Innehållsförteckning för January/February 2021 från Bake from Scratch

Across the world, people had to adapt to exponential change and upset. Despite all of this, the good can’t be forgotten. During the early days of the shutdowns and stay-at-home orders, people who had never considered themselves bakers found themselves elbows-deep in dough, trying everything from cake to sourdough for the very first time. Then, on June 19, 2020, thousands of bakers—including myself and many of the Bake from Scratch team—banded together to host a global bake sale for Bakers Against Racism, an organization that encourages home bakers and professional pastry chefs to raise funds for local and national charities through bake sales. Each cookie, cake, and blondie sold has helped contribute to their current tally of $1.9 million, making this the most successful bake sale in history. To me,…

BAKERS AGAINST RACISM ARLEY ARRINGTON RICHMOND, VIRGINIA How did you get involved with Bakers Against Racism? AA: “When I first saw the Instagram post announcing Bakers Against Racism, I was immediately on board. I’ve been running an online bakery, Arley Cakes, for a while, and I’ve always brought my beliefs and activism to my baking. For the Richmond, Virginia, fundraiser, I baked little cookies with “Black Lives Matter” frosted on top. Since then, I’ve been auctioning cakes to the highest bidder and hosting other bake sales, donating the proceeds to a variety of causes, from a local fundraiser for school supplies to Spread the Vote, which boosts voter registration. Basically, since the first bake sale, I’ve strived to do one bake sale a month. Even if the donations are small,…

Some people inherit handmade quilts orfine china from their grandmother; Jocelyn Delk Adams inherited a passion. The baker and creator of the blog Grandbaby Cakes has built an empire on heirloom recipes twirled up with modern flavors. Jocelyn knows that everything that has come since Grandbaby Cakes’s inception—the television spots on TODAY and the Food Network, the award-winning cookbook, the brand partnerships—all started with her baking in the kitchen with her grandmother Maggie Mae Small. “In every sense of the word, my grandmother is my muse,” Jocelyn says. Growing up in the hustle and bustle of the outskirts of Chicago, Illinois, Jocelyn and her family spent summer vacations and holidays visiting her grandfather and Big Mama, as Maggie was affectionately known, in Winona, Mississippi. “It was always such an interesting…

CAKEY BROWNIES Makes about 9 brownies If you’re looking for a delicate crumb, bold cocoa flavor, and lofty height, our Cakey Brownies are the answer. Cocoa powder, not melted chocolate, gives these brownies their chocolate flavor, meaning they’re less dense and less fudgy, with a matte, slightly crunchy top. We added milk to help tenderize the batter without weighing down the crumb. While still warm, this brownie will have a closer crumb texture, but as it cools, the crumb becomes more cake-like, soft and spongy. Think of this as a brownie version of devil’s food cake—satiny and cocoa-rich but light as air. 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar¾ cup (165 grams) firmly packed dark brown sugar¾ cup (170 grams) unsalted butter, melted1¼ cups (156 grams) all-purpose flour1 cup (85 grams)…

RECIPE INDEX BARS AND COOKIES Benne Wafers 109 Cakey Brownies 91 Cheesecake-Swirled Fudgy Brownies 92 Fudgy Brownies 92 Orange-Chocolate Brownie Cookies 64 Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chunk Cakey Brownies 91 Tiramisù Frangipane Thumbprint Cookies 81 BREADS Banana-Peanut Butter Biscuits 48 Cinnamon-Swirled Banana Loaf 13 Frangipane-Jam Buns 84 Peanut-Jalapeño Cornbread 52 Zingy Lemon Roll Biscuits with Lemon Cream Cheese Drizzle 33 CAKES Berry Frangipane Cake 83 Coffee-Peanut Meringue Cake 53 Layered Grapefruit Cake 62 Mama’s 7Up Pound Cake 34 Mixed Citrus Curd Crumb Cake 60 Peanut Butter Cake 27 Vanilla Bean Sheet Cake with Vanilla Bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream 23 FROSTINGS, FILLINGS, GARNISHES, AND GLAZES Brown Sugar Candied Peanuts 28 Candied Orange Peel 64 Candied Pecans 44 Caramel Sauce 44 Cheesecake Layer 92 Cinnamon-Ginger Streusel 60 Citrus Glaze 60 Coffee German Buttercream 53…

It’s hard to imagine that the world-famous peanut lives in a constant state of identity crisis. While it has the flavor characteristics of a nut, boasts the nutritional content of a seed, and develops underground like a tuber, the peanut actually belongs to the same plant family as beans and peas, called Leguminosae. As a legume, it is like no other in its class. Roasted, it releases aromatic oils and becomes undeniably crunchy; boiled, the peanut turns soft and creamy. It can be ground into peanut butter, pressed into cooking oil, and milled into flour. The peanut may forever struggle with the existential question, “Am I a pea, or am I a nut?” Whatever the answer, it remains the perfect baking companion in every way, shape, and form. The peanut…

