Baked Goods

The size of a product changes how it is eaten. A full-size simit is a meal in itself; it is bought, bitten and finished. Reduced in scale it produces quite different behaviour — taken by the handful …

Sweetness in fruit bakes can come from two sources: added sugar or the fruit itself. Apple is among the best fruits for the second route, because as it loses water in the oven the proportion of sugar…

The biggest problem for a counter selling loose cookies is that the products look alike. Eight of the ten varieties on the tray are shades of pale brown; the customer learns which is which only by as…

Chocolate enters a cookie in two ways: stirred into the dough as pieces, or sealed inside as a filling. The two produce different experiences — with pieces the taste arrives at the same intensity in …

The role of fat in cookie dough is not only flavour. Fat coats the surface of the flour particles and limits their contact with water, so the gluten network cannot form fully and the baked product ta…

Some recipes carry the name of a city, and with that name a story of migration. The Kavala cookie is one of them; it takes its name from Kavala, today within the borders of Greece, and travelled to A…

Hanımeli is the name of a shape rather than a recipe in Turkish pastry. The dough is rolled into thin strips, twisted and the ends curled inward; the resulting form takes its name from the flower it …

Walnut is among the highest-oil nuts, which makes it both flavourful and fragile. Oil deteriorates over time through contact with air; a stale walnut leaves a sharp, bitter taste that baking cannot c…

The simpler the recipe for Turkish shortbread, the more delicate its technique. The aim is a texture that dissolves without chewing, and the only route to it is bringing the dough together in as litt…

The economics of a mixed cookie tray rest on two kinds of line. On one side are the specials that draw the customer, standing out in look and taste; on the other are the base lines that fill the tray…

Croquant is a hard confectionery component made by caramelising sugar and combining it with hazelnuts or almonds. As it cools it sets glass-brittle, and breaking it produces sharp, crackling pieces. …

Mousse means foam in French, and the name describes the structure directly. Air is trapped inside whipped cream or egg white; when the mixture is chilled that air stays within the structure and makes…