MAKING PASTRY, COOKIES, AND CAKES
While the other chapters in this cookbook tackle self-contained themes—pizza dough, pasta dough, and bread dough—this one covers a wider variety of sweet baked goods, ranging from laminated doughs to cookie doughs to cake batters. These recipes might seem simple, especially for a bread baker who has a total mastery of wheats and flours, but no amount of wheat expertise can save a cookie made with butter that has not been creamed properly. And I know I’m not alone when I say a badly made piece of bread is a lot more satisfying that a cookie that turns to dust when you try to pick it up.
Regardless of whether you are making a croissant or a brownie, there are rules that hold true across genres and techniques, such as the amount of water, or hydration, required for each recipe. All the recipes here specify a greater quantity of liquid than the same recipe would require if made with commercial flour. And while we are on the topic of ingredients, a word about sugar: one of the trends I have noticed among bakers who work with unsifted, freshly milled flour is a conservative approach to sugar. I assume the impulse is driven by a desire to make the dessert healthier or to put the flavor of the wheat in the front row. I have always been of the mind-set that if you are going to sink, you’d might as well drown, so if I am going to use sugar, I use it to its full potential. Indeed, when mixing sugar with freshly milled flour—especially flavor-packed rye—a magical thing happens: you turn the flour’s already intense flavor volume up to 11.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT GRAIN FOR THE JOB
While flavor often guides my choice of wheat, the final grain selection must also provide the structural characteristics I am looking for, such as strength or extensibility. For example, when you make laminated doughs, you need a wheat that is strong enough to “lock” the butter into the dough layers while also offering extensibility so you can roll out the dough without it cracking. You can achieve this either by choosing a wheat like Warthog that has both strength and extensibility or by blending flours like Kansas Turkey wheat with Sonora or Frederick to combine these desired characteristics. Based purely on their structural potential, soft wheat flours like Sonora and Frederick are better for delicate cakes or cookies.
MILLING FOR PASTRY, COOKIES, AND CAKES
When milling for cakes and pastries, run the stones as close together as possible so you get a really fine powder to enhance the softness of the resulting dough. You can back the stones off and do a coarser grind when milling for cookies, which can be more rustic in texture.
EXTRACTION
Due to bran’s “sharp” edges, which break down pastry dough, the flours in this chapter’s recipes should be as close as possible to 30% inclusion (see this page), achieved by sifting the flour through a fine-mesh sieve (see this page) or, if you have it, a 100-micron screen. The whole wheat croissants’ bread-like doughy components favor full bran inclusion because the bran acts like a knife and cuts the gluten structure, which gives you a more delicate pastry. Cookie doughs and cake batters that include creamed butter are more forgiving when it comes to higher inclusions of bran because although the butter shortens the gluten network, the recipe doesn’t rely on gluten development to the extent that bread does.
When sifting, reserve the soft bran of Sonora wheat to use in puff pastry. Adding softer bran to pastry gives it a nice texture, and the bran’s edges are less sharp, cutting up the dough structure less than hard bran would.
MIXING
Mixing times tend to be longer for recipes using fresh-milled flour than for recipes that call for commodity flour. You don’t have to be as concerned with overmixing a cake batter made with unsifted flour because the bran content shortens the gluten strands, which naturally makes the final product more tender. It also takes more time to mix sugar into the dough evenly.
FERMENTING
Of the dozen recipes in this chapter, only the Whole Wheat Croissants (this page) contain yeast and levain. The dough is fermented overnight in the refrigerator. During the fermentation process, the dough becomes stronger, which helps it lock in the butter during lamination. It also contributes to the dough’s flavor. Because the other doughs and batters in the chapter do not ferment, I choose strongly flavored wheats for them.
BAKING
Pastry made with freshly milled flour always takes a longer time to bake than the same recipe prepared with commodity wheat because the density of the flour components is more complex for freshly milled flour. White flour, which lacks bran or germ, cooks more quickly than stone-milled flour. I find that increasing the baking time specified in a commodity flour recipe by 20% does the trick. These recipes account for the difference, of course, but you can generally apply this principle to Grandma’s chocolate cake or whatever else you love.
AGING
Follow the instructions in each recipe for unmolding and slicing. Doing either prematurely compromises the structure of the pastry.
