For what ever reason some ovens just don’t trap steam very well. This is true of professional equipment, but some home ovens behave this was as well. The reason to care…if you don’t trap steam in the oven for the first 10 minutes of baking you will end up with a dull, lackluster crust, even if you use a good baking stone (which is essential for great free-form loaves).

There are a couple different ways to achieve this, including the tried and true misting bottle. You use a food grade spray bottle and mist the bread every minute for the first 10 minutes. This requires you to stick close to the oven and open the door repeatedly to spray. A bit more work than I’m generally willing to do, but it will give you a nice result. Here is a much easier way: (more…)

Great minds think alike! 😉  Jeff and I both felt compelled to blog about tomatoes this month. Probably our last ditch effort to use them before we head into the tomato-free season of winter. I swore I’d learn to can this year, but alas the summer and all of its gorgeous fruit has come and gone and I have nothing to show for it. So in these last days of summer we cling desperately to what will soon be just a lovely memory, the tomato. (more…)

I just bought herbs to plant in my garden. Unlike my girlfriend Anne Phyfe who lives in Seattle and has a hedge of rosemary in her yard, all year round, I have to replant mine every spring and hope for enough to get me through the season. After I planted the rosemary my hands were perfumed with that fresh herbaceous scent. I was moved to cut off some of the new delicate stems and bake it into the baguette that was rising on the counter. The result was a crust that had the light smell and taste of rosemary. (more…)

This is a fabulously simple bread to make, and incredibly quick if you have a bucket of Brioche dough on hand. You can bake the bread in a loaf pan but for the Brioche à tête (tête means head) you really want to have the traditional fluted pan. It will be wonderful served with Lemon Curd (page 228) and jam on Mother’s Day this weekend. Not to mention its shape reminds me of the Venus of Willendorf, the ultimate 25,000 year old symbol of being a mom!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the proud moms!

Now let me show you how to shape the Brioche à tête. (more…)