Panfusine

You know that a collective project is a success when you lose track of the number of bakes you've done, and yet when the name pops up, you seem to know exactly what went into that particular confection and (as is usually the case with me) what quirky tweak I incorporated. This month,  +Aparna Balasubramanian  's choice was a traditional Roman bun known as Maritozzi, based on a suggestion I gave her. I spotted this recipe on  +Food52  last month as part of a series on regional Italian food . I've been a fan of Emiko Davies' recipes on Food52 ever since I signed up to test  her recipe for grape jam dumplings  - Celli Ripieni - for a community pick. Her articles are a fabulous introduction to the simple home fare from various regions of Italy. When you see the recipe on Food52, the first thing you realize from Emiko's head notes is the number of tweaks and variations that this recipe can weather and still remain a robust and delicious. Well, Emi...

I can't think of a better way to start my blogs than with a great bread, There is something so primal,  so satisfying about bread, I wonder sometimes if there is an evolutionary aspect to bread and the effect its aroma has on the human physiology. The glorious 'umami-ness' (if there does exist such a word), the caramel colored crust and the pillowy chewy crumb within. Aparna's pick for January's bread was a simple Pane Siciliano, which is made from Durum Semolina flour rather than the standard all purpose flour. The result is a  bread whose crumb isn't quite 'airy' , but rather fine. The addition of a pre- ferment (the Cresciuta as its called in Sicily) adds a depth of yeasty flavor. For once, I didn't add to or tweak on the original recipe, In fact, I made sure that I stuck to the original list of ingredients and followed the recipe to a T. Pane Siciliano (Sicilian Sesame Seeded Semolina Bread) (Adapted from Mary Ann Espo...

I've racked up about 1/2 a dozen of my dishes perfected and photographed, and yet, when it comes to actually writing them up to publish them, it appears that I've been afflicted by a kind of writers block. I seem to be having a hard time trying weave in interesting anecdotes to the recipe (which has been promptly jotted down faithfully in one of my notebooks I keep stuffing into cabinets and shelves in almost every room, so that I don't forget exactly what went into it. I get my breaks from these blocks with the baking projects thankfully. Aparna picked out a Persian bread for this month and gave an advance notice that there wasn't much historical information she could dig out, other than the fact that the recipe from Greg & Lucy Malouf's book 'Saraban' - A Chef's journey through Persia. There was something intriguing in that combination of Cumin Cardamom, turmeric and dates, so much that I did not even try to add any of my quirky touches to...

Some of the most elegant breads I've come across seem to have Japanese origins. Take the Hokkaido milk bread for example, The pillowy softness that we only see in those mass manufactured monstrosities that have a laundry list of ingredients, of which half are synthetic man made preservatives - The Hokkaido milk bread has all the great qualities of 'Wonder bread' without any of the ghoulish preservatives. This months bread, picked by Aparna Balasubramanian from 'My Diverse kitchen' is yet another wonder from the Japanese bread basket. The 'Melon Pan'. Lets first dissect the name  - Its a Japanese dish with no ingredient even remotely associated with melons of any kind, and its referred to by the Portuguese name for bread 'Pan' - Go figure! The crackly rough looking surface of the bun was supposedly said to resemble the surface of a cantaloupe, hence the presence of the term Melon in the name. In reality, this crinkly surface is a cooki...