Bake from Scratch May/Jun 2017

WITH SPRING IN FULL BLOOM and summer on the way, I am reminded how much I love this exciting time of year. It’s my “birthday season,” so I can treat myself to inordinate amounts of cake—no shame. The weather is getting warmer and the days are getting longer, which leaves even more time for baking. The vivid colors of this season are bursting everywhere, and our May/June issue is no exception. (Check out that cover!) Our @thefeedfeed friend Kevin Masse is obsessed with rainbow sprinkles, and he shared some of his most imaginative recipes with us, including the bread featured on the cover (recipe on page 112). While reminiscing on the nostalgic sprinkle-laden treats of our childhoods, we went even further down memory lane to reinvent Toaster Strudels—but with the easiest (un)laminated…

STACEY BALLIS Stacey Ballis is the author of ten food-themed novels with recipes including Out to Lunch, Recipe for Disaster and Wedding Girl, as well as a digital cookbook, Big Delicious Life. Her writing has also appeared in Extra Crispy, Wild Blue Yonder Magazine, BevX, and Oy! Chicago. She was a contributor to the nonfiction anthologies Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys, Everything I Needed to Know About Being A Girl I Learned From Judy Blume, and Living Jewishly. She has a cooking and lifestyle blog, The Polymath Chronicles, and was an educator for over 15 years in Chicago before pursuing a full-time career in writing. Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie: “Large cookies with crispy edges and soft, chewy middles. Summer House in Chicago makes one with chunks of Rice Krispies Treats…

1. Le Creuset Heritage Pie Dish in Palm Besides being gorgeous in green, this dish is a pie-making powerhouse. Its stoneware base distributes heat evenly to yield a golden, flaky crust every time. Plus, the enamel coating resists scraping, so slice with abandon! $50; lecreuset.com 2. Microplane Artisan Series Fine Grater in Green A little citrus zest goes a long way in brightening up your favorite recipes. This sleek grater provides a strong grip and fine blades to make the job a cinch. $9.95; us.microplane.com 3. Kitchen iQ Smart Compact Digital Kitchen Scale This scale is small but mighty. It features the same weight limit and tare functions as average-sized scales, but folds up smaller than an eyeglasses case so you can bake when you travel. $29.99; kitcheniq.com 4. Zeal Silicone Nonstick Baking Sheet Skip the baking spray, and bake…

FLAVOR FLOURS (Artisan, 2014) by Alice Medrich “Flavor Flours is an amazing book that explores alternative flours like oat, corn, sorghum, and teff. These flours are not just better for your health, but your taste buds as well. They add another layer of flavor to your baked goods and also lend an interesting texture and color. This book is dear to me, as it represents what I believe in, and what we do at Gramercy Tavern. I say enough with the processed, bleached, and flavorless ingredients! Let’s make room for wholesome and varied alternatives. This book is a great way to start.” THE BAKING BIBLE (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014) by Rose Levy Beranbaum “I think I have almost all of Rose’s books, and it was hard to pick just one, as all are fantastic. Rose is…

Francisco Migoya may be the world’s foremost baking authority that you’ve never heard of. The former head of pastry at The French Laundry and Bouchon Bakery left a professorship at the Culinary Institute of America to head the Modernist Cuisine test kitchen—a state-of-the-art kitchen and test lab in Bellevue, Washington, dedicated to using science to advance cooking with new techniques and innovations—where he has been spearheading its forthcoming opus on bread. It turns out Migoya’s all-time favorite pastry is the éclair, and he has gone to great lengths to perfect the tubular cream puff—all in the name of science. What’s the correct texture for an éclair? There are different schools of thought on this. I’ve always understood éclairs to be crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside. Back in the day…

Some flavors are soulmates, just destined to be together: peanut butter and jelly; tomato and basil; apples and cinnamon … and in late spring, no pairing is more perfect than strawberries and rhubarb. While a strawberry-rhubarb pie is an unimpeachable dessert classic, we’ve decided to mix things up a bit by removing the strawberry in the pie—in favor of pistachio frangipane—but bringing it back in a bubbly strawberry cocktail. Because why just have pie, when you can have pie and a cocktail? FRESA DE CUBA Makes 1 serving Bubbly, bright, refreshing, and redolent of funky sugar cane, sweet strawberries, and mint, this cocktail is dangerous: You can drink quite a few of these if you don’t keep an eye on yourself! Now that the embargo has been lifted, if you can get your…