BakingAsked Jul 14, 2020 by DG J.
What is Clotted Cream?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi - Thanks for your question! Clotted cream is a silky, golden-yellow cream made by slowing heating unpasteurized milk (or heavy cream) until a thick layer of cream forms on its surface. It is then cooled and the cream that rises to the surface and “clots” is skimmed off and served with scones, berries, or desserts. The best clotted cream is said to have a good, firm crust atop smooth, thick cream. I hope that explains it! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Jun 30, 2020 by Suzanne W.
I rarely buy sour cream, and actually prefer yogurt as a replacement with much of what I assemble in the kitchen.
I'm always lookin for The Best pie crust recipe, and your Single-Crust Pie Dough recipe calls for 2 T of sour cream. May I substitute yogurt, for the sour cream? Would Greek yogurt, which is quite dense work better than whole milk yogurt?
Thanks
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Suzanne - We haven't tested this, but I think it would probably work fine. Just make sure to use full-fat yogurt. Good luck and let us know how it turns out! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Jun 02, 2020 by judy G.
Hi:
I wanted to make the Milk Street recipe for Belgian Spice Cookies, Speculoos. Cake flour is unavailable right now. I have seen several different versions of homemade cake flour. What version you would recommend to use?
Judy Golson
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Judy - When I'm out of cake flour I always substitute following this method using all-purpose flour and cornstarch since I think it's the closest recreation of cake flour in texture. Once I've sifted the flour together twice, I weigh the flour according to the amount listed in the recipe (in this case, 320 grams). If you are using volume measurements, dip and sweep the 2 2/3 cups from this pile of sifted flour. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked May 26, 2020 by Jason T.
My wife and I have started making sourdough bagels about once a week. They look and taste amazing but while they are toasting they smell bad. There is nothing outwardly wrong with the bagel and again, it always tastes great. Is this just a feature of sourdough bagels or is there something different we could do to prevent this?
Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau
Hi Jason - It sounds like a result of the normal fermentation of the dough. The smell most likely comes from the lactic and acetic acids produced during the yeast and bacterial rising process being released by the heat of the toaster.
Read MoreAsked May 26, 2020 by Mildred B.
During the recent Coronavirus times it’s been very hard to buy our favorite brand of flour. So now we are lucky to find any brand of bread flour. I normally use King Arthur flour. I always use a scale when baking. If the recipe is in measuring cups I will convert it to grams. On the side of the King Arthur bread flour bag says 1/4 cup is 30 grams. Bobs red mill bread flour says 1/4 cup is 36 grams. Its a pretty big difference. 120g vs 144g per cup. Do I adjust the amount of flour with the different brands? Thank you for your help with this.
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Mildred - If you are making recipes that call for flour by weight (which we highly recommend!), you can just use the weight called for in the recipe. When we did testing to determine our standard weight for 1 cup of a variety of flours we didn't find a huge difference among bread flour brands. For Milk Street recipes, we consider 1 cup of bread flour equal to 137 grams. But, we always call for weights in our recipes anyway. For recipes that call for a volume measurement it's a little bit trickier since the weight of flour is determined by how it's measured. Some people measure using the dip-and-sweep method, others use the spooning method. These methods and how heavy-handed each person is affects the weight of the flour. To determine our standard weights we had dozens of people measure flour and took an average of those measurements. Since weighing methods and standards vary by recipe author, you can't really transfer the weights from one recipe to another. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.
#
Read MoreAsked May 23, 2020 by John B.
Hello,
I have tried a number of recipes for naan but all come out a bit breadier than the soft, moist, doughy concoctions one finds in the restaurants. Julia Child recommends in her recipe to get the dough sopping wet as one rolls/presses it out, but this only marginally helps. No other recipe calls for that step so when I found that, I thought I had the secret, but to no avail. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
JB
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi John - I'm not sure what you've tried, so it's hard to make suggestions about ingredients and technique. I think a yeast-based dough rather than a baking powder dough is going to give you better rise and texture. Also, a good naan recipe will have fat in it, usually in the form of dairy and, specifically, yogurt. The fat in the dairy serves to impede gluten development. This, in turn, yields a much softer-textured dough. Assuming you've got a tender dough already, there are a few areas where things could be going wrong. How are you measuring your flour? We recommend measuring by weight, especially in baking and bread-making. By using volume measurements, you could be adding too much flour causing the dough to be dry. Second, are you rolling out the naan (and rolling too thin)? This would yield a more crisp, bread-like dough. By rolling you deflate some of the air the yeast has produced in the dough. We prefer pressing out and forming pizza dough and flatbreads by hand to ensure they stay light and airy. Have you tried our flatbread dough? I use this all the time for flatbread-style pizza and I think it could be the right style of dough. I'd probably divide the dough into four pieces rather than two to turn it into smaller naan. Cook the dough on a pizza steel or in a cast-iron skillet and brush with melted butter after it's cooked. You may want to replace some of the water in the dough with olive oil to add a little more richness. It may take some experimenting, but I think it could be a good place to start. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked May 17, 2020 by Donna C.