PUFF PASTRY
MAKES ABOUT 1¼ KILOGRAMS PUFF PASTRY
This is a very versatile recipe and I use it whenever a craving for flaky pastry hits or a recipe calls for it. For savory needs, I use it for vol-au-vent pastry shells and as a base for vegetable tarts. When I make a cream and pastry–layered Italian dessert called millefoglie, I roll the dough a bit thinner than I do for savory dishes, and then I use a docking wheel or a fork to pierce the surface, which makes the pastry “puff” more evenly. Because puff pastry is laminated, I need a strong flour to “hold in” the butter between the layers I create by rolling and folding. Sonora or another soft wheat flour ensures the delicate texture characteristic of this pastry. The dough is refrigerated overnight, so begin the puff pastry the day before you plan to bake it.
455 grams unsalted butter, chilled to 38°F to 42°F
260 grams cold water
150 grams soft spring wheat flour (I like Sonora)
310 grams hard winter wheat flour (I like Warthog)
50 grams bran (I like Sonora)
11 grams sea salt
5 grams lemon juice
5 grams malt syrup
Bench flour, for dusting (see tip on this page)
Cut 100 grams of the butter into ½-inch cubes. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the water, the soft spring wheat flour, hard winter wheat flour, bran, butter cubes, salt, lemon juice, and malt syrup. Mix on low speed until the flour is incorporated, about 3 minutes. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it aside to let the dough rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
With a bench scraper, loosen the dough from the sides of the bowl and turn it out onto a work surface lightly dusted with bench flour. With a rolling pin, pound the dough into a rectangle measuring 26 × 8 inches and ½ inch thick. Place the dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover it with plastic wrap, and transfer it to the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
MEANWHILE, PREPARE THE BUTTER BLOCK: With the bench scraper, cut the remaining 355 grams butter into 1-inch-thick pats (1) Place the pats between two sheets of parchment paper (2) and, using a rolling pin, pound the butter into a rectangle measuring 13 × 8 inches and ½ inch thick (3). Trim the edges (4) and incorporate the trimmings into the butter block (5) until you have the desired rectangle (6). If necessary, grip the short ends of the parchment and drag the butter block back and forth over the edge of a countertop to make it more pliable (7) and keep rolling (8). Transfer the butter block to the refrigerator and chill until cold, about 20 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a work surface well-floured with bench flour with one long side facing you. Place the butter block in the center of the rolled-out dough (9) and fold the two outer quarters of the dough over it like an open book (10). With the rolling pin, roll the surface of the dough all over (11). Flip the dough and repeat on the other side. Flip once more, so the dough is seam-side up. Working in only one direction, begin rolling the dough from the center away from you (12). Turn it 180 degrees and repeat.
With one short edge closest to you, fold the top third of the dough toward the middle (13), and then the bottom third up to the folded edge (14, 15). Then fold the dough in half (16, 17). Press your finger into the bottom right corner to make a dimple so you can track your turns and folds. Transfer the dough to a baking sheet, cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cold, about 20 minutes.
Put the dough on a well-floured work surface with the dimple at the bottom right corner (18). With a rolling pin, roll the surface of the dough all over. Flip the dough and repeat on the other side (19). Flip once more. Working in one direction only, begin rolling the dough from the center away from you (20). Turn it 180 degrees and repeat. With one long edge closest to you, fold the righthand third toward the middle (21), and then the lefthand third over the folded part, brushing away any excess flour (22). Press two fingers into the bottom right corner to make two dimples to indicate two turns. Transfer the dough to a baking sheet, cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cool, about 20 minutes.
Repeat the pounding, rolling, turning, folding, dimpling, and chilling sequence 2 more times. Refrigerate the dough overnight. (Wrapped in plastic wrap, the dough will keep for up to 3 days in the refrigerator or up to 4 weeks in the freezer.)
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Place the dough on a well-floured surface and roll it out to a thickness of ½ inch. Cut the dough into pieces that fit your needs and transfer the pieces to parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until browned, about 35 minutes.
Stored in a brown paper bag or wrapped in plastic wrap, puff pastry keeps well for up to 3 days on the counter; or wrapped in plastic wrap, it will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
WHOLE WHEAT CROISSANTS
MAKES 24 CROISSANTS
Croissants might seem daunting, considering all the steps involved in making a flaky, layered pastry, but they are also rewarding to master. Like everything else in life, practice makes perfect. I guarantee, even if your first few tries aren’t stellar, no taste tester is going to let your practice runs go to waste! I always make croissants with hard winter wheat flour and I never sift it; the bran and germ give the pastry tremendous flavor. However, the sharp edges of milled bran break down the dough’s structure, so whole wheat flour is harder to work with. To build up to a whole wheat dough, I recommend practicing first with lower-bran-inclusion flour: sift out all the bran, then add 10% back to the flour, increasing the bran amount by 10% each time until you reach 100% whole wheat flour.
