Milk Street RecipesAsked Sep 01, 2020 by diana B.
Why can the dough rise and then fall? I have baked bread for many years, and falling is a no-no. Is it because of the high hydration? Doesn't the gluten over-stretch all the same?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Diana - According to our science expert, the rise, collapse, and re-rise of the dough is beneficial because the process stretches and weakens the gluten so it is not so tough and helps to incorporate more air into the dough that also affects the strength of the gluten and texture of the bread. The lengthy rest produces additional gas and air pockets, much of which are retained within the dough resulting in the airy structure. The high ratio of water to flour also produces a significant amount of steam during baking that aids in expanding the air pockets, further adding to the airy open crumb structure. In addition, the fairly high amount of salt slows the rate of yeast fermentation and gas formation which works well with the long rest time producing a batter-like dough, while it also increases crust color and taste. Hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 28, 2020 by sheekha D.
I get that pizza dough requires dry toppings, but we still like sauce on the pizza. can we bake the crust without putting anything and then halfway we top it up with sauce and cheese?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Sheekha - I spoke with Christopher Kimball - who created the recipe - and he said the following, "No, it won’t work. You really have to keep anything moist off the top to get a crispy top crust - moisture will ruin it even halfway through." Hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 28, 2020 by Karen J.
Can you provide instructions for the Jollof Rice with Shrimp for those without an instapot? Thank you!!
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Karen - That recipe was based off a stovetop version we developed for one of our other cookbooks. You can find the stovetop version of the recipe here. The stovetop version doesn't call for shrimp, but you can easily add it when you add the peas at the end. The residual heat in the covered pot should cook the shrimp through during the 5 minutes it sits. If you find they aren't quite ready, just heat the pan over low to finish cooking them. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 22, 2020 by Craig B.
Greetings Milk Street,
I would like a stovetop version of the chickpeas and Swiss chard recipe. I just saw an instapot version. I suppose the stovetop version would need to you soaked chickpeas, but what other changes would I need to make. Swiss Chard and garbanzo beans are two of my favorite ingredients, and I would hate to be unable to make that dish. Thanks
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Craig - Glad you found it! In case others are searching for it as well, here's the link. Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 22, 2020 by Amy T.
Hi Milk Street team - are you doing some kind of experiment with recipe writing? Your use of metric vs non for both dry and wet ingredients seems to be all over the place, even within a single recipe. Why not consistently just show both with one in parentheses? I find myself more and more taking your English measurement and pouring it into a bowl or cup on my scale and annotating the book/magazine, esp. for baking. It would also be helpful for dough recipes to put the Kitchen-Aid speed in parens when saying things like ‘ low or medium low’. KA 2/3/4 would be helpful (of course if KA isn’t on-board with the reference or another sponsor has an issue, I guess you can’t. ). Thanks!
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Amy - I spoke with our Recipe Editor, Dawn Yanagihara, and she asked me to pass this along:
Thank you for your note. We’re always trying to improve our recipe style to make our recipes easier to follow, and we admit that in the early days of Milk Street we may not have been very consistent about metric weights and volume measurements. Just to be clear, we give metric weights along with volume measurements in only baking recipes because weights are more precise and help ensure success in recipes that are sensitive to variance in ingredient amounts; sweet recipes that do not involve baking use only volume measurements. Our kitchen uses metric weights when developing baking recipes but also tests with volume measurements to ensure good outcomes either way.
As for your suggestion about specifying speeds on KitchenAid mixers—we try as much as possible to not be brand-specific when it comes to kitchen equipment. We hope that regardless of the brand of appliance, cookware, bakeware or utensil, our recipes turn out so well that you want to make them again and again.
Happy Baking and Cooking!
Dawn
Read MoreAsked Aug 21, 2020 by Susan B.
Hello, I’m so grateful to Milk Street for having a wonderful cooking school in Boston. The last caramel I made was Milk Street’s recipe, Caramel Oranges: the simple magic trick of turning oranges into dessert. It was an exciting moment at Milk Street Cooking School where I tried this first hand, and yes it came out wonderfully. I’ve made this recipe several times with success, since.
