, of course, is not to leave your cookies sitting out on a plate. But to preserve their texture even more, you may want to reach for that roll of paper towels.
"Even just a few minutes makes a difference," Daud explains. "Resting lets the excess steam escape and gives the starches time to settle, so the rice ends up fluffy instead of wet or clumpy." Daud adds that the go-to time is 10 minutes for a standard amount of rice, but larger batches can require a longer rest. "If I'm making a bigger batch for a dinner party," she says. "I usually give the rice around 30 minutes to rest." However, when making certain "cultural dishes" like maklouba, Daud notes that she will "let it rest up to an hour or even a bit more before serving."
Sticky rice, aka sweet glutinous rice, is best steamed so its plump, chewy grains are ready to sponge up all the flavor. I created it almost by accident when I was obsessed with tomato paste and the umami it can contribute. The result is reminiscent of paella, but with the classic sticky-chewy texture of sweet glutinous rice. You'll end up with a bit of crispy browned rice at the bottom of the pan - scrape it up, fold it into the final mix
Dunking a crusty piece of bread into soup certainly makes the meal even better, but adding the bread inside as it simmers yields a more velvety product. Given its propensity to disintegrate when cooked in broth, bread is the perfect addition to make soup more filling - this is particularly true of rye bread. The baked good is earthy and thick, adding flavorful and textural depth to soup.
