Milk Street Recipes

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Kristine - I apologize for the delay in responding. We have been doing some follow-up testing to see what may have gone wrong. Does your springform pan have a dark, nonstick coating? If so, I believe that may be the cause of the issue. We generally use and prefer lighter aluminum pans in the Milk Street kitchen, which yield a more slowly-developed crust. A darker coating (especially when combined with glass) will brown faster, which is likely why your cake was too dark after just 40 minutes. If you would like to make it again using your darker springform pan, lowering the temperature to 350 degrees should solve the problem. I’m so sorry this didn’t work out the first time for you. We will be making a note of this difference in pan color going forward. Thanks! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Chris - Thanks for your question! Since our Fast and Slow cookbook focuses on electric pressure cookers and we didn't test our recipes in a stovetop pressure cooker, I can't offer an exact revision. However, I can give you some general guidelines that should help you. Since stovetop pressure cookers release a small amount of steam as they cook, some amount of evaporation occurs. Electric pressure cookers are so tightly calibrated that they do not release steam at all. This may mean you need to add a little bit more liquid, likely no more than 1/4 cup. This is especially true for recipes that are pressure cooked for more than 30 minutes. I'd say for this recipe a tablespoon or two might be enough. Also, since a stovetop pressure cooker works at higher pressure (usually 15 psi vs. 10-12 psi for electric pressure cookers) they will cook faster than an electric pressure cooker. A general rule is about 3/4 the cooking time of an electric pressure cooker. So, for this recipe that cooks at high pressure for 25 minutes, a stovetop pressure cooker would only take about 18-20 minutes. You will probably have to experiment and use a little bit of trial and error to get it perfect since all stovetop pressure cookers are slightly different. Hopefully these guidelines will help in your efforts! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Gregory - Thanks for your question. We haven't tested this recipe with other nut butters, but I would imagine cashew butter would work fine. Cashews and peanuts have a similar fat percentage and, therefore, would behave similarly. That being said, cashews are much more mild in flavor than peanuts so I wonder if the overall flavor of the tart would suffer. I'm not as sure about almond butter. Almonds have a bit more fat than peanuts. Since the texture of this filling is so delicate, I would be concerned that it would be compromised using higher-fat almond butter. What you could try is substituting cashew butter for the peanut butter in the filling and almonds for the peanuts in the topping to see if the flavor might be more balanced than simply using cashew butter and cashews. Hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Mitchell - Thanks for your question! First, keep in mind that, as it's written, the recipe yields (4 )12-inch pizzas so you would be looking at making 8-12 pizzas at once if you were doubling or tripling the recipe. That's a lot of pizza! :-) If you want to double or triple the recipe to freeze the dough you would only have to do the warming step for as many pizzas as you would be cooking at one time. Warming the dough at room temperature likely will not work here. That is because, in most homes, room temperature is not more than 70 degrees so the dough would never reach the 75 degrees that is required in the recipe. Since the temperature is so critical here I would be concerned it would get too hot if you tried to warm an oven and create a "proofing box" for the dough as an alternative. Therefore, warming the dough in warm water is, in fact, a critical step. This dough is so great and easy to work with, though, I think it's well worth the effort! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Maureen - Unfortunately, Thai sticky rice or, glutinous rice, will not work in this recipe. The term “sticky rice” is used to refer to lots of different types of short grain Japanese, Chinese, or Korean rice. In the context of Thai cooking, “sticky rice” refers to long grain glutinous rice that is consumed most commonly in the north and northeastern parts of the country. The opaque white rice is usually marketed as Thai sweet or glutinous rice in the United States. Rice contains two types of starch: amylose and amylopectin. The amount of each starch, which is different for every type of rice, determines the texture of the cooked rice and whether it will be fluffy, creamy or sticky. Arborio rice typically contains about 15-17% amylose and a good amount of amylopectin which results in a creamy consistency. Glutinous rice has no, or negligible amounts, of amylose. Sticky rice is a starchy grain. If simmered the same way as Arborio rice (or simmered and then baked, as is done in this recipe), the grains will break down and become soft and mushy in consistency. Glutinous rice should soaked and then steamed to preserve it's texture. Thanks for your question! