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Shokupan

Recently, Emma told me she wanted to make Japanese sandwich bread for one of our baking challenges. No problem. I'd been wanting to get back to a simple sandwich bread, and I thought this would be a great project. For years I'd groped the abnormally straight-sided bread (called shokupan) at Uwajimaya, wondering how it got so darn straight and fluffy and I thought to myself, 'I have you now!'

Yeah, right. Try to find a well-tested shokupan recipe in English.

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Becoming a Better Baker: GF Nectarine Buckle

I hoisted the case of nectarines onto the table, stuck my head in the box, and took a deep breath. Summer pierced my nose, and my stomach growled. Earlier that day I'd read about Shauna and Danny's Gluten-free Nectarine and Blueberry Buckle, and envious of that harmony, I was determined to perfume the house with that same sense of beauty.

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Apricot Ice Cream Baked Alaska

The picture is one I'd rather forget. I'm standing apart from my friends Leah and Julie, wearing a gypsy-looking skirt and a scowl. I'm about 10 and from the looks of it, fresh into a tantrum. It's a pre-birthday dinner photo-op, and even though I can't remember what I was so pissed about, the memory of dessert sticks in my head like popcorn in my maw. Bananas Foster, my favorite flame-o dessert, likely landed in front of me that night.

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Crumpets

Just about once a month Emma and I get together and decide on a baking project. She and I went through pastry school together and have pretty similar tastes and skills (although she's a much more precise baker than I am), so baking the same thing in a month means we get to compare notes about the techniques, recipes, and results. Maybe it's a nerdy baker thing we do, but I can't emphasize how important that partnership is in making me a better baker.

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