In trying the Salt & Pepper Butterscotch recipe my first mistake may have been to assume there was some wiggle room in choosing the exact moment to take the caramel off the heat and add 4oz of water. My 6oz, 1.24 cups sugar mixture went from a sludge-like clump where it remained for awhile, then suddenly changed to liquid, and a black smoking tar so darn fast!
My second mistake I think was subbing moscavado in, because I was out of dark brown sugar in the recipe.
Third although my saucepan is All Clad, it may not have been the right choice for equipment.
in this recipe:
# SALT AND PEPPER BUTTERSCOTCH PUDDING
Instructions:
In a large saucepan over medium-high, cook the butter and sugar, stirring, until vigorously bubbling, then continue to cook for 1 minute...
I could not get past the few seconds where my sugar and butter mixture was in a clump, then very briefly liquid and suddenly smoky black bubbles, let alone allowing it to stay in the bubbling state for one minute.
it took 3 highly dramatic tries, setting off the smoke alarms twice, and using 75% white sugar and 25% muscavado sugar to land results that were edible, which I finished up the recipe with.
The result was predictable too sweet as it lacked enough of the bitter notes in dark brown sugar, but edible.
each time it the caramel darkened more when I added the water to it. Lastly the consistency of my caramel after adding the water was very liquid, and barely thickened at all at this point., as you can see,
49334A6D-36F8-4EFE-AAFB-9F5AF7DC65EC.jpeg
An overly sweet, watery, burnt colored, dark brown liquid. And this was my best batch.
I’m so grateful for any tips you may have. If you rely on a particular sauce pan you’d like to recommend I’m interestingly to know more.
Thank you,
Susan.
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Susan - I spoke with Rebecca Richmond, the recipe developer, and she thinks it may have to do with the Muscovado sugar. The larger grains of Muscovado sugar (as compared to dark brown sugar) will take longer to dissolve and may be burning before they can fully melt. Likely due to the fact that there is more molasses in Muscovado than dark brown sugar. I would also try lowering the burner down to medium heat. It will take a little longer to reach the bubbling stage, but it will give you a bit more insurance against burning. You have a little bit more control over the speed of cooking and, in the event your stovetop runs a little hotter than ours, this will adjust for the temperature difference. I hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 21, 2020 by Steve S.
The recipe is for 6-7 lb chuck roast at 325° for 2 hrs + 1-1.5 hrs.
How much would cooking times be reduced if making half recipe, so 3 - 3 1/2 lb roast? thx
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Steve - Since it's the size of the pieces of meat that matters more than the volume when it comes to cooking time, it's probably going to take close to the same amount of time to cook the pieces until they meet no resistance. I'd follow the recipe but start checking the meat a little early. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 19, 2020 by Elizabeth S.
I’m planning to make the black eye pea stew tomorrow and only have dried- it looks as if I don’t need to soak them over night- is this true of black eye peas? Any clue how many dry equals the 3 cans asked for in the recipe? Thank you for any help you can give!
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Elizabeth - Since this was developed for our Tuesday Night cookbook, we always started with canned peas since they were quicker to cook. Because of this, we haven't tested this recipe with dried peas. Generally speaking, for dried beans (black-eyed peas are actually beans, not peas), we \do\ recommend soaking overnight in salted water. We did some testing on equivalencies for dried vs canned beans and you can find those results here. This article also gives our standard cooking method for dried beans. Hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 19, 2020 by Edward Z.
Can the Piadina be made the day before eating and if so how to store it?
Answered by Matthew Card
Yes, they can be made ahead. I would layer them between parchment paper or kitchen towels and store in the refrigerator. They can then be reheated in a hot, dry skillet.
Read MoreAsked Aug 19, 2020 by Edward Z.
Can the Ricotta Cheese Cake made with semolina be made the day before?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Edward - As long as you leave it in the fridge, this should be fine made the day before. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.
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