Bread enthusiast. Vegetable lover. Omnivore. If the kitchen is your happy place, you're in good company. Let's hang.
Your Focaccia (Sweet and Savory) Baking Schedule + My Grandmother's Mustard Sauce, Lofty Popovers, Tiramisu & More
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Friends, hello! This week I found myself baking for all the various things — cookie exchanges, secret Santa events, teachers' and coaches' gifts. Of all the things I baked — shortbread, peppermint bark, cream cheese cutouts, and peasant bread — I found the peasant bread to be the easiest/least demanding of all, and found myself thinking: next year, it will be peasant bread for all! Friends, if you've found yourself in a baking/gifting marathon this week, I hope it's gone smoothly, and I hope it's nearly over. This weekend, I'm making my shopping list and drafting a very rough timeline, which mostly concerns focaccia, both for Christmas morning and dinner. Here's what I'm thinking: Monday, December 22nd: Mix two batches of focaccia dough and stash them in the fridge. Wednesday, December 24th: Remove one batch, and proceed with the cinnamon-sugar focaccia recipe through step 8, then return it to the fridge until the following morning. Thursday, December 25th: Remove the cinnamon-sugar focaccia pan from the fridge one hour before baking it. Later in the day, remove the other batch of focaccia dough, 4 hours before baking it. Friends, I truly cannot believe that Christmas is next week and that another year has nearly passed. I hope all of your preparations are going well, and I'm wishing you all the happiest holiday season! Talk soon 👋
PS: Does this sight ever get old? Christmas Menu 2025
Last week I shared my favorite Christmas recipes, all of which you can find here, and below you will find a few highlights, including these brioche cinnamon rolls, which will make an appearance on Christmas Eve morning this year.
Simple Baked Ham with Brown Sugar Glaze My Grandmother's Mustard Sauce Balthazar's Mussels — A Christmas Eve tradition with these ... For Christmas morning: Overnight (or not) Brioche Cinnamon Rolls or... Cranberry-Orange Buttermilk Breakfast Cake
For every holiday dinner: Alice Waters's Potato Gratin or... 4 Easy Bread RecipesNo-Knead Buttermilk Pull-Apart Rolls No-Knead Dinner Rolls (baked in a muffin pan, no shaping required!) Lofty Popovers (if you can make pancake batter, you can make these!)
Focaccia (overnight, refrigerator or sourdough) And for dessert:Tiramisu
PS: A festive, easy drink: Tangerine Spritz In Case You Missed It Favorite Christmas Cookies
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Hi. I'm Ali.
Bread enthusiast. Vegetable lover. Omnivore. If the kitchen is your happy place, you're in good company. Let's hang.
Friends, hello. This week, I spent a few days in Philadelphia for a pizza class I was teaching at The Bread Room, the recently opened bakery by Ellen Yin, the owner of Fork, where I worked many years ago. During class, we made the Neapolitan-style pizza dough from Pizza Night and topped it with four different topping combinations: 3 from Pizza Night and one with crème fraîche and persimmons, which I will write more about soon. It was a blast to be back in the city, highlights including the...
Friends, hello. As you read this, I am heading back north with my family for an early hockey game, of course. We had a wonderful few days with my sister's family, most of which included lounging and drinking coffee, with the downtime broken by brisk walks and cooking for the many little hungry mouths. Last night, my sister served chili (basically this recipe with a bag of frozen corn added) aside peasant bread, and it was everything I was craving — warm, hearty, beany, and loaded with...
Hi Friends, As noted over the weekend, tomorrow morning I'll be heading to my sister's, and in additon to the dog, a hockey bag, 6 humans, and many suitcases, the car will be transporting a bowl of rising dough, for focaccia of course, and a tub of ricotta to make the above-pictured whipped ricotta, which gets drizzled with both honey and olive oil, as well as crushed pistachios. It's exceptional. Later that evening, we'll sip on David Lebovitz’s tangerine spritzes while making resolutions in...