THE GAME CHANGER AUZERAIS BELLAMY BLONDERY | BROOKLYN, NEW YORK Bite into one of Auzerais Bellamy’s gourmet blondies and you’ll wonder how something so simple and comforting could also be so exquisite and refined. This butterscotch-rich baked good is an encapsulation of Auzerais’s accomplished career as a pastry chef, a 10-year saga in the fine dining circuit including with the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group. When she met the fine dining glass ceiling, she broke through not by playing the game but by changing it entirely. She started her own business, Blondery, a bakery originally based out of her home kitchen, with four signature flavors available for order: Pecan and Salted Caramel, Brooklyn Blackout, Cinnamon Sugar, Birthday Cake. The classic Pecan and Salted Caramel Blondie is the base recipe she’s been…

My wife, Deborah, is from Perry, Georgia, and came from a very close-knit family. She had five aunts, and standing on her front porch, you could see four of the five aunts’ homes. Big Annie was one of the aunts. She was 97 when I met her, living comfortably and independently by herself. As she greeted us, that classic Southern hospitality kicked in, and she took us to her porch freezer. She pulled out this brown cylinder, tightly wrapped in plastic. I thought, “This is interesting.” We headed back to the parlor, talked for 45 minutes, and then Big Annie excused herself and returned saying, “I thought you might like to try my peanut butter cake.” She served us cake wedges thick enough to choke a horse, but I have…

BANANA-PEANUT BUTTER BISCUITS Makes 9 biscuits If there were ever a match made in heaven, it would be banana and peanut butter. Defatted peanut butter powder plays a transformative role in this tender biscuit, providing structure and all the nutty flavor you love without adding any additional oil to weigh down the biscuits. 1¾ cups (219 grams) all-purpose flour¾ cup (70 grams) powdered peanut butter*3 tablespoons (36 grams) granulated sugar3¾ teaspoons (18.75 grams) baking powder1¼ teaspoons (2.5 grams) ground cinnamon¼ teaspoon ground ginger¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg⅛ teaspoon ground cloves⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom1 teaspoon (3 grams) kosher salt¾ cup (170 grams) cold unsalted butter, cubed½ cup (120 grams) cold whole buttermilk¼ cup (57 grams) mashed ripe banana (about 1 medium banana)1 teaspoon (6 grams) vanilla bean paste1 large egg (50 grams),…

TIRAMISÙ FRANGIPANE THUMBPRINT COOKIES Makes 22 to 24 cookies These cookies transform all the rich flavors of tiramisù into a bite-size serving. Dutch process cocoa powder creates an incredibly soft dough that boasts roasted coffee flavors. Hiding beneath creamy Mascarpone Buttercream you’ll find a rum frangipane. 1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, softened¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon (162 grams) granulated sugar3 tablespoons (18 grams) dark-roast instant coffee granules1 tablespoon (15 grams) water2 large egg yolks (37 grams), room temperature1 teaspoon (6 grams) vanilla bean paste2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour½ cup (43 grams) Dutch process cocoa powder¼ teaspoon (1.25 grams) baking powder½ teaspoon (1.5 grams) kosher saltRum Frangipane Filling (recipe follows)Mascarpone Buttercream (recipe follows)Garnish: Dutch process cocoa powder 1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment…

Crispy, crunchy, thin benne wafers are a common culinary currency in the Lowcountry city of Charleston, South Carolina. Both savory and sweet, benne wafers can vary in size and breadth. Some appear like saucers the size of a thin chocolate chip cookie, so thin they look like one bite will cause them to splinter in crumbs. Others are more bite-size, tiny, cute circles dotted with the benne seeds that give the wafers their signature flavor. Even what color benne wafers are varies—some the color of a deep caramel and others taking a lighter, cream hue. But as varied in appearance as benne wafers are, at heart, they have a singular connection: enslaved Africans who found themselves thousands of miles away from home in a new, unknown place. Benne (pronounced “benny”)…

What does “punch it down” actually look like for cinnamon rolls and breads? —LINDSAY MAYFIELD, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI TRISH: “Punching down” a dough accomplishes a few things. It releases some gas bubbles produced by yeast during the dough’s first rise. This deflation prevents gluten strands from overstretching (and subsequently collapsing) and can help give the bread a finer grain. To boot, sugars and moisture get redistributed along with yeast cells, providing fuel for the second rise. To “punch down,” create a fist with your hand, and using your knuckles, gently push vertically down (without twisting) into the center of the dough. Pull the edges of the dough to the center and then turn the dough over. Cover the dough and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes before shaping…