Because whole wheat flour includes so much bran, the dough is thirstier than one made with less bran, so listen to the dough, adding a bit more water if needed to hydrate the dough (and less while practicing with smaller bran amounts). Whole wheat fresh-milled dough is more delicate and harder to fold than an all-purpose-flour version, so I usually shoot for two or three folds during the lamination phase versus around six. The dough is twice refrigerated overnight, so begin the recipe 2 days before you plan to bake the croissants.
VARIATION
Use 700 grams hard winter wheat flour (I like Kansas Turkey) and 300 grams soft white wheat flour (I like Sonora or Frederick). This blend of strong hard winter wheat and delicate soft white wheat balances structure and tenderness.
280 grams unsalted butter, chilled to 38°F to 42°F
270 grams cold water
250 grams whole milk
80 grams beaten eggs
150 grams sugar
1,000 grams hard winter wheat flour (I like Warthog), plus more for dusting
4 grams fresh compact yeast
22 grams sea salt
140 grams Levain (this page)
1 whole egg, beaten
Cut 40 grams of the butter into ½-inch cubes. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the water, the milk, the 80 grams eggs, the butter cubes, and the sugar, flour, and yeast. Mix on low speed until the flour is incorporated, about 4 minutes. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place the dough in the refrigerator to ferment for 8 hours or overnight.
Uncover the bowl. Add the salt and the levain, and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes to incorporate. Use a thermometer to test the dough: it should be 75°F to 77°F, slightly cooler than your hands. If it is not, move the dough to a warmer part of your kitchen until it reaches the desired temperature range. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place the dough in the refrigerator to ferment once more for 8 hours or overnight. (Wrapped in plastic wrap, the fermented dough will keep for up to 1 day in the refrigerator or up to 4 weeks in the freezer.)
With a bench scraper, loosen the dough from the sides of the bowl and turn it out onto a work surface lightly dusted with flour. With a rolling pin, pound the dough into a rectangle measuring 26 × 9 inches and ½ inch thick. Place the dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover it with plastic wrap, and transfer it to the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
MEANWHILE, PREPARE THE BUTTER BLOCK: With a bench scraper, cut the remaining 240 grams chilled butter into 1-inch-thick pats. Place the pats between two sheets of parchment paper and, using a rolling pin, pound the butter into a rectangle measuring approximately 11 × 8 inches and ½ inch thick. Trim the edges and incorporate the trimmings into the butter block until you have the desired rectangle. If necessary, grip the short ends of the parchment and drag the butter block back and forth over the edge of a countertop to make it more pliable. Transfer the butter block to the refrigerator and chill until cold, about 20 minutes.
With the bench scraper, loosen the dough from the sides of the bowl and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle measuring approximately 13 × 18 inches. Place the butter block in the center of the rolled-out dough and fold the two outer quarters of the dough over it like an open book. Transfer the folded dough to a parchment-lined baking sheet and place it in the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap, to chill for 30 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a heavily floured work surface. With the rolling pin, working in only one direction, begin rolling the dough from the center away from you. Turn it 180 degrees and repeat. Work the dough into a ¼-inch-thick slab, keeping it in a rectangular shape measuring 26 × 9 inches. With one short edge closest to you, fold the top third of the dough toward the middle, and the bottom third over the folded part (like folding a business letter). Then fold the dough in half. Transfer the folded dough to the baking sheet and chill it in the refrigerator, covered, for 30 minutes. Then repeat the rolling, folding, and chilling steps.
SHAPE THE CROISSANTS: Roll the dough out to measure 18 × 24 inches, and use a sharp knife to slice it in half lengthwise into two 9 × 24-inch rectangles. Then slice each piece into isosceles triangles with 4-inch bases and 9-inch sides.
Cut a 1-inch-deep slit into each 4-inch base. Starting at the cut end, roll the pastry into a loose roll. Place the rolls tip down on two parchment-lined baking sheets. Cover each baking sheet with an inverted box and set them aside at room temperature until the dough has increased in volume by 30%, about 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Brush the croissants with the remaining beaten egg. Bake for 15 minutes; then reduce the heat to 350°F and bake until they are a deep golden brown and airy, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.
