Baking the Best of It

The Bánh Mì is a perfect sandwich, a glorious harmony of crunch, acid, fat, freshness, and, of course: the shattery-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside bread. You may know that France's colonization (derogatory, always derogatory) of Vietnam contributed to the existence of the Bánh Mì, but the exact details of how are quite specific and, we think, fascinating. Fiona takes Roxie through the history before we detail how we made our own Bánh Mì bread and sandwiches!

This episode might be a little bit about pie. Our intentions here were to cover autumnal apple bakes and recipes that are not apple pie, and we did do that! But because we're so passionate about pie, piessonate, we also talk quite a bit about pie. Plus, a little something called Concord Grape Corner. Cozy up with a mug of tea or mulled cider and enjoy!

A good starter pie crust recipe:

https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/11/pie-crust-102-all-butter-really-flaky-pie-dough/

Sources:

Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, edited by Darra Goldstein, Oxford University Press, 2015

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Spy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Delicious

The ratio of historical context to baking content in this extra-long episode is approximately 75/25 because we feel that's appropriate! Angel food cake is so much more than a dry ring of fatless sponge found on grocery store shelves across the United States, it's a distillation of the historical role of "housewife" and how it evolved post-Industrial Revolution. Fiona tells Roxie about how domestic labor roles have evolved in Europe and the United States over the last 800 years and how that evolution relates to capitalism, racism, and gender. Plus, Roxie learns to stop worrying and love angel food cake.

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Sources:

More Work for Mother by Ruth Schwartz Cowan, Basic Books, 1983

The Farmer's Wife by Helen Rebanks, Harper Horizon, 2023

The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, Oxford University Press, 2015

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/work-requirements-are-rooted-in-the-history-of-slavery/

The story of the baguette involves Napoleonic military garb, microbes, (alleged) knife fights on underground construction sites, and ultimately a very tasty bread. Come get your crouquissant on with us.

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Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker%27s_yeast

https://wearegoodinbread.com/all-about-the-french-baguette/#:~:text=By%20a%20law%20enacted%20in,have%20sourdough%20starter%20in%20them.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/baguette-bread

https://www.chezjim.com/books/baguette/#nap

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baguette#cite_note-chev-7

The first cheesecake is closer in time to the construction of the Pyramids of Giza than it is to the creation of the Basque Cheesecake in the 1980s. To make fresh cheese desserts is to be human. We cover cheesecake past, present, and future and make a Basque Cheesecake!

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Sources:

The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, Oxford University Press, 2015

https://devourtours.com/blog/san-sebastian-cheesecake/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/what-is-basque-burnt-cheesecake-where-to-eat-san-sebastian

https://smittenkitchen.com/2024/06/easy-basque-cheesecake/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPZxQ4WvgyI

https://greekreporter.com/2023/09/27/cheesecake-ancient-greece/

The most important part of this episode is the discussion of UK tax code. We get into confusing cookie taxonomy, chocolate tempering, the bizarre hardtac of the Roman centurions, and bake three fabulous and very different cookies!

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Sources:

The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, Oxford University Press, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQiii4pg4s8

https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/03/almond-biscotti/

https://levainbakery.com/pages/our-story

https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-best-way-to-temper-chocolate

Part 3 of our introductory miniseries on our perfect tea party: Welcome to the Sugar Tier! The stars of this tier are a strawberry and lemon Battenberg cake and a rhubarb & custard mini tartlet. Lots of history in this one, as well as some diversions into our hot takes on fondant, decoration, and pie crust.

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Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battenberg_cake

http://foodhistorjottings.blogspot.com/2011/08/battenburg-cake-truth.html

https://www.seriouseats.com/know-your-sweets-battenberg-cake

https://labsalliebe.com/en/toot-colorful-persian-marzipan/#:~:text=The%20origin%20of%20Toot%20dates,is%20noted%20to%20as%20Haremskonfekt.

AKA The Butter Tier. We talk you through classic English scones and unravel the history and technique behind clotted cream, strange and wonderful beast that she is. Plus, lavender & lime shortbread!

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Chef John's Clotted Cream:

https://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-names-cream-clotted-cream.html

Mary Berry's Scones:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/tea_time_scones_77839

https://britishfoodhistory.com/2019/10/11/clotted-cream/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotted_cream

Our first full episode and part 1 of our series on tea party baking! Some tea history to set the stage before we get into tier 1 of our 3-tiered tea party menu: our favorite sandwich bread and our twist on classic tea sandwiches.

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Sources for this episode:

Welcome to Baking the Best of It! Episode one out Friday, June 21

We're lifelong bakers and best friends who love sharing our recipes, baking experiments, and knowledge.

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