Two separate things are happening: the cells lose their internal pressure, and the walls between them break down. The first is quick and the second is slow, and the difference…
The ingredients barely change between pastry types. What changes is the distribution of the fat before baking, and everything else follows from that single decision. Here are fifteen.
1. Fat…
Two things are moving in opposite directions the whole time: heat going in, and water coming out as steam. Which one is winning at any moment determines what the food…
The central fact is that honey contains far more dissolved sugar than water can normally hold, and very little water at all. Almost every peculiar thing about it follows from…
There is a particular kind of historical blindness that comes from something becoming cheap.
Salt now costs almost nothing, is available everywhere, and is thought about mainly as a seasoning.…
Every grain is built the same way: a protective outer layer, a starchy interior and a small oily part that would have become the plant. Everything below follows from which…