Covering the croissants with an inverted box while they rise will prevent the dough from drying out. The box also maintains a constant temperature around the croissants and keeps its distance from the dough to allow it to ferment uninhibited.
SHORTBREAD COOKIES
MAKES 12 SHORTBREAD COOKIES
Shortbread was the first cookie I fell in love with. Bruce Rascher, my boss at Henry VIII roast beef shop in Portland, Maine, made a Scottish shortbread that was addictive. At age eighteen, I became obsessed with re-creating it, and this recipe is the result—just fifteen years later! By definition, shortbread cookies are made of equal parts butter and flour, so they are quite fragile and temperature is very important when making the dough. The butter has to stay super-cold to provide structure for the dough, while the flour has to be very strong to “lock in” the butter. I choose durum wheat flour here to provide the structure the shortbread needs. The Iraq durum has lots of protein but low starch quality, so I add rice flour to balance these characteristics.
VARIATION
Give your shortbread even more flavor by mixing flax, sesame, or sunflower seeds into the dough.
500 grams unsalted butter
100 grams heavy cream
225 grams sugar
500 grams durum flour (I like Iraq), plus more for dusting
100 grams Rice Flour (this page)
9 grams sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
Place the butter in a small saucepan set over low heat and cook slowly until it browns, about 45 minutes.
Transfer the browned butter to the bowl of a stand mixer and refrigerate it, uncovered, until cooled, about 20 minutes.
Add the cream and sugar to the cool browned butter, and beat with the paddle attachment on high speed until the mixture is light and airy, about 4 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk together the durum flour, rice flour, and salt in a medium bowl. Add this mixture all at once to the beaten butter mixture, and beat on low speed just until the dough comes together, about 1 minute.
With a bench scraper, loosen the dough from the sides of the bowl and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Form it into a block measuring roughly 12 × 8 inches. Wrap the block in parchment paper and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Unwrap the block of dough, cut it in half lengthwise, and slice each half into six 2 × 4-inch pieces. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them at least ¼ inch apart. Sprinkle them with a little sea salt and bake just until golden, 11 to 13 minutes.
Set the cookies aside to cool on a wire rack for 1 hour before serving. The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks, or in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 6 months.
SHORTBREAD PIE CRUST
MAKES TWO 9-INCH PIE CRUSTS
This recipe adapts the shortbread cookie recipe to make two pie shells. It’s not a classic pie crust, but it’s easy to pull together, is a tasty way to use freshly milled flour, and is versatile enough to go with varied fillings, from peaches to lemon curd to chocolate. For a tender crust, I use Magog, which is a very weak flour, and buckwheat, which doesn’t have any gluten. The buckwheat also lends flavor to the rather bland Magog. Magog is delicious when it’s fermented, but it’s in this recipe for the structure. You’ll have to bake the crust first before filling it.
500 grams unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
225 grams sugar
500 grams Magog flour
100 grams buckwheat flour, plus more for dusting
9 grams sea salt
50 grams ice water
Place the butter in a small saucepan set over low heat and cook slowly until it browns, about 45 minutes.
Transfer the browned butter to the bowl of a stand mixer and refrigerate it, uncovered, until cooled, about 20 minutes.
Add the sugar to the cool browned butter and beat with the paddle attachment on high speed until the mixture is light and airy, about 4 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk together the Magog flour, buckwheat flour, and salt in a medium bowl. Add this mixture all at once to the beaten butter mixture and beat on low speed just until the dough comes together, about 1 minute. Add the ice water and mix until well incorporated.
Use a bench scraper to loosen the dough from the sides of the bowl, and turn it out onto a parchment-covered work surface. Cut the dough in half and roll each piece between two lightly floured sheets of parchment paper, forming disks about 11 inches in diameter and ⅛ inch thick. Transfer each disk to a greased and floured 9-inch pie dish, gently pressing it into the edges and up the sides. Repair any tears. Refrigerate, uncovered, until firm, about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F.
With a fork, poke holes all over the surface of the crusts. Use dried beans on parchment to weight down the raw pie crusts as they bake. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
The pie crusts are now ready to be baked again with your choice of filling.
Before baking the pie crust, place parchment paper over the raw dough and distribute dried beans over the surface. This will keep the dough from rising and warping in the dish as it bakes.