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Patrick - We used to call for 12 ounces of pasta because we were trying to abide by certain portion-size recommendations that call for 3 ounces of pasta for a single serving (so 3 oz. x 4 servings = 12 oz.). That being said, we are constantly reading and evaluating customer feedback and, therefore, we will now be calling for 1 lb. of pasta in our pasta recipes. Thanks for being a fan! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Beth - Thanks for your question! We haven't tested make ahead instructions for this recipe but, in general, breads and rolls freeze pretty well. For yeast doughs most experts recommend freezing the dough before shaping due to the potential for moisture loss. In the case of dinner rolls (in particular these super-moist sweet potato rolls), we prefer shaping, freezing, then allowing the dough to thaw/rise at room temperature on the day you want to bake them. It saves a lot of work on the day of and I think most people won't notice the small loss of moisture. I do this all the time with very lean dinner rolls and nobody complains! Although you could bake and freeze the rolls I think you would lose a lot of the benefits/joys of having freshly-baked rolls. If you decide to go that route, just make sure to wrap them well (either in plastic and then foil or a freezer zipper top bag) to protect them from freezer burn. For freezing shaped rolls, I like to freeze on the sheet and then transfer to a freezer zipper top bag. That way I can easily pull out a couple at a time for quick, freshly-baked rolls. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Forrest - We published a list of common Milk Street ingredients (including za'atar) and some recommended substitutions in our July-August 2019 issue under the Kitchen Counts feature. You can find that list here. We suggest the following as a substitute for 1 tablespoon of za'atar - 1½ dried thyme + ¾ t sesame seeds + 1 t finely grated lemon zest + ⅛ t salt. I highly recommend our Za'atar-Roasted Chicken - it's one of my favorites because it packs a ton of flavor in its simplicity. Enjoy! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Michael - First, I will pass along your suggestions regarding comments on recipes to our tech team. Thank you! Next, let's talk about piadina. Piadina is an Italian flatbread that I would describe as more similar in texture to a flour tortilla or sandwich wrap than a pizza or naan dough. The flavor of the dough itself should be well-seasoned yet subtle, so as not to overpower or take away from the more flavorful fillings. Since it is never made with yeast and allowed to ferment like pizza or naan, the flavor will also not be as complex. However, the highlight of the piadina dough is the speed with which you can have a homemade bread on your table. The dough should not feel greasy after it has rested. Is it possible your lard was too warm? In the summer sometimes "room temperature" is actually a little too warm. Room temperature butter/shortening/lard should be around 65 degrees, which is probably a bit colder than most people keep their home. As for why your bread did not bubble, I can't be 100% sure. A number of things could be the cause including inactive baking powder, overdocking the dough, or not getting the pan hot enough. Naan is a very different bread than piadina, owing to the addition of yeast and rising time. I definitely think you could experiment with the piadina dough by adding yeast, milk, and sugar and turn it into something more similar to naan. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Micah - Karaage or, Japanese Fried Chicken, is traditionally done with boneless, skinless pieces of chicken thigh to make it easier to eat with chopsticks and make flavorful fried chicken really fast. To fry bone-in pieces would be making fried chicken as opposed to Japanese fried chicken. So my first recommendation would be to debone and skin the chicken yourself and use the boneless pieces. You can reserve the bones and use them to make a really flavorful stock. If that option doesn't work for you, you can fry the whole pieces as you would typical, American-style fried chicken. However, frying bone-in pieces vs. boneless strips is really two different animals. First, I would remove the skin to ensure that the coating will still stick. Since this recipe was developed with skinless pieces of chicken, I can't guarantee the coating on skin-on pieces will behave the same. When marinating the whole pieces I would err on the longer side of marinating time (1 hour) since these are larger pieces. Next, frying whole thighs and drumsticks is going to take significantly longer than the strips called for in the recipe. I would say anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes total. Thighs and drumsticks should register 175 on an instant read thermometer and that's what I would use to determine doneness rather than a time. When you drop in the bone-in pieces into the oil the temperature of the oil will drop. You want to maintain the oil temperature between 300 - 325 so the chicken won't brown too much before it's cooked through. Depending on how much chicken you have (you will need probably an extra pound of bone-in pieces to yield 4 servings), you might have to fry in two batches to avoid overcrowding the pan. In my opinion, the added time and effort of deboning the chicken yourself will probably end up being less effort all in than the added time of frying whole pieces. Plus, you end up with a more accurate version of karaage! Hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.