Category: Baking

Sourdough Starter

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Fermenting, Topic2 Comments

Long before I started baking my own bread, I craved sourdough. But I had a lot of misconceptions about the process. So for years, I baked yeast breads. I learned along the way that a dough hook on a standup mixer might prevent sore arms but at the cost of dense, inconsistent loaves. I also discovered yeast can be quite unforgiving to overproofing: leave the house during the rise time, and you’re sure to come home to a collapsed, flat mess. But I imagined that sourdough would require daily care—and consumption.

Then I was gifted a starter and took a shot at becoming a sourdough baker. I’d also been reading about no-knead breads and was intrigued by the idea of making loaves by hand without sore fingers. A bit of research, a bit of practice, and my delusions about sourdough evaporated like the liquid in a baking loaf. Learn how to find and care for sourdough starter

Quick Breads

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Freezing, Topic, Using1 Comment

As a kid, I loved the shape of muffins; breaking the cap from the base was my version of twisting open an Oreo. These days, I prefer quick breads for one reason: the freezer. A stack of zucchini, pumpkin, banana, and cranberry breads takes up far less space than the same four batches of muffins. Besides, toasting is the only way to reheat; a microwave is just not the tool for defrosting baked treats. If you have a toaster oven (which I recommend for many reasons), there’s no bread vs. muffin argument. But if you’re a traditional toaster owner—well, you can imagine the mess of slicing a frozen muffin to fit.

Fortunately, you can easily convert your favorite muffin recipe to a loaf: They’re the same product, just in different pans. Even better, you can base them on a ratio and change the flavors to match your mood or the season. Learn to make Ratio Quick Bread and Quick Cranberry Bread

Made with Love

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Canning, Dehydrating, Giveaway, Refrigerating, Using1 Comment

I’m a perennial giver of food. Whether it’s for a holiday, at an event, or just because someone expresses random interest in something I made, I can’t help myself: I have to gift a jar or bag of homemade goodness.

I love receiving food too, but sometimes even I—someone who processes hundreds of jars a season, dehydrates and freezes, ferments and smokes—am hesitant to open a gifted jar. These are usually the ones that have perhaps a single word on the lid identifying the contents. No date, no maker, and no suggestions for putting it to use. These jars often work their way to the back of my canning shelves, hiding behind the familiar and loved. It makes me think some of my gifts go just as astray. So I’ve devise a way to change that—and I’m gifting my idea to you.
Read more about gifting food

Christmas Cookies

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Topic, Using5 Comments

In one way only, it’s like a box store at my house: the day after Thanksgiving, we’re prepping for Christmas. If Thanksgiving was my grandmother’s holiday, Christmas was Mom’s. As it approached, we dragged box after box of decorations from under the stairs and distributed their contents around the house. Every room was adorned, and multiple trees, including one that brushed the ceiling, sagged under handmade, generations old, and otherwise treasured ornaments. Then the baking began.

When laying out cookies for their chief eater (Dad, aka Santa), my sister and I struggled to limit ourselves to a small plate. Choices included painted cutouts, thumbprints, Berliner kranzer, butter spritz, and gingerbread biscotti. Two that I never fully appreciated until I was older—Vanilla Bean Cookies and Chocolate Rum Balls—are now my annual contribution to the array. I make them after Thanksgiving so that they fully develop their flavors by the big day. Learn to make Vanilla Bean Cookies and Chocolate Rum Balls

Nearly Perfect Pie

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Dry storage, Topic, Using4 Comments

I had an amazing grandmother. From the time I was 12, Grandma Tiny lived just down the road—where she remained until she died at 104. My sister and I stopped in every day after school. For someone who ate few sweets, she took her grandmotherly duties seriously: the cookie jar was always full (usually of snickerdoodles), and holidays received sugary attention.

Thanksgiving was her party. Every year, the family descended. We extended both pullouts on the dining room table, yet it was so crowded an adult was still relegated to a card table in her sitting room with my sister, cousin, and I. Turkey was the mainstay, but even before I became vegetarian, the rest of the spread dominated my plate. My favorite was “dressing”; the several types couldn’t all fit within the bird and be accurately called “stuffing.” I would douse them with my mom’s homemade cranberry sauce and go back for seconds. But like everyone present, I always left plenty of room for apple pie. Learn to make Nearly Perfect Pie Crust and Apple Crumble Pie

Pumpkin

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Event, Freezing, Ingredient, UsingLeave a comment

It’s been a week of firsts here at Twice as Tasty. It saw the official launch of workshops on just about any technique, recipe, or topic that is or will be covered by the blog. If you’re intrigued by these recipes but timid about trying them solo, workshops are for you—and your friends; the workshops are designed to be hosted in private kitchens for small groups. The first phase will be in my local corner of Montana. But I love to travel, so contact me if you’re interested in hosting anywhere: Next stop will be Bellingham, WA, and the Puget Sound area at the end of December.

Twice as Tasty also catered its first event, a house concert at the EVK Lounge. From a food standpoint, this was an opportunity to add smell and taste to an already sensual evening, with the scent of baking pumpkin and chocolate wafting through the room midway through the show. Learn to make Roasted Pumpkin Puree and Seeds and Pumpkin–Chocolate Cookies

Tart Cherries: Sweet

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Canning, Freezing, Ingredient, UsingLeave a comment

My area is known for its sweet Flathead (Lambert) cherries, but I grew up with a pie cherry tree that I would climb into to pick its tart, bright red fruit—and often eat right within the branches. So let that warn you as to how tart I like my cherries.

If you’ve read the Canning Tools page, you may have noticed a slow cooker on the optional list. Fruit butters are entirely the reason. Fruit butters use both pulp and juice (unlike jelly) but let a long cooking time evaporate excess moisture and build dense texture and flavor (unlike jam). I use a slow cooker to make all fruit butters, which lengthens the cooking time but makes the process nearly hands off and burnproof. Add some spices to the reduction, and the cherries pop. If you have more cherries than your slow cooker can hold, set them aside for scones. Learn to make Tart Cherry Butter with Chai Spices and Sour Cream Scones with Tart Cherries