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
MAKES 32 COOKIES
Chocolate chip cookies are an American classic and we all have our favorite recipe. At the Brooklyn Bread Lab, we were really driven to make the most memorable cookie our guests had ever eaten. After many trials, we finally arrived at a rye-based dough, which we loved for the way the flavorful rye tasted with the butter and chocolate. The recipe uses raw sugar in order to keep with the natural wholesomeness of the flour, and I add a bit of muscovado sugar as well. Together, these sweeteners bring the rye flavor in this cookie to a whole new level. The recipe uses whole rye, so there is no need to sift the flour.
VARIATION
Customize the flavor of your chocolate chip cookies by adding ground walnuts, fennel seeds, or ground cumin, to name a few possible flavors.
500 grams unsalted butter, softened
500 grams turbinado sugar, such as Sugar in the Raw
350 grams muscovado sugar
15 grams vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and seeds scraped out and reserved
570 grams rye flour
12 grams sea salt
12 grams baking soda
100 grams whole eggs plus 66 grams yolks
625 grams chocolate chips (see tip)
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, turbinado sugar, muscovado sugar, and vanilla seeds. Cream on high speed until the mixture is light and airy, about 4 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. With the mixer running on high speed, add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, a little bit at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl with each addition. Continue beating on high speed until the batter is light and airy, about 5 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the whole eggs and the yolks. With the mixer running on medium speed, add the egg mixture to the dough a little bit at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl with each addition. Beat until the eggs are incorporated, about 2 minutes, then reduce the speed to low and stir in the chocolate chips.
Turn the dough out onto a sheet of parchment paper, wrap it up, and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a 3-ounce ice cream scoop and spacing the cookies at least ½ inch apart, scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake until golden, 11 to 14 minutes.
Set aside to cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before serving. The cookies will keep in a sealed airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks and in the freezer for up to 6 months.
I suggest using the best quality chocolate you can afford. I like to buy blocks of chocolate that is between 64% and 72% cacao, which complements the sweetness of the cookie with its bitterness and offers a nice marriage of fermented cacao flavor with the rye. To make chocolate “chips,” simply chop up the block with a heavy knife.
PIE CRUST
MAKES ONE 12-INCH PIE CRUST
There isn’t a huge difference between a crust you would use for a sweet dessert and one you would make for a savory tart, so I use this recipe whether I’m making a peach pie or a classic quiche. In both cases, the crusts should be flaky yet sturdy enough to hold their contents. I choose a soft spring wheat flour because it’s light in flavor, easy to work with, and just delicate enough to let the filling shine through. Frederick is a personal favorite for the elegant structure it imparts.
400 grams soft spring wheat flour (I like Frederick), plus more for dusting
15 grams sugar
5 grams sea salt
160 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch cubes, plus more for greasing
80 grams solid vegetable shortening, chilled
130 grams ice water
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the butter cubes and stir to coat. Turn the mixture out onto a work surface, and with the heel of your hand, press the cold butter into the flour, smearing until the ingredients are incorporated and a shaggy dough forms. Add the shortening and squeeze the dough until smooth, taking care not to melt the fats with the heat of your hand. If necessary, return the dough to the bowl and chill it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, then continue working.
Transfer the dough back to the large bowl and add 65 grams of the ice water. With your hands, knead the dough as quickly as possible to avoid melting the fats and overworking the dough. If the dough doesn’t come together, add the remaining ice water a little bit at a time, mixing to incorporate. (You may not need all the water.) The dough should be smooth and compact. Transfer the bowl to the refrigerator to chill, uncovered, for 1 hour.
Lightly grease a 12-inch fluted tart pan or springform pan. Place the dough between two lightly floured sheets of parchment paper, and with a rolling pin, roll it into a disk about 15 inches in diameter and ⅛ inch thick. Transfer the dough to the prepared pan, gently pressing it into the edges and up the sides; if you’re using a springform pan, the dough should come about ¾ inch up the sides. Repair any tears. Refrigerate, uncovered, until firm, about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F.
With a fork, poke holes all over the surface of the crust. Use dried beans on parchment to weight down the raw pie crust as it bakes (see tip on this page). Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
The pie crust is now ready to be baked again with your choice of filling.
