User's blog

Category: Balancing Tastes

  • Driven By Dough

    My morning starts at around 3:15 am. From then on, I have my head down and am running non-stop for about 12 hours. I have my eyes on the path in front of me and block out the rest of the world as I strive to create. The other day a regular customer asked Aki if we were closing. He overheard a conversation in Wawa that made him think that this was a possibility. She told him it was a baseless rumor and not true. What is true is that we have a small, tight, hard-working staff that makes magic on a daily basis. It’s hard. It’s really hard. And when people ask me how it’s going, I don’t bother to sugarcoat it. My blunt answers when sharing the hardships of creating on a daily basis and the insane unpredictability of our business flow have probably led to the rumors of imminent shutdown. When we have too many doughnuts left over, we are crushed. When we run out of doughnuts early, customers are disappointed and we are too, because we want everyone to get what they came looking for. Finding a balance between sales and leftovers when it comes to a perishable product is a delicate balancing act. We need to sell out every day in order to make money, but we are also here to make people happy.

    Two years into our current location, we are creating more different items than I ever imagined. Besides doughnuts, we have tapped into our dough-driven creativity and incorporated a focused selection of naturally leavened breads (sourdough, focaccia, and bagels) and pastries. We continue to evolve and refine our croissants and their derivatives. Cinnamon rolls on the weekends are developing their own following. We (finally) brought back American Noodles in the form of take-home noodle kits for two, designed to make dinner simple and delicious. It’s a constant evolution at the shop.

    With that in mind, here is our current lineup:

    **The Doughnuts:**
    – Crullers
    – Angel Pillows
    – Chocolate Yeasted
    – Vanilla Yeasted
    – Cloud
    – Hot-Cake
    – Condensed Milk
    – Not Quite Vegan
    – Lemon Cake
    – Apple Cider
    – Super Cake
    – Dark Knight
    – Chocolate Babka
    – Brown Sugar Babka
    – Savory Zeppoli
    – Meltaway Bars

    **Naturally Leavened Breads:**
    – Sourdough
    – Focaccia
    – Cinnamon Rolls
    – Bagels, with rotating fixings like brown butter cream cheese, egg salad, and more.

    **Croissants and Croissant Hand Pies**

    **Pasta Kits:**
    – Fresh pasta and sauce for two

    If any of that piques your interest, come see us at the shop!

    800 Edison Furlong Rd., Furlong, PA 18925

  • Lime Pickle Mafaldine

    Well, here goes. Let’s see if the spaghetti sticks. As many of you know, we were at the forefront of utilizing pasta extruders in the kitchen 15 years ago. We have continued to quietly work, develop, and share our work. As we dive headfirst back into the world of noodles, I am looking to share our recipes and creations. First up is our Lime Pickle Mafaldine. We paired this noodle with brown butter chicken bolognese and a Calabrian cucumber condiment in our second American Noodles Pasta Kit.
    So here goes, rough and ready to be explored:

    Lime Pickle Semolina Pasta Dough

    – 600 grams water
    – 125 grams Indian Lime Pickle Condiment
    – 2000 grams semolina flour
    – 600 grams lime pickle water (30% water plus potentially a little more)

    Put the lime pickles and water in a blender. Puree them together until the mixture appears smooth. Strain the lime mixture through a fine-meshed sieve. Reserve for making noodles.

    Put the semolina into the pasta machine and mix to distribute in the hopper. With the machine running, drizzle the lime pickle water into the machine. Mix the dough for 6-7 minutes. Check the consistency of the dough after four minutes. It should begin to resemble coarse streusel. Squeeze the dough together in your hand. Break the dough apart. If it breaks cleanly, the dough has enough water. If it crumbles, add additional water in 20-gram increments. Once the dough is the right consistency, let it knead in the machine for a few minutes. If you are in a hurry, you could begin extruding immediately, but it’s better to let it rest in the machine for 10 minutes for ideal hydration.

  • Caramelized Cream Croissants

    Cooking with cream is currently my thing. It’s been this way for a number of years. I could probably write a book on the idea. I certainly have a few chapters created by now. But the act of writing a book often finalizes an idea. I am currently enjoying the ongoing flow of thoughts on the simple idea.

