Glossy, blistery, crackly crust and a big, open crumb: These are two of the most sought-after hallmarks of sourdough bread. How do you get them? There are so many factors that get you there, but one of the biggest is the open secret all professional bakers know: You need steam. And a lot of it.

When you first begin to bake with sourdough starter, the learning curve feels steep. You go online for information and are quickly overwhelmed not just by the amount of potential reading, but also the innumerable conflicting “facts.”   

A few weeks ago, I ordered pizzas from our local joint, a nothing-special strip mall spot. With a few additional toppings and delivery added in, our casual dinner for four set me back about $60. What’s worse, the pizza wasn’t even very good.  

In this article:  What is sourdough discard? Why do you discard sourdough starter?What to do with sourdough discardHow to add sourdough discard to any recipe How to sThe post What is sourdough discard? And what should I do with it?: You can’t have sourdough without sourdough discard. appeared first on the King Arthur Blog. Continue reading at the publisher's website.

A few months ago, Test Kitchen Manager Sarah Jampel sent me an Instagram link, with an all-caps message imploring me to check it out.

The link in question was a reel from baker Dan Langan, who demonstrated an unconventional way to cut cake: from the outside in, rather than the top down.

You’re bringing your favorite cream tea scones to an office breakfast, and you’d like to jazz them up a bit. Or maybe blackberries are on sale and you’re wondering what to bake with them. The good news? Adding fresh fruit to scones makes delicious sense.  

This month, we’re fully embracing the mashup. From churro cupcakes to cannoli cheesecake, we’ve got creative recipes you didn't even know you needed. But don’t worry, we have tried-and-true classics too, like the only soufflé recipe you’ll ever need and a back-pocket vanilla cake to whip up at a moment’s notice. Here, we’re sharing a baker’s dozen recipes to bake all month long and beyond. 

It’s an undisputed fact that croutons make any salad more delicious. They’re requisite for some salads (Caesar, I’m looking at you!) but an enhancement to all. They turn something compost bound (stale bread) into something marvelous, salty, and crunchy. And the best ones are homemade. 

Bakers often liken their sourdough starter to a pet. They give it a cute name (“Doughy Parton”), express slight exasperation about feeding schedules, and brag about a bond strengthened by time.

Having a sourdough starter that’s years — sometimes decades! — old instills a sense of accomplishment and pride, and some bakers love to share their starter origin stories. But does an older starter actually make better bread?

A good crust is the foundation of great homemade pizza, whether you’re making your favorite basic crust, a bubbly Neapolitan-style, a flavorful sourdough, or even a crispy gluten-free crust.

It’s carrot cake season. And maybe you think that means just one thing: literal carrot cake. But here’s a secret. Carrot cake is not a single recipe. It’s a state of mind. A template. A gateway to a variety of forms and incarnations, some of which you may not have known existed until right now. And you can pick whichever one you want this spring, whether that’s a traditional cake or something else entirely.

Chocolate chip cookies are like puppies — it’s hard not to love them. And like puppies, they come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, so you can pick the one that suits you best.  

Depending on what recipe you use, you can make a cookie that’s chewy and fudgy. Or perhaps you prefer something crispy and caramelized with brown sugar notes. Or just a cookie that’s really, really big. Here are our best chocolate chip cookie recipes to help you find your cookie companion.

It's springtime, which means flowers. (Groundbreaking!) But for some bakers, adding florals to their spring bakes means something entirely different — it means baking with Fiori di Sicilia.  

Pizza crust is made from the same basic ingredients as bread: flour, water, salt, and yeast. But when it comes to flour, which one is best? Should you use all-purpose flour?

The bakers of King Arthur are here to solve the kitchen conundrums you share with us, whether it’s on the phone, computer, or by the good old postal service.

What do silky lobster bisque and lump-free pastry cream have in common? One simple tool: an immersion blender.  

Sure, most people probably use their immersion blenders for savory applications like making soup, but I reach for my Breville Control Grip Immersion Blender when I’m baking, too; this versatile hand-held appliance has many uses.

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; a pound cake full of zingy lime flavor thanks to a unique ingredient; and a focaccia with chocolate in not one, but two forms. There’s also Guinness for St. Patrick's Day, berries, and bars that have a quadruple hit of ginger. Hope you’re ready for one majorly flavorful month. 

What’s the best way to turn your bowl of scone dough into tender, delicious scones? It’s up to you: There are several techniques to choose from, depending on the results you want. Here are some factors to consider before making your choice:  

I get tagged in lots of bread pictures online. Bakers of all levels often reach out for guidance on how to improve their bread, sharing images for me to diagnose the problem. And when I see a loaf that’s matte with no ears, a common occurrence, the first thing I recommend for improvement is steam.  

Scones are a welcome treat any time of day, whether you’re enjoying them first thing in the morning or as an afternoon snack. But we can’t always bake them immediately before eating, and they can quickly become dry and stale. So how long do scones last? And how can you enjoy a fresh scone