Bake from Scratch November/December 2018

I’m a huge fan of baking with molasses year-round, but there is something about combining it with the baker’s quintet (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice) to create gingerbread that makes it my holiday obsession. If the cookies on the cover aren’t enough motivation, wait until you see our four other iterations of gingerbread, starting on page 87. I can promise you’ll see the Gingerbread Morning Buns in my Instagram feed on Christmas Day (if they last long enough to take a photo). I’ll hopefully be baking them in the Mauviel copper molds we included in our baker’s holiday wish list (page 23) because that’s what this baker really wants under the tree. Check out the guide to see which gift you want this year. (If you’re anything like me,…

ALICE MEDRICH Author, chocolate chef, and teacher Alice Medrich has won more James Beard and IACP Cookbook of the Year and Best in Category awards than any other author. She is credited with popularizing chocolate truffles in the United States through her introduction of the “American” chocolate truffle at her influential dessert shop, Cocolat, in the 1970s. What baking gift are you hoping for this holiday season? “I want a new toy! Maybe a sous vide device, dehydrator, or pacojet!” JESSE SZEWCZYK Jesse Szewczyk is a food writer and recipe developer based in New York City, New York. He lives with his partner, Kyle (an actual pastry chef); his dog, Fig; and a roommate who has never cut an onion before. He has a degree from the Culinary Institute of America and a strong…

As kids growing up in Queens, New York, my sister and I loved to help our mom in the kitchen. A sibling rivalry brewed early on as we fought over who would get to crack the eggs when we helped her bake (our mother kept the peace, giving each of us one and cracking the rest herself). I remember feeling like a bona fide pastry chef as I aided her in preparing her signature Chocolate Marzipan Bundt Cake. Every slice was a sugary sensation, leaving me dumbfounded at how one woman could invent such a masterpiece. But like many recollections of childhood reexamined as an adult, my perception of the Bundt’s grandeur was eventually changed by the revelation of its simplistic composition: It’s a box of devil’s food cake mix with…

Tatte Bakery & Café is a micro-empire with 11 outposts snaking throughout the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts. It’s the city’s fastest-growing bakery and café—and for good reason. Take, for instance, Tatte’s (pronounced like latte) Harvard Square shop at the heart of Cambridge, what founder Tzurit Or refers to as “the full Tatte experience.” On the first level (it’s a large, sprawling location), customers shuffle across a graphic floor decorated with hexagonal tiles of white, black, and gray. White subway tiles line the walls, and the coffee bar and tables are topped with white marble. It’s a clean, well-lit space, the prime backdrop for aesthetically pleasing, Instagram-perfect photos. Behind the till, busy bakers mix batter and knead dough among speed racks full of cooling breads and pastries. During the school year,…

Nutmeg: the spice that launched a thousand ships, expeditions, and trade wars. It also happens to be the celebrated key ingredient to our merriest of holiday sweets. As soon as you open the spice jar or begin grating delicate shavings from the seed, the warm aroma immediately transports you to cozy evenings by the fireplace sipping a spice-dusted cup of eggnog. Nutmeg’s history tells a fascinating but decidedly less romantic tale. Nutmeg made a mysterious appearance on European tables in the sixth century. It became a medieval sensation, a luxurious ingredient that held medicinal qualities including but not limited to a cure for the common cold, nervous disorders, and the bubonic plague. The aristocrats who could afford it knew it came from the port of Venice, where it was unloaded from…

Three ways to grind nutmeg (and the best tools for the job). Nutmeg Mill Depending on the brand you get (we chose the venerable French brand Peugeot), the mill will produce fine shavings of fresh nutmeg with either a crank handle or turn top. We like that Peugeot’s handsome mill pulls double duty as both a grinder and an airtight container to store loose nutmeg. We Like: Peugeot Ternate Nutmeg Mill; wayfair.com, $40.54 Nutmeg Grater Normally curved outward into an arc with a small-hole grater, this tool is easy to use and produces perfectly grated nutmeg. Be careful when grating, though—the grates are sharp, so slips can prove painful. We Like: HIC Nutmeg Grater; amazon.com, $6.05 Microplane Chances are you already have a Microplane in your kitchen and use it for a number of tasks, from zesting lemons…