    If you look back at our grated croissants, you’ll see we coated the croissants with a slurry of cream and sugar and then roasted them in the oven. I reapplied that idea to slices of our croissant loaves. I brushed the slices with our cream slurry and cooked the croissant slices in a non-stick pan, flipping occasionally to evenly cook the cream and allow the sugar to caramelize on the bread.

    (We used to do something similar with butter and sugar. The use of cream instead slows down the process and adds steam. The steam warms the croissant slices throughout and makes them warm and buttery.)

    When the croissant slices are caramelized, we transfer them to cooling racks to allow the sugar to harden into a thin glassy sheen. The caramelized croissant slices are delightful while still warm and still delicious when cooled down.

  • Sugar Brioche

    Alex made me sugar brioche today, and it was one of the best gifts ever. It was unexpected and somehow exactly what I wanted. We aren’t that great about giving each other gifts, so this was a total surprise. An individual brioche is one of my favorite pastries. I don’t get it very often because finding great brioche is like finding a unicorn in the desert. This was an experience. The bread was still warm, the cooling edges slowly setting up, so some bits were crisp and some were chewy. I broke the pastry open to reveal the delicate inner layers and peeled them off. They were soft and tender, substantial yet light, with those crunchy-chewy edges to provide texture and contrast. There were no glazes or fillings to distract from the crust and crumb or from the flavor of butter and sugar that carried it to the next level. I savored one by myself in the kitchen with a cup of coffee. It was one of those perfect moments that comes when we least expect it.

  • Friends Who Forage

    “…and share their harvest are the very best kinds of friends. Finding edibles in the woods is not my forte; fortunately, Judy and Andy are very good at it and gave us some beautiful ramps. Thanks, guys! In order to preserve the harvest, I considered making them into pickles or kimchi. Because I didn’t plan ahead, I didn’t have exactly what I needed for either, so I improvised. Oddly, I had no gochugaru in the house, but I had a new bottle of Sriracha powder. I didn’t have any fresh garlic either, so having that in the seasoning powder worked out. I made a marinade using equal parts white balsamic vinegar (out of rice vinegar too) and water, seasoned with 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of Sriracha powder, 1 tablespoon of shoyu, and a teaspoon of salt. It was nicely balanced, though in retrospect a splash of fish sauce would have been a nice addition, hitting all the different parts of my mouth and complementing the unique garlicky green flavor of the ramps. I cut the ramps into the marinade, mixed it all together, and packed it into a mason jar to do its thing. They are not quite pickles and not quite kimchi, and hopefully, the end result will be something very delicious. Time will tell.”

  • Mayo Marinated Five Ingredient Fried Chicken, Plus Vegetables

    Okay, so fried chicken is a thing that lots of us have played with over the years. Recently, I saw our friend, Kenji, post about updating his 5-ingredient fried chicken recipe, swapping pickled jalapenos for his pickles in the recipe. He was smitten with his swap. I can agree with the move, as we did our pretzel-crusted fried chicken with cherry pepper caramel sauce for years. The spice is nice. I love the idea of simple, but, as anyone who knows me knows, I will make simple hard. My one hang-up with the 5-ingredient fried chicken sandwich is the lack of mayonnaise on the bun. Then it dawned on me. We could create a brine blending mayonnaise and cherry pepper brine. (We made a second version using giardiniera, for those who aren’t feeling the spice.) We scored our chicken and put it in a zip-top bag with the mayo brine and refrigerated it overnight. The following morning, we dredged the thighs, dripping in thick brine, in self-rising flour seasoned with salt. We refrigerated the coated chicken on a parchment-lined sheet pan for 6-ish hours (you could also leave it overnight and prep a day ahead) and then fried it at 375°F for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. We seasoned the fried chicken with salt. While I fried the chicken, Aki chopped up cherry peppers and giardiniera and added them to two separate containers of heavy mayonnaise to make tangy condiments for the buns. This way, we could match the mayo to the brined chicken thighs. We toasted our buns, in this case, they were brioche-esque, and smeared the appropriate mayo onto the buns. Then we added sliced tomatoes and romaine leaves along with the chicken. We could have just put the chicken on the bun with the mayo to stay true to the 5 ingredients. But why stop there? We wanted to explore and enjoy. The 5-ingredient mayo model is magnificent. The final addition of fresh vegetables, a slaw, or something else bright is a no-brainer in our kitchen. You could definitely taste the difference between the two brines. The chicken had a great tangy flavor with a hint of spice. The crust was tender and crispy, while the meat was juicy and flavorful. And if you were wondering, a kimchi-mayo version is next on the list. One more idea to explore and expand upon: what flavor is your mayo? There is such a variety of delicious condiments on grocery shelves these days, both spicy and smoked, that it’s easy to add yet another layer of flavor without increasing the size of your ingredient list.

