Baking

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Chi - you don't \have\ to temper the eggs when making a pastry cream. See this recipe from Martha Stewart where everything goes in the pot at once. You\do\ need to stir constantly to keep the eggs from forming clumps. Tempering works because the addition of the liquid dilutes the egg proteins making it harder for them to combine and form those clumps. A tempered mixture is already warm so it takes less time to come to a boil and, therefore, requires less stirring and time. But, as long as you stir constantly, you can get the same results from adding the eggs and liquid together from the start. I would still recommend running it through a fine-mesh strainer after cooking to strain our any curds that may have formed despite your best efforts. Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Alix - Unfortunately, we haven't used cookie stamps for any recipes at Milk Street so I can't give you any tested advice. However, here are some of my personal suggestions - Choose the right style of cookie - a shortbread or sablè cookie is probably best for stamping. That's because these don't contain any leavener or eggs (or only egg yolks), which makes them less likely to rise or spread and impact the design. Don't overmix the dough - when creaming the butter and sugar, you want to make sure to mix the butter and sugar thoroughly but you don't want to beat too long or at too high a speed. This will incorporate too much air which will cause the cookies to spread during baking and affect the stamped design. Flour the stamp very well before stamping the cookies - you want to be able to make a relatively deep impression without the stamp sticking to the dough. Chill the cookies before baking - put the stamped cookies in the fridge before baking. I'd say about an hour. Cold cookies won't spread in the oven and will hold the stamped shapes. I hope these suggestions are helpful and lead to some beautiful stamped cookies! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Mildred and Anne - I agree! I will pass this along to our editorial team and, hopefully, when travel reopens we can get to Belgium to try some authentic versions. In the meantime, I’ve heard good things about this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Patrice - The quick answer is "no." The higher protein content in bread flour is responsible for that chew we all love in breads and pizza dough. That same higher protein content translates to crumbly cookies and dense cakes. For more information on our testing around this, check out our Off the Air column from Fall 2018. I understand that it's frustrating right now with the lack of all-purpose flour on the shelves. If you can find cake flour, I would recommend that as a better sub for all-purpose flour in cakes and cookies. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Jennifer - I'd love to help you with your walnut cookie issues, but it's hard to determine where the problem is without seeing the recipe. Would you be willing to post it here? For chewy chocolate chip cookies, I'd recommend three things - 1.) using melted butter - melted butter will create a denser, chewier cookie since you're not incorporating air into the cookie by creaming the butter; 2.) use some brown sugar - brown sugar is more hygroscopic than white sugar, meaning it retains moisture and helps keep the cookies moist, not dry; and 3.) pull the cookies out of the oven when the edges are just set and the centers are still slightly underdone. Let them finish baking on the sheet so they won't overbake. Overbaked cookies are probably the #1 reason for crunchy, not chewy, chocolate chip cookies. Good luck with your chocolate chip cookies and let us know about the recipe for your walnut cookies and we can try to help solve your rock hard cookie problem. Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Lynn - I don't think there's a real issue in altering small-scale recipes by simply doubling the ingredients. This theory that it matters may come more from commercial baking production where it would likely make a greater difference. The only caveats is to make sure that the doubled amount can fit comfortably in your mixer so your dough or batter can mix properly. If you can't incorporate enough air during mixing, the cake may be dense and even potentially fall while baking if it lacks structure. Stella Parks over at Serious Eats has a great article on scaling recipes for different sized pans that also talks a little bit about doubling (she's firmly in the camp of "it's fine to double a small-scale recipe" too). Hope that helps! Best, Lynn

Answered by Chris Kimball

I use the paddle to make a batter - a thick cake batter for example since it will do a good job of incorporating dry and wet ingredients without overworking the flour mixture. (In. general, one does not want to overmix cake batters since yo can develop gluten which will toughen the final product.) I use the whisk for egg whites, whole eggs, creaming butter -0 anytime one is trying to incorporate air into a mixture.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Lynn - You've got the right idea by using a piece of bread. For both, make sure to keep them stored as airtight as possible. You could also try a sugar saver for storing brown sugar. These work pretty well and are fairly inexpensive. They even sell plastic containers now with a sugar saver built in, which are an even better deal. Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Marsha - I would try lowering the temperature by 25 degrees for the full cooking time. This will help give the center enough time to bake through before the outside is too brown. Also, we recommend using a volume measurement for the main ingredient - bananas, zucchini, etc. Sometimes recipes call for "four bananas" or "two zucchini' but not all bananas or zucchini are of equal size, so you end up with too much weight in your batter and the cake won't rise properly. Look for recipes that call for a cup or weight measurement and make sure to measure precisely. If you haven't tried our Brown Butter Cardamom Banana Bread, definitely give that one a try! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Chi - You are correct - it's the cheese. We call for whole-milk mozzarella because it melts better. Part-skim is great for browning, but its more likely to seize into a mass than flow when it melts. The fontina is there, not only for flavor, but because its also a great melting cheese. We place the steel on the upper middle rack in the oven to better heat the baking steel. (It’s also easier to slide the pizza off the steel when the rack is in a higher position.) While an oven is heating up, the heat usually comes from the top and the bottom of the oven so this will really get the steel as hot as possible. It's the top of the steel that actually cooks the bottom of the pizza so getting this really hot is key to crispy crust. We don't call for using the broiler in our recipe, but if you want to turn yours on to get more browning on the top, definitely try it! Just make sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn. Best, Lynn C.