Author Archives for Freya Erickson
A Different Kind of Carrot Cake
Occasionally I encounter a fellow American while I’m “out and about” (how Midwestern). It’s usually hard to pick out the accent in a throng of people as there are certain British dialects which sound similar, Irish for example. Today I had one such encounter. This time it wasn’t the accent that gave it away, but […]
A Different Kind of Valentine
So, for Valentines Day, I had planned on making a saucy dessert, made scarlet with raspberries and strawberries, perhaps something with cream or jelly, or a tart curd of some sort. Perhaps a simple Creme au Coeur. However, my desire for something savoury got in the way of all so I made a distinctly unpudding-like […]
A New Type of Rise
For the non-bakers or people that haven’t read the Macrina Bakery and Cafe CookBook - which is highly recommended, though sadly lacking in pictures - a Biga Starter may be a new term (contrary to popular belief, Biga Starter is not a wannabe ‘gangsta’ rapper).
However, once you utilise the Biga in your baking, it will […]
Another Day In The Lab…
Baking is a bit intimidating for a lot of people. I’ve known people who can cook a really good bit of fish or season a steak to perfection, but ask them to make some rolls to have on the side and they become instantly sullen. I think the reason that baking evokes so much fear […]
Agave Syrup - Nature’s Wonder Sweetener!
And this week’s Unusual Ingredient of the Week is Agave Nectar or Syrup as it is less romantically known over here in England. As someone who suffers from food intolerances, I am always trying out new ingredients that might make life a little bit more comfortable for me, without compromising the flavour. Obviously this is […]
Wine Flour, Vine Power!
The French are charmingly smug about their devotion to red wine, Gitanes and food cooked in goose fat. A study of 34,000 Frenchmen, conducted in 1997, indicated that a glass or two or red wine each day reduced mortality rates by a startling 30%. This is despite heavy consumption of saturated fats, stressful working conditions, […]
Chestnut Flour
Sometimes an ingredient has been sitting for so long in your cupboard that it becomes as familiar as that little spider that made its’ home in the vent in the bathroom or the pile of bricks on the draining board that have been sitting there, just waiting to be used, for months now. You look […]