    Ingredient Guidelines:
    – Brine: 100 grams mayonnaise, 100 grams cherry pepper (giardiniera, kimchi, pickle, etc.) brine
    – 6 boneless and skinless chicken thighs, scored
    – Self-rising flour seasoned with 1% salt
    – Chopped cherry peppers (or whatever pickled vegetable was in the brine)
    – Mayonnaise
    – Toasted buns
    – Sliced and salted tomatoes
    – Lettuce leaves

  • Pasta Carbonara

    Cooking with cream is kind of our thing, and one of the best cream-based recipes out there is for pasta carbonara. It’s not quite breakfast for dinner, but it’s close enough to satisfy Alex and far enough away to make me happy. Marriage is all about balance. And it’s a pantry dinner that comes together quickly, which is always a good thing. We’re serving four these days, and this made plenty for everyone, with leftovers to make into a frittata the next morning. You need a pasta pot and a large sauté pan. Yes, you have to keep the toppings separate and let people mix them in on their own; it’s just better that way. It keeps the flavors separate so you can taste each ingredient, and it keeps the peas from turning into mush. Best of all, everyone can add as much or as little as they would like and eat it however they want to.

    Pasta Carbonara
    Serves 4

    – 8 ounces long pasta (we used Barilla Collezione bucatini above)
    – 1 cup + 1/4 cup heavy cream, separated
    – 4 large egg yolks
    – 1 cup grated Parmigiano, plus more to finish the dish
    – Lottie’s Traditional Barbados Yellow Hot Pepper Sauce (a.k.a. magic mustard sauce), optional
    – 1/2 large onion, finely diced
    – 1 cup ham, diced
    – 1/2 bag frozen peas
    – 1 green onion, finely sliced

    Cook the pasta in boiling, generously salted water for one minute less than the time on the box. Meanwhile, whisk together 1 cup of cream, egg yolks, the Parmigiano cheese, and a few shakes of Lottie’s sauce, if using. Reserve. Put the remaining 1/4 cup of cream in a large skillet or sauté pan and add onions, ham, a pinch of salt, and a dash of Lottie’s sauce, if using. Bring to a simmer, cover, and keep over low temperature as the pasta cooks. Two minutes before the pasta is done, add the frozen peas to the ham mixture in the skillet, season with salt, stir them in, and re-cover the pan. Increase the heat to medium-low. Drain the cooked pasta when done, leaving about a quarter cup of cooking water in the pot. Return the pasta to the pot and add the reserved cream mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens and coats the pasta. Taste for seasoning and add salt or more cheese as needed. Once the pasta is done, turn off the heat under the sauté pan. Plate the pasta and sprinkle it with more cheese and the sliced green onion. Spoon the ham and vegetable mixture over each mound of pasta and serve immediately.

  • Large Loaves

    We have adapted our no-knead pizza dough once again. This time we stripped it down to flour, water, and salt. To that, we added what we call sourdough base. Sourdough base is a mixture of 1 part sourdough starter to 2 parts flour and 2 parts water that is combined and allowed to ferment for at least 6 hours. We combined everything in a large bowl. We mixed and folded the developing dough occasionally over an 18-hour window. We put the dough into a pre-heated Dutch oven and baked it for an hour and fifteen minutes. The first 30 minutes the loaf was covered, the second 30 minutes it was uncovered, and for the final 15 minutes, we baked the loaf on a wire rack. The crust is crackling and crisp. The interior is moist, airy, and chewy. It’s been fun to revisit an old friend.

  • Grits in a Can

    I took a can of hominy and put it into a pot with the liquid from the can and a splash of milk. I used a stick blender to puree the hominy. I brought the mixture to a simmer and cooked the porridge until it thickened, about five minutes. I finished my quick, magic-like grits with cheddar cheese, some hot sauce, and a knob of butter.

    Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
    Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
    Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table

  • Cornflakes Crullers

    I loved this idea. Our first attempts proved to be an epic fail. That said, I may have to revisit this again soon. Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table