Slashfood

• Spicy corn sandwich bread is easy and delicious
  

  Filed under: Baking, Bread

  
  One of the breads I make on a regular basis at work is a jalapeño sandwich bread. It gets used for mainly for canapés and toast points for barbecue. I love making it because of the wonderful spicy aroma and the pleasant heat it has. Of course the recipe that I make is industrial sized, using three pounds of peppers making it not particularly good for home use.
  
  However, I was recently reminded of this HI-Rise Corn Bread from one of my favorite baking books, Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking. The recipe doesn't...
  



• Retro recipe: Sour milk cake
  

  Filed under: Recipes, Baking

  
  Ever since I switched to buying raw milk in bottles a couple of months ago, I've been searching with ways to use up slightly sour milk. I'm working at incorporating more milk into my diet and cooking, so that I'm able to use it up before it goes off, but I'm just not always able to manage it. However, I'm learning that there are a number of ways to incorporate the sour milk into cooking and baking and I'm beginning to see it as a culinary asset as opposed to a hassle that must be dealt with if I want to prevent waste.
  



• Dinner-time biscuits for special treat
  

  Filed under: Recipes, Baking

  
  The idea started as a way to use up some sour* milk. I couldn't bear to just pour it down the drain and so I started scouting around for ways in which to use it up. I remembered reading a line in a vintage cookbook about saving sour milk for quick breads and muffins (oh, the food knowledge we've lost over the years, I'm sure my grandma Bunny would have know what to do with sour milk without consulting a cookbook). Flipping through my turquoise-covered Joy of Cooking (the edition from the late 1960s), I settled on making a batch of biscuits.



• Disney has a showdown for the best cake
  

  Filed under: Dessert, Baking, Celebrations

  I love making cakes, and after I made a few for friends, I became the resident birthday cake baker -- not with a box mix and a quick lather of frosting, but rather a myriad of flavors, frostings, and marzipan decorations on top. And now it might be time to take the whole practice to the next level.
  
  Disney's FamilyFun.com is having a best cake face-off and they have some super funky cakes on display, one of which won their "Great Cake Contest." These definitely aren't those simple, old-school cakes. There's a cake-filled dear head mount for hunters, elaborate castles, Pooh in the...
  



• For love of other chocolate chip cookies
  

  Filed under: Recipes, Baking, Comfort Food

  
  So that 36-hour cookie (unless you make use of vacuums and cut the time) has been all the rage these days, and I've been itching to see what all the fuss is about. While I'm not crazy enough to make them in my AC-free apartment, I happily accepted some fresh-baked cookies from a friend of mine. You know what? I was far from a big fan. Very far.
  
  I loved the texture, but there was just too much darned chocolate, and my mouth even rebelled at the taste a little, getting a bit itchy. Even though my friend knows his way...
  



• The lame, a bread baker's tool
  

  Filed under: Baking, Artisan Foods, Bread

  Have you ever seen a beautiful loaf of artisan bread and wondered how the baker got those great slash marks? Well, they got it by using a tool called the lame (pronounced lahm). The lame creates that slash, or score, in the bread, which is also called an ear.
  
  The lame probably originated in France, but it was quickly adopted by artisan bakers in the US. It creates a score on the top of the bread that even a very sharp knife can't achieve, which...
  



• Microwave cake: The perfect baked snack
  

  Filed under: Snacks, Chocolate, Baking, Comfort Food

  Okay, I'm taking a big risk here. In addition to showing off my unattractive, massively egotistical side, I'm also going to put myself in danger of a little self-incrimination. Here goes:
  
  When I'm sober and clear-headed, I'm a pretty decent cook, but when I'm seriously impaired, I am a culinary god. In all honesty, imagine Drunken Master with a baking sheet. I'm that good.
  
  I've allowed my skills to deteriorate since I left grad school, but, once upon a time, my addled forays into the kitchen were widely regarded as moments of pure magic. Admittedly, impaired kitchen godhood wasn't a...
  



• An easy one-bowl blueberry cobbler
  

  Filed under: Dessert, Fruit, Baking, Summer

  
  I am not a pie person. I enjoy eating them, but I find the process of making crust, rolling it out and getting it into the pan more bother than I can really deal with. However, I happily embrace all varieties of crisps and cobblers because they are hugely easy and are a wonderful way to use all that great summer fruit.
  
  Yesterday, I made the easiest cobbler ever. It requires just one bowl, one measuring cup and a baking pan. Butter your favorite baking pan and set it aside. Pour five or six cups of blueberries...
  



• Feast Your Eyes: Alton Brown's blueberry muffins
  

  Filed under: Baking, Feast Your Eyes

  
  My boyfriend doesn't like blueberries, particularly baked goods with blueberries in them. He had an unfortunate encounter with a blueberry pancake when he was a kid that has left him permanently scarred and so he now avoids them entirely. This means that if I bake items with blueberries, I am responsible for the entirety of the batch and so I've all but completely given up making blueberry muffins and cakes (I will make up batches of things with blueberries if I know I'll have a crowd who will help me eat them up).
  
  However, I am happy to...
  



• Forget a 36-hour wait -- vacuum cookies in 3 hours!
  

  Filed under: Baking, Comfort Food

  
  
  While it's not exactly the most scientific and perfectly matched comparison, Ideas in Food took on the notion posted in The New York Times, where the perfect chocolate chip cookie takes 36 hours. I don't know about you, but whenever I want cookies, I'm sure as hell not waiting 36 hours, especially since that amount of time will usually end the craving and make me remember just how unhealthy and dangerous it would be for me to make a bunch of cookies for my single self.
  
  Anyhow, to simulate the 36 hours, Ideas in Food vacuum-sealed the dough. "I did not...