A warm slice of toast with a swipe of butter is one of life’s simplest pleasures.

Home cafés are taking over kitchens across the country. As part of this trend, people transform their living room into a café featuring coffee, tea, and snacks, creating a cozy atmosphere where friends can gather and linger — and enjoy good food and drinks while they’re at it.

Sourdough starter only has two ingredients: flour and water. But while water is self-explanatory, you have more options when it comes to your choice of flour. So what’s the best flour for sourdough starter?

This piece is a lightly adapted excerpt from Mia Castro’s new cookbook, Cocina Puerto Rico.

When I think of Puerto Rican desserts, the first that comes to mind is flan — a richer, more flavorful cousin of the classic French crème caramel. It’s a delicate custard made with evaporated milk, condensed milk, and eggs, gently baked in a caramel-coated pan inside a steamy water bath.

If you’ve melted solid chocolate, you know that even a tiny bit of water inadvertently splashed into the bowl can make that beautifully smooth, glossy chocolate “seize,” turning it into a dry, dull, grainy mess. Melted chocolate and water just don’t mix!

Or do they?

This month, we’re going big on flavor. The markets may not be bursting just yet, but we can still lean into bakes that pack a major punch. These include a flaky pastry with a hidden filling of vibrant guava; citrus-laden blondies; and the cheesiest sourdough loaf possible.  

The Big Month of Bread is back!

Last year, we shared a four-week bread-baking plan, designed for beginning your bread journey or just getting out of a baking rut. This year, we’re running it back with four new recipes designed to educate and inspire you, from a protein-packed sandwich loaf to a zingy Middle Eastern flatbread. And as a bonus, all of them have helpful visual guides on the recipe page to make the baking process even easier.

In the baking world, there’s no feat quite as impressive or mystifying as a lofty, cloud-like angel food cake. To successfully achieve a cake that stands tall and proud at home, every recipe will include this one strange trick: Cooling the cake upside down (usually on a wine bottle!) once it comes out of the oven.

Test Kitchen Director Sarah Jampel spent nearly half a year developing a single biscuit recipe. But not just any biscuit recipe.

When I first heard the words “Cookie Butter Whipped Ganache” come out of the Test Kitchen, my ears perked up. Silky white chocolate ganache and the warm, nostalgic spices of Biscoff cookie butter in one? Say less.

The first time someone mentioned “cleaching” in a Test Kitchen meeting, I thought my ears had somehow malfunctioned. Surely that was not a real word. 

Except .. the whispered fear behind it certainly sounded real. And when one of our recipe developers held up a slice of coffee cake, I realized that not only was it real — it was a problem. (Multiple Test Kitchen members have, in fact, referred to it as a “nightmare.”)

Swap the flowers for flour with these romantic Valentine’s Day recipes. Yes, there’s plenty of chocolate, but there are also recipes designed for two and special occasion-worthy breakfasts you can start prepping the night before. Because when it comes to celebrating, there’s nothing sweeter than something baked with love.  

Let’s be honest: Super Bowl parties are 50% about watching the game and 50% about eating the snacks (and that’s being generous when it comes to the football). Whether you’re hosting the gathering or attending one as a guest, give everyone something to cheer about with crowd-pleasing snacks that are perfect for game day. 

It may be the shortest month of the year, but there are plenty of reasons to bake in February. Whether you’re looking for a Valentine’s Day dessert that will make your loved one swoon, planning to make something for the Super Bowl, or just want a recipe for a cozy night in, we have something for every occasion this month.

When I started my sourdough journey in 2018, it wasn’t just the excitement of baking bread in my own kitchen or the thrill of playing with different flours that really pulled me in. It was the decorative scoring that I saw across my feeds. The creativity of other sourdough bakers, with their elaborate, whimsical patterns, inspired me to try myself. Since then, scoring has opened up a new creative outlet for me and deepened my sourdough baking practice.

When you preheat your oven to 350°F, you might assume its interior is a nice, even temperature throughout. Far from it! Every oven will bake more (or less) quickly in different locations, from top to bottom and front to back. In order to avoid burning your cookie bottoms or charring your cake’s top, it’s good to know where your oven’s “hot spots” are. (Here’s how to test them.) 

Is fiber .. trending? It's a nutrient that conjures images of shriveled prunes and cardboard cereal, but it seem to be having a moment: On the heels of our collective protein obsession comes another dietary darling.

Everything about chiffon cakes is delicate, from the meringue to the batter to the cake itself. So when we tell you that the best way to preserve a chiffon cake's delicate, light texture is to drop the pan full of batter onto a hard surface after baking, you may be wondering what we're thinking. But hear us out. At her Los Angeles restaurant Quarter Sheets, pastry chef Hannah Ziskin makes ethereal Princess Cake and a rotating assortment of layered chiffon cakes.

Put down that protein shake — there are better ways to hit your protein goals. Specifically, with pancakes and bread. 

Not what you expected? Protein and baked goods don’t typically go together, but these clever recipes prove that with a few powerhouse ingredients, they can deliver just as much protein as bars and shakes. They mostly rely on three key protein sources: eggs, cottage cheese, and oats, so if you’re looking to up your protein intake, here are three outstanding recipes to try: 

There are millions of pizza recipes in the world, including the wildly beloved Crispy Cheesy Pan Pizza, our 2020 Recipe of the Year, not to mention conve