You want the butter to be ice-cold for this recipe. It needs to keep its integrity to provide structure to the crust. If the butter melts, the crust loses its structure and breaks down. A fun trick is to freeze the butter and then use the large holes on a box grater to grate it. If, while you’re working it, the mixture starts to melt, transfer it to a bowl and refrigerate until it rehardens.
SPONGE CAKE
MAKES TWO 8-INCH CAKE LAYERS
When I was living in Italy, pan di Spagna, also known as sponge cake, was the go-to party food. At every birthday or otherwise celebratory event, there would be a layered sponge cake frosted with whipped cream. For me, this cake is the epitome of simplicity and satisfaction. When I began my cake journey—a real detour from my savory kitchen expertise—I knew that sponge cake would be the ideal vehicle for showcasing wheat in its purest form. Frederick soft wheat provides the light structure essential for a great sponge cake, as well as the great wheat flavor I was going for here. It has just enough flavor to really show through, balancing against the egginess of the cake.
VARIATIONS
-
Add 40 grams of cacao powder to the batter to make a chocolate cake.
-
Layer the cake with fresh fruit or jam.
15 eggs, separated
456 grams sugar, plus more for dusting the pan
7 grams vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped out and reserved
3 grams cream of tartar
3 grams sea salt
170 grams soft white wheat flour (I like Frederick)
Whipped Cream (recipe follows)
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two 8-inch springform cake pans with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg yolks and 228 grams of the sugar on medium speed until fluffy, 4 to 6 minutes, then set aside in a separate large bowl.
Thoroughly clean the bowl and whisk attachment of the stand mixer, then whip the egg whites and vanilla seeds on medium speed until frothy, about 30 seconds. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the remaining 228 grams sugar, the cream of tartar, and salt. Raise the speed of the mixer to medium-high and add the dry mixture to the egg whites a little bit at a time. Beat to medium-soft peaks, 4 to 6 minutes. Set aside.
Sift the flour directly into the yolk mixture. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour to incorporate it, and then carefully fold in the egg white mixture.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans, dividing it evenly. Bake until the cakes are lightly browned, the center springs back when pressed, and a tester comes out clean, about 40 minutes. (Begin checking the cakes for doneness at the 30-minute mark.)
Set the cakes aside to cool slightly on a wire rack for 10 minutes before unmolding. Then release the cakes from their springform pans and allow them to cool completely, about 45 minutes.
Discard the parchment, and then frost the stacked cakes all over with the whipped cream, dividing it evenly between the layers, top, and sides. The frosted layer cake will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
WHIPPED CREAM
MAKES 6 CUPS
700 grams heavy cream
100 grams sugar
4 grams (1 teaspoon) pure vanilla extract
In a large, chilled stainless-steel bowl, whip together the cream, sugar, and vanilla with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Use immediately.
CARROT CAKE
MAKES TWO 8-INCH CAKE LAYERS
This carrot cake uses Sonora soft wheat, which accentuates the carrot flavor, almost seasoning the carrot. The recipe also includes my pal chef Alberto Maggi’s secret ingredient, grapefruit puree, a touch he adds to many of his sweets at Osteria della Brughiera to kick them up a notch.
Unsalted butter, for greasing
30 grams honey
100 grams walnut oil
100 grams coconut oil
100 grams Grapefruit Puree (this page)
225 grams cane sugar
15 grams ground cinnamon
3½ grams sea salt
170 grams soft white wheat flour (I like Sonora), plus more for dusting
3½ grams baking soda
7½ grams cream of tartar
250 grams carrots, grated
115 grams walnuts, finely chopped
100 grams shredded coconut
142 grams eggs, beaten
Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 8-inch springform cake pans.
In a large bowl, mix the honey, walnut oil, coconut oil, grapefruit purée, and cane sugar with a spoon until incorporated. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the cinnamon, salt, flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Add the carrots, walnuts, and shredded coconut to the flour mixture, and stir until incorporated. Add the carrot mixture to the honey mixture, stirring until incorporated. Gradually stir in the eggs until incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans, dividing it evenly. Bake until a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. (Begin checking the cakes for doneness at the 30-minute mark.)
