Time to introduce you to the other two baking wizards in the test kitchen. Sue Gray and Monte Petersen perform a very special kind of alchemy every day. They imagine textures and flavors, then bring a fantastic array of ingredients to bear to make those ideas come true. It happens step by step, with all kinds surprising twists along the way. (more…)

Back in December, I posted a blog detailing some of our King Arthur Flour test kitchen disasters, and invited you to share your own favorite disaster. Herewith is proof that we ALL have disasters–and luckily, most of us can laugh about them afterwards! (more…)

Ever make a batch of pizza dough, tip it out of the mixing bowl or bread machine, and have a semi-rectangular blob that completely refuses to be rearranged to anything resembling a circle? Here’s a tip we taught our line cooks in the restaurants I’ve run. (more…)

What’s your very first baking memory?

If you’re in your 20s or 30s, it might very well be Bagel Bites, hot from the microwave. A bit older, and it could be slice-and-bake oatmeal cookies from a refrigerated plastic tube of dough. Older still… well, you’d probably have to be an older Baby Boomer to have much chance of remembering mom baking from scratch. Even back in the ’60s, when I was a kid, cakes were mostly Duncan Hines, brownies were Betty Crocker, and bread was Wonder. (more…)

This is where it all happens.
Concepts are tested, mixes are born, mistakes made, pans overflowed, sourdough starter scooped, tempting smells generated. You’ve been reading about PJ’s adventures; I’m Susan Reid, and I write and edit The Baking Sheet. I’ll be telling you about my end of the test kitchen. (more…)

As a baker, I mentally divide recipes into three groups. First, the winners: they work the way they’re supposed to, and they taste wonderful. Second, the disasters: they don’t work as advertised; and the finished product ranges from “blah” to “blechhh!” (more…)