Milk Street Q&A

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 Suzanne - It's super easy -and much cheaper! - to make your own infused olive oils. Add the peel from one lemon or 2-3 limes to about 1 cup of olive oil (adjust accordingly depending on the amount you'd like to make). Add to a saucepan and heat over very low heat for about 15-20 minutes. Strain and store in an airtight jar in a dry, cool place. Make sure the oil doesn't get too hot - you don't want to see if bubble or splatter. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Justina - Thanks for your question! We've never done a side-by-side test of "raw" vs. pre-boiled (or soaked) fresh lasagna noodles, but my guess is that what you've found is true - there is really no need to pre-boil the fresh noodles. I would give a couple of caveats though - you want to make sure your sauce is pretty loose so there is enough moisture there to cook the noodles but not dry out the lasagna. Also, make sure to cover the lasagna with foil for the majority of the cooking time to trap the heat allowing the noodles to cook through. Remove the cover with about 10-15 minutes left to go to brown the top. I think, traditionally, the goal of pre-cooking was to season the noodles themselves by boiling them in well-salted water. It's my opinion that the sauce and cheese will do a fine job of seasoning the noodles and skipping pre-boiling will save far more time and hassle! Hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Micah - We don't have a recipe for kimchi at Milk Street (yet!). Our recipe developers generally use store-bought kimchi. Since we go through so much of it on a regular basis, they don't typically have time to wait for it to ferment. I spoke to our Head of Recipe Development to see if they use a particular brand or style, but she said they use all different kinds. However she did say they typically use kimchi that is more mild, not spicy. Hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Charles - I agree that de-seeding canned tomatoes seems like a pain. I did see a trick on the internet in which you drain the tomatoes in a fine mesh strainer, break them open, and then transfer them to a salad spinner. Apparently the centrifugal force of the salad spinner leaves you with seedless tomatoes in the basket of the salad spinner and all of the seeds and juice in the bowl of the salad spinner. Then you just strain that juice from the salad spinner through a fine mesh strainer. I haven't tried this but it might be worth a try to see if it can make quicker work of de-seeding for you! Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWnzQ-r-UBQ. Hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Jennifer - This cake sounds fantastic and I agree the sesame-honey combo could be great. I always say that, when it comes to baking, it's hard to make alterations that are guaranteed to work the first time. Since baking is a science you always have to assume that you may have to work with the recipe and make tweaks to get what you want. That being said, when substituting honey for sugar you need to account for their differences: 1.) honey is sweeter than sugar, 2.) honey is a liquid sweetener, 3.) honey browns quicker than sugar, and 4.) honey is more acidic than sugar. To start, I would substitute 3/4 the amount of honey as sugar and reduce the amount of liquid in the recipe by 3-4 tablespoons (if there is no liquid in the recipe add an additional 3-4 tablespoons of flour). You should be OK baking at 350 degrees but if you find the cake is browning too fast I would move it to a lower rack and reduce the oven temp by 25 degrees (and bake it the next time at the lower temperature the whole time). Finally, I think you should be fine with the amount of leavener here but if you want to substitute honey in other recipes that only call for baking soda I would make sure to add an additional 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder to the dry ingredients to account for honey's acidity. However if you find the rise on this cake isn't what you expected you can try making it the next time with 1/2 teaspoon baking powder instead of 1/4 teaspoon and see if that helps. Which brings us to pan size. You can definitely make the cake in a 9-inch pan rather than the 8-inch pan called for in the recipe. Just know that it make take a bit less time to bake and will yield a slightly shorter cake. 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 Raphaela - I’m sorry I missed your question! Claire, above, gives some good advice as to why your quick bread may sink in the middle. I would also add the following: \* confirm that your leavener (baking powder and/or soda) is active and you are using a reliable recipe that includes the proper amount of leavener. You can test your leavener by adding a small amount to a small bowl of vinegar. If it becomes fizzy, it’s still active. \*The proportion of wet to dry ingredients may be off. It’s always best to use the weights given in the recipe, if there are any, and to make sure to use a volume measurement for fruits. For example, if a recipe calls for 4 bananas it’s hard to know how much actual fruit 4 bananas will yield. Instead we call for, and recommend using, a cup measurement for bananas. In this case, that would equate to 2 cups of mashed banana. The most important thing is to test with a toothpick before pulling the bread out. Every oven is different and times can differ. If a toothpick comes out clean it means the bread is fully cooked and will not sink. Hope this helps! 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.