BakingAsked Apr 13, 2025 by Connie S.
Hello friends,
I love the baking technique for your Chèvre Cheesecake with Black Pepper Graham Crust. However, I am attempting to bake cheesecakes to sell in a small country store in rural Wisconsin and the goat cheese and crème fraiche ingredients make this recipe a bit unaccessible. I prefer the New York Times recipe (please, no offense!) here:
Tall and Creamy Cheesecake Recipe
My question is this: Can I use the same baking techniques where the crust is baked @ 300, the oven turned up to 450 to start baking the cheesecake, then turned off, etc. here for this recipe?
Thank you in advance for your reply!
-CS
Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau
Hello Connie –
I would follow the recipe as written. The New York Times recipe is from Dorie Greenspan, a true pro. You can look through the comments below the recipe to see if anyone suggests any changes to the technique. We have not made her recipe, so we cannot give any suggestions for changing it. Happy baking!
Read MoreAsked Apr 10, 2025 by Mitchell G.
I love the idea of the Broken Phyllo Baklava Cake and plan to try it.
https://www.177milkstreet.com/recipes/broken-phyllo-baklava-cake
The only thing that's throwing me is the lack of honey in a "baklava" cake. It seems like that could be introduced in the syrup but I'm also guessing the Milk Street chefs would have considered that. I didn't want to waste the time or ingredients if it's a bad idea. If it isn't already a bad idea, I'd also love some advice on the best way to incorporate honey into the recipe. I promise not to review it based on me messing it up ;-)
Thanks!
Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau
Hello Mitchell –
Your instincts are correct, honey would be great with this! The recipe is based on a Phyllo Cake we learned from chef Maria Leivaditaki in which she made a syrup with sugar, orange peel and bay leaves. We turned it into a Baklava Cake, keeping sugar model for the syrup. I talked to the developer of the Baklava Cake about using honey in the recipe. She recommends using ¾ honey in place of the 1 cup sugar in the syrup. We have not tried this for this particular cake, but we think it should work just fine. Let us know how it turns out!
Read MoreAsked Mar 28, 2025 by Mary L.
I was looking back at my Jan/Feb 2024 copy of Milk Street and read about browning flour (“For Bigger Flavor, Toast your Flour”). That raised the question in my mind about toasting flour before using it as a thickener, or before making a roue. How would that change flour’s thickening ability in a stew (I generally lightly flour beef before browning when I make a stew)? Would it make my gravy richer or likely to need more liquid? Most importantly how would toasting change the flavor?
Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau
Hello Mary –
We have not tested the affect of toasted flour with thickeners, roux or gravies. I've passed on your query to our Kitchen Team. We'll let you know if they expand their testing of toasted flours.
Thank you for your query.
Read MoreAsked Mar 24, 2025 by William R.
When the potatoes are cooked, can they be beaten with a hand mixer to make them smoother or will that turn them into wallpaper paste? Is running them through a sieve achieve a smoother result? Thanks, Bill
Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau
Hello Bill –
You do run the risk of making gummy potatoes by using a hand mixer. On the other hand, running them through a sieve would be like passing the potatoes through a food mill or ricer, resulting in very smooth mashed potatoes. I'd recommend giving that a try!
Read MoreAsked Mar 20, 2025 by Joanne G.
Let me start by saying..,I LOVE THIS RECIPE AS INCLUDED IN THE LASAGNA BOLOGNESE. HOWEVER, In the recipe for Parmesan Besciamela, it states "This white sauce is packed with flavor from bay, basil and Parmesan and gets a hint of heat from red pepper flakes". Editor's note: 2/24/25: recipe was redeveloped. It also recommends straining. The published recipe does not include pepper flakes, basil nor straining! And the ingredient amounts are different (half and half and the parmesan). With only 3 cups of half and half it was almost impossible to strain it and why would you need to if there's no basil??? I just fished out the 2 bay leaves. So, all in all, this current recipe needs to be re-written and re-published, please!
Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau
Hello Joanne –
We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience due to changes in our recipes. I will pass your message along to our Editorial Team for their consideration.
Thank you for sharing this feedback.
Read MoreAsked Mar 13, 2025 by Joanne G.
I made the cranberry-orange soda bread yesterday. After the recommended 35-40 min of baking time, I check the internal temp and it was only 160. I baked it another 8 min and it still had reached only 170. However, the bottom, when “ thumped” was hollow. After it rested,The outside was quite done but the inside was still a bit moist. My oven was “right on” (by thermometer) at 400.
Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau
Hello Joanne –
I checked with one of baking experts who developed this recipe. She said that the height of your bread could affect the baking time, saying that a taller bread would take longer to fully bake than a squat bread. At Milk Street we love to toast slices of this soda bread. That could help eliminate the moisture for this loaf. For future reference, the internal temp for soda bread should be 200°F to 210°F.
Read MoreAsked Mar 10, 2025 by Thomas N.
Watched Milk Street episode recently with Christopher Kimbell preparing an Ethiopian Lentil dish that was flavored with Berbere spice. He added many different spices but didn't give the amounts of each spice.
Q: Is there a recipe for this dish with the amounts of the spices included? Thanks.
Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau
Hello Thomas –
Yes, the recipe is Berbere-Spiced Red Lentils. You can find it in the most recent edition of our TV cookbook, our "365" cookbook, in the July/Aug 2022 issue of our magazine and online. The recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of berbere spice which you can purchase as a spice blend or you can make your own and measure out 1 tablespoon. Attached is a pdf of the Milk Street berbere spice blend.
https://www.177milkstreet.com/discussion/uploads/398/PPJNHRQU7JCB.pdf
Read MoreAsked Mar 03, 2025 by Peggy C.
Can this cake be made without the almond paste? Would I add more vanilla?
Thanks
Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau
Hello Peggy–
I'm afraid not. There are 5½ ounces almond paste which adds flavor as well as texture to the cake. Perhaps you could try one of our other citrus cake recipes that do not contain almond paste – Amalfi-Style Lemon Cake or our Yogurt Cake with Citrus and Spice.
Read MoreAsked Feb 24, 2025 by Bob K.
When we cook we tend to be very careful about temperature. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the chicken until the breast temperature is 160 degrees. When we say cook over medium heat (or high, etc.), what should the surface temperature of the pan be? On my range, the temperature in the directions will almost always be too high, but I'm have trouble figuring what the actual setting should be.
Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau
Hello Bob –
Unfortunately we do not give guidance on surface temperatures as we assume home cooks do not have laser thermometers to measure this and stovetops can vary in power. Generally we develop our recipes on gas cooktops, but they also are tested on induction. We typically accept that any setting, be it "medium" or "medium-high" on any type of cooktop will have an acceptable variance for our recipes to work properly.
The best advice we can give is to get to know your cooktop; if the burners run on the hot side, drop the setting down when following recipes. In fact, when we cook our recipes on our particular brand of induction cooktops, we find we need to jump up one setting to more closely match the corresponding heat setting of a gas range. For instance, the settings on our induction burners range from 1 to 9; medium heat should be at level 5, but we raise it to 6 as we've found that setting to be compatible with a "medium" setting on a average-sized gas burner. We also find that electric cooktops, be it coil or glass, run a little hotter than induction.
The type of pan used can also vary in terms of surface temperature. If you are cooking in carbon steel, or using a wok, those conduct heat much higher and faster than regular stainless steel or non-stick pans, so adjust accordingly.
Read MoreAsked Feb 24, 2025 by Bob K.
Dear Milk Street folks,
I love your show, and bought the Milkstreet Cookbook. My wife is gluten-free, and one of my dearest goals is to make her some GF versions of your great exotic bread recipes. My baking efforts are falling flat -- literally.
I have tried 3 times on Palestinian Turmeric bread (pg 688), with your recipe, using King Arthur GF Measure for Measure flour or Bob's Redmill All purpose GF flour. My instant yeast is fresh (tested with a blooming trial, cup of water and sugar -- it bubbled up), and the following variations:
1. Straight recipe, GF flour. Yeast straight in with flour. Bread did not rise in either stage. Bake result, flat, brownie/biscuit like density. Tasted okay, but dense.
1. Recipe, added 6 tsp of Xanthum gum (guessed at it). Same other parameters. Same result.
1. Recipe, researched correct amount of 9 tsp xanthum gum (slightly more than Bob's Redmil xanthum gum package recommends at 1.5 tsp per cup of flour), AND bloomed the yeast in 1 cup of water and tsp of sugar, as part of the 1 and 2/3 cups total water in the recipe -- so did not change ratio. ALSO, put it in a shut off oven that was set to warm, and put in when oven temp was under 100 degrees, to try to get yeast to grow in a hotter environment. SAME RESULT. Sigh...
German Style Winter Squash Bread (pg 544)
1. Per the recipe, WITH xanthum gum AND bloomed yeast added. This time, SOME rising of dough -- but sideways, and so loose it obliterated the braiding. ALSO, put it in a shut off oven that was set to warm, and put in when oven temp was under 100 degrees, to try to get yeast to grow in a hotter environment. Result -- a WIDE, flat brownie/biscuit density. Sigh...
So, is this a Lost Cause? Are these recipes undoable with GF flour? Have you tried any GF versions of any of your recipes? I love the cookbook, and have made some other non baked stuff that was great, but this is my real quest for my wife, to bake something fresh for a woman who has endured Schaar package bread for most of her life. She is both applauding my efforts, and wishing I would give up on what is so far mostly a waste of time and flour. Do you have any secret ingredient combo that will make these top shelf GF flour brands actually RISE?
Thanks so much for any help you can provide, or for letting me down easily and telling me to forget it, it's undoable (hope not!). -- Bob Kalinowski
Photo of flat Squash bread(left) and version 3 of flat Turmeric bread (right).
flatbreadsthatshouldnotbe.jpg
Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau
Hello Bob–
I'm so sorry but we are not qualified to provide advice on specific dietary needs. We love that you want to make our baking recipes for your wife, but I'm afraid that our recipes have not been tested with alternate ingredients. I'm sure there must be bakers out there who are experts at adapting recipes for gluten-free requirements. We wish you the best of luck and truly do appreciate your intention and efforts.
Read More 