Set the cakes aside to cool completely on a wire rack for 30 minutes before unmolding. Then release the cakes from their springform pans, and frost the stacked cakes all over with the cream cheese frosting, dividing it evenly between the layers, top, and sides. The frosted layer cake will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
MAKES ABOUT 4 CUPS
452 grams cream cheese, softened
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Grated zest of 1 orange
3 grams vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped out and reserved
226 grams unsalted butter, softened
226 grams confectioners’ sugar
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the cream cheese on low speed until it is smooth and aerated, about 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle, and then add the lemon zest, orange zest, and vanilla seeds. Continue mixing on low speed, adding the butter a little bit at a time and scraping down the sides of the bowl with each addition, until it is all incorporated. Add the confectioners’ sugar and mix until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Beat the mixture on high speed until it is fluffy and aerated, about 2 minutes.
Stored in a sealed container, the frosting will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
MUFFINS
MAKES 18 MUFFINS
It wasn’t until I hit my thirties that I started eating breakfast. Once upon a time, I could survive on coffee alone. Now that those days are over, I bake barely sweet and very tender muffins for myself. They remind me of unfrosted cupcakes. To get that cakey texture I’m after, I use soft spring wheat flour. On its own, the flour would make a really soft but rather bland muffin. So to impart a savory note—not to mention loads of nutrition—I add plenty of bran. The resulting muffin is a delicious and nourishing way to start the day and it’s fun to flavor the batter with dried or fresh fruit, depending on what I fancy that day.
VARIATIONS
-
Add around 1,200 grams of blueberries, chocolate chips, walnuts, or raisins.
-
I also enjoy combining 900 grams of dried sour cherries and 300 grams of currants.
Unsalted butter, for greasing
475 grams soft spring wheat flour (I like Sonora), plus more for dusting
280 grams light brown sugar
178 grams bran (I like Sonora)
22½ grams baking soda
11 grams baking powder
5½ grams ground cinnamon
5 grams sea salt
590 grams buttermilk
200 grams eggs
185 grams extra-virgin olive oil
100 grams molasses
45 grams honey
5 grams pure vanilla extract
Streusel (recipe follows)
Preheat the oven to 395°F. Butter and flour 18 cups in muffin tins.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the soft spring wheat flour, light brown sugar, bran, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
In a separate large bowl, mix together the buttermilk, eggs, olive oil, molasses, honey, and vanilla.
With the mixer running on medium speed, add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture, a little bit at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl with each addition. Continue beating until all the ingredients are incorporated.
Spoon about 225 grams of the batter into each prepared muffin cup. Sprinkle the streusel over the batter, distributing it evenly. Bake until a tester comes out clean, about 40 minutes. (Begin checking the muffins for doneness at the 30-minute mark.) The muffins will keep in a sealed airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
STREUSEL
MAKES 500 GRAMS (2¼ CUPS)
125 grams sugar
125 grams sanding sugar
80 grams soft spring wheat flour (I like Sonora)
50 grams bran
1½ grams ground coriander
1 gram ground allspice
120 grams unsalted butter, cold
In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, sanding sugar, flour, bran, coriander, and allspice. With a bench scraper, cut in the butter until incorporated.
BROWNIES
MAKES 24 BROWNIES
I serve bite-size brownies as part of my piccola pasticceria plate, the Italian equivalent of petit fours, which signals the end of a fine-dining meal. They stand up well next to gelées, mini-tarts, and other sweets popular in Italy, and deliver powerful flavor in small doses. In considering brownies’ natural tendency to be cloying or a bit fudgy, I chose a flour that would balance out those characteristics and settled on rye. Because rye has low protein, I increased the number of eggs I would normally use in a standard brownie recipe—the whites are rich in protein and they work to improve the texture.
VARIATIONS
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Add chile powder, a variation inspired by chef Laurent Gras—he makes his own mixture of seven different chile varieties for his signature brownies.
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Add a healthy pinch of Chinese five spice, mesquite powder, or ground cinnamon.
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You can also add 450 grams of ground walnuts to the batter.
340 grams unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
910 grams dark chocolate (I like 72% cacao)
560 grams eggs
790 grams sugar
5 grams sea salt
10 grams pure vanilla extract
260 grams rye flour, plus more for dusting
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour an 18 × 9-inch baking pan.
In the top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, melt the butter and chocolate together, stirring constantly until smooth. Keep warm.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla on high speed until the mixture thickens and reaches the ribbon stage, about 8 minutes.
Pour the warm chocolate sauce into the egg mixture and fold to incorporate. Sift the flour directly into the batter and fold to incorporate.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake until the surface cracks and a tester comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.
Set the pan aside to cool on a wire rack for 40 minutes before slicing and removing the brownies. The brownies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 10 days.
