Farine

Crazy for Bread

Sephardic Challah

Sephardic Challah

As soon as I read Julia Moskin’s A Twist on the Traditional Challah article in the Food section of this week’s New York Times, I knew I was going to try my hand at the recipe. Hanukkah begins this Sunday and ends on Monday, December 14th, on the day of the third anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting and in this dark time of horrific news and sad commemorations, I welcomed the idea of baking a festive bread that would celebrate light. Also there is something deeply comforting in the shape of this challah. Almost like an embrace.
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In Paris with an eye-phone

Today I am taking you for a stroll in Paris with a few pictures from our last trip there back in May. The young woman in the headscarf is Ilham the Baker. She is from Morocco. She bakes all her goods herself at home on the day and night before the market. We bought bread and chatted for a while. She gave us sweet mint tea and cornes de gazelle, cookies baked in the shape of horns. I am keeping her in my thoughts.

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Paris, attacked

The sun was pouring in through the windows, bluejays were noisily scolding each other in the neighbor’s trees, our little rescue was happily chewing on her favorite squeaky. I was catching up on some reading that had piled up when my phone beeped with the notification that Paris was under attack. One of the shootings had been at Le Carillon and Le Petit Cambodge in the 10th arrondissement not far from Place de la République.

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Andrew Ross: The Skinny on Gluten

Gluten window

Picture of a gluten window taken in 2013 during Didier Rosada’s All about Ciabatta class

I am probably the least science-minded person you and I have ever met. Which is kind of silly if you think about it because my own mother had been studying for her doctorate in organic chemistry when she met my father and even though in the end she chose to be a stay-at-home mom, she always kept a warm spot in her heart for the sciences. Not me. Never a fan. Sorry, Mom!
So you won’t be surprised to read that I felt a bit nervous reporting on Professor Andrew Ross‘s lecture on gluten at the Grain Gathering 2015. I listened to his talk. I dutifully looked at the slides. I took notes.

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Hazelnut cookies

You know how sometimes you set out to make whipped cream and you go for it with such enthusiasm that you get butter? Well, the same thing just happened to me with hazelnuts.
I wanted to make Chocolate and Zucchini‘s excellent cauliflower soup with hazelnuts and turmeric which I have made several times in the past. It is the perfect soup for a fall evening. Fragrant, exotic and yet low-key: spices, chicken stock, one onion, a humble cauliflower and a handful of hazelnuts.

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