Bake from Scratch September/October 2021

FALL IS ALWAYS AN EXCITING TIME FOR BAKERS—but fall 2021 truly takes the cake. Where do I even start? First up, I have a new cookbook hitting shelves on September 7, The Pie & Tart Collection. A compendium of new and reinvented classics, we’re offering a sneak peek at the cookbook (starting page 73), featuring two of my favorite recipes, the cake-turned-tart Frozen German Chocolate Tart and my husband’s beloved buttermilk pie. We’re also unveiling our Genius (Quick) Croissants recipe, our cover star and the revolutionary new way to laminate your dough. What spurred the creation of this game-changing recipe? My third and most exciting fall reveal: my partnership with the Williams Sonoma and No Kid Hungry spatula project. I designed (with the help of artist Kelly Redding) three beautiful baker’s…

BARS AND COOKIES Browned Butter Apple Blondies 15 Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups 11 Leftover Candy Compost Cookies & Bars 111 Malted Maple and Milk Chai Chews 20 Spiced Apples & Cream Crumb Bars 71 BREADS Chocolate, Cherry & Pistachio Viennoise 25 Honey-Molasses Brown Bread 39 Maple Oat Scones 92 Onion-Herb Ciabatta Rolls 29 Orange Rolls 40 Pumpkin Streusel Muffins 16 Strawberry Conchas 6 Sweet Custard Wool Bread 69 Sweet Potato-Hazelnut Sweet Rolls 97 CAKES Cider-Spiked Kentucky Butter Bundtlettes 27 Invisible Apple Maple Cake 91 Maple Layer Cake 92 Maple Karpatka 90 Pumpkin Cookie Cake 99 Pumpkin Meringue Cheesecake 101 Sticky Pecan Squash Cake 101 Thai Tea Coffee Cake 69 FROSTINGS, FILLINGS, GARNISHES, AND GLAZES Cardamom Meringue 102 Chocolate Hazelnut Glaze 98 Custard Filling 70 Malted Maple Filling 20 Maple Buttermilk Frosting 92 Maple Moussaline 91 Spiced Apple Filling 71 Spiced German Buttercream 99 Spiced Streusel 69 Topping 6 Vanilla Cream Cheese Filling 11 Vanilla Bean Swirl 11 MISCELLANEOUS Butter Block 45 Flan 110 Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk 71 Milk Roux 70 Roasted Sweet…

KEE WAH BAKERY MONTEREY PARK, CALIFORNIA Mooncakes vary in shape from the more traditional round—both an ode to the shape of the moon and a symbol of unity and wholeness—to square, which is said to represent the earth. Kee Wah Bakery in Monterey Park, California, offers delicious freshly baked mooncakes. Website: keewah.us MEI SUM BAKERY PORTLAND, OREGON Intricately shaped, mooncakes are filled with an array of fillings such as lotus seed paste, bean paste, nuts, or even meats. One special addition is the salted duck egg yolk—lending richness and signifying the full harvest moon. Though not always present, it is said that finding one (or more!) brings fortune. Find fortune at Mei Sum Bakery in Portland, Oregon. Phone: 503-777-3391 SING CHEONG YUAN BAKERY HONOLULU, HAWAII Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery in Honolulu, Hawaii, creates traditional and nontraditional mooncakes with…

Tell us about how you got into the world of competitive baking. Tiffany Aaron: My very first competition was the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and I was a basket case. I mean, I was so nervous and really didn’t know what to expect at all! While I was there, I was introduced to this whole community of competitive cooks and bakers. A lot of these people had competed for years before me. In the beginning, I felt like I had some good ideas, but competitive baking is more than just having a good idea; there are a lot of other elements that go into it. I was getting discouraged. Then, Lisa Keys, a veteran competitor, kind of took me under her wing, and she said, “Tiffany, put…

For most bakers, milk is the crème de la crème. Why? Because, like the other ubiquitous baking ingredients of butter, sugar, and flour, milk makes everything better. Cow’s milk has a unique macronutrient makeup that makes it an ideal ingredient for baking cakes and enriching breads, adding color and flavor, stabilizing batters, and preventing staling. Historically, there’s been a great amount of time and energy devoted to milk, and for good reason. From avoiding spoilage via fermentation and creating butter, yogurt, and cheese to making advances in refrigeration and extending shelf life through pasteurization, canning, and dehydration, humans have been optimizing ways to consume this perishable liquid for thousands of years. We explore this choice baking ingredient in all of its glorious forms. First, let’s delve into the skinny on milk…

Afew years ago, my mother stopped baking. She was no longer able to stand for long periods of time, and mixing pie dough and baking cakes became too hard for her. I realized I would never again watch her make apple pies or peach cobbler, two family favorites. But I had her recipes and was looking forward to continuing the family tradition. The one recipe I didn’t have was for her Kentucky butter cake, a delicious pound cake soaked with sugar, butter, and rum (though she used rum extract). Whenever my mom made this cake, we all waited anxiously for it to be done so we could get a piece (which she didn’t let us have until it was completely cooled). We always ate the bottom of the cake first because…