BISCOTTI
MAKES 36 BISCOTTI
Biscotti are great to serve as part of a dessert cart and to entice people to have an after-dinner drink like Vin Santo, a sweet wine made in Tuscany. My friend Alberto Maggi, a chef at Osteria della Brughiera in Bergamo, used to blend whole bergamots or grapefruits in a blender along with their weight in confectioners’ sugar and add the mixture to his biscotti, cakes, and pies—wherever he felt his secret ingredient was needed. He’d even keep a reserve in the freezer for emergencies. The puree has crazy concentrated citrus flavor without adding any bitterness to the finished product, and it imparts tartness and acid, which enhance the sweetness of the biscotti. I use Blue Beard durum here because it has a really pronounced flavor even if it’s not fermented and you get a great exotic fruit aroma (like banana!) from the grain. The flavor profile of biscotti evolves over time and reaches its peak on the third day.
250 grams whole raw almonds
500 grams durum flour (I like Blue Beard), plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of sea salt
300 grams Grapefruit Puree (recipe follows)
4 large eggs
50 grams whole raw pine nuts
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Place the almonds on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Allow them to cool until they can be handled, about 20 minutes. Leave the oven on and set the lined baking sheet aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the grapefruit puree and the eggs.
Add the cooled almonds and the pine nuts to the flour mixture, and then pour in the egg mixture. Mix with a spoon until the dough comes together. Knead the dough energetically in the bowl with both hands until the almonds and pine nuts are evenly distributed.
With a bench scraper, loosen the dough from the sides of the bowl and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough in half with the bench scraper. Roll each piece of dough into a log about 4 inches in diameter and about 9 inches long. Place the logs on the reserved lined baking sheet, spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Press them gently to flatten the dough to a uniform height.
Bake until the surface is lightly cracked and a tester comes out clean, 30 minutes. Allow the logs to cool until they can be handled, about 30 minutes. Then cut the logs into approximately ½-inch-thick slices (about 18 pieces each).
Reduce the oven temperature to 300°F. Return the slices to the lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, until the cookies are no longer soft when pressed.
Allow the biscotti to cool completely on the baking sheet, about 20 minutes, before serving. The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 10 days.
GRAPEFRUIT PUREE
MAKES 450 GRAMS GRAPEFRUIT PUREE
1 medium grapefruit (about 225 grams), unpeeled, seeds removed, coarsely chopped
225 grams confectioners’ sugar
Combine the grapefruit chunks and the confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until smooth, about 3 minutes.
Stored in a sealed container, the puree will keep for 1 week in the refrigerator and up to 6 months in the freezer.
SCONES
MAKES 12 SCONES
For decades, I have been dedicated to Italian cuisine, so when I was challenged to create a special English-style service for the Williamsburg Hotel, I had to learn the basics. I went on a scone journey through London and interrogated British friends about their mothers’ and grandmothers’ recipes. I fused these various experiences into my ideal scone, equal parts flaky and tender. Thanks to the Frederick wheat, the scones have a whole lot of wheaty flavor mingling with the butter.
VARIATIONS
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Fold 25 grams of chopped fresh herbs into the mixed dough (3).
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Fold 250 grams of ground nuts or chopped dried fruit into the mixed dough.
900 grams soft spring wheat flour (I like Frederick)
100 grams bran (I like Sonora)
150 grams sugar
25 grams baking soda
18 grams salt
300 grams unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes, chilled
810 grams heavy cream
150 grams turbinado sugar, such as Sugar in the Raw
In a large bowl or on a large work surface, whisk together the flour, bran, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add the butter cubes and stir to coat (1). With the heel of your hand, press the cold butter into the flour, smearing until the ingredients are incorporated and a shaggy dough forms (2), taking care not to melt the fat with the heat of your hand.
Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Then add 750 grams of the heavy cream (4), kneading it into the dough until incorporated. Chill for 10 minutes more.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
With a bench scraper, turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide the dough in half (5). Shape each half into a log 4 inches wide, 2 inches high, and 1 inch thick. Cut the dough into 3 equal pieces, and then cut those pieces in half diagonally to make triangular scones (6). Transfer the pieces to the prepared baking sheets, spacing them at least 1 inch apart. Brush with the remaining 60 grams heavy cream (7) and sprinkle with the turbinado sugar (8). Bake until golden brown, about 35 minutes. The scones will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