The recipe for Fool Proof Pie Crust is for a pre-baked crust and looks interesting. My question: can this recipe be doubled for a two-crust pie, and if so, would it bake the same as other two-crust, fill-first pies? Thanks!
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Donna - We asked Christopher Kimball this question and you can find his answer here. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked May 12, 2020 by Kerry D.
Hello! I'm looking to recreate Strawn's Strawberry Pie in Shreveport, LA. I've found some recipes but all include eggs/cornstarch and commenters are claiming those aren't actually used. Any insight?
Strawn's Eat Shop's Strawberry Icebox Pie
https://www.food.com/recipe/strawns-fresh-strawberry-pie-282191?soc=socialsharingpinterest
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Kerry - We aren't familiar with this particular pie but the confusion is certainly interesting. I found this version of the recipe that claims to be direct from the owner and calls for both cornstarch and eggs. Based on the technique listed here this would seem to be more of a custard filling. However, I did watch this video of them putting the pies together and it looks like they do line a pre-baked pie crust with a thin layer of red "custard looking" mixture. Then they add a pile of fresh strawberries, top that with a pile of confectioner's sugar, and then cover the whole thing with a thick layer of fresh whipped cream. So, while commenters may say it doesn't include eggs or cornstarch, I think it's worth trying this version of the recipe to see what you think of this first since it is purported to be the original. Good luck and let us know. I'm very curious to hear how it turns out and if it's close to the original! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked May 01, 2020 by Lynn F.
In quiche, for example, I heard one should not substitute half and half for cream (in the interest of lowering the fat a bit). Yet, my understanding is that you can substitute some whole milk for part of the cream (again, to lower the fat). (As I recall this had something to do with the pasteurization of each?) Is this true, and if so, why is whole milk a valid substitute while half and half is not?
My research suggests that if you do substitute milk for cream, you need to add back some fat, either in the form of oil or butter, and then what is the point?! ( I suppose in this case the substitution would be because you do not have cream on hand, only milk.) If milk is substituted without adding fat, I imagine the quiche would be okay -- hold its shape and taste good, it just would not be as rich?
I read that you can substitute evaporated milk --OR-- milk with a couple tablespoons of buttermilk for part or all of the cream. Have you had luck with either of these options?
Sure, I'd prefer to use whipping cream in my quiche (with creme frache -- a la a recent MSK recipe, which I believe has about the same amount of fat as whipping cream -- delicious, I have tried this). Yet, if not comparing quiches side by side, I would be just as happy with a lighter version. How would you remove some of the fat from a quiche, i.e. what would you sub for part of the cream? My goal is not to use skim milk and fat-free cheese, only to find an "every day" solution, and then I can save the all-cream version for special occasions.
Thanks!
Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau
Hi Lynn - We have one recipe for a French quiche which uses heavy cream. We did not test the recipe using half-and-half so we cannot guarantee the results. That said, I used to make a mushroom quiche recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook and it called for milk and it worked great. I imagine you would be fine using half-and-half.
Read MoreAsked May 01, 2020 by Brenda B.
I was taught to sift flour before it is measured.
Now I hear that sifting is not necessary at all. Is that correct?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Brenda - I think that rule may date back to when flour had more of a tendency to clump. All of our Milk Street baking recipes assume that you have not sifted the flour before measuring and we strongly recommend weighing dry ingredients in baking for accuracy. When I did recipe testing a few years ago for an Angel Food Cake recipe, I found that sifting and whisking achieved the same basic results. So, for ingredients that might tend to clump such as cocoa powder, confectioners' sugar, and cake flour, you can simply whisk them to break up any clumps after measuring. The only exception is if a recipe you are using calls specifically for sifted flour, since the weight of sifted flour is quite a bit different than unsifted flour. Here's a great article about sifting in which several chefs are interviewed on their opinions as well. Best, Lynn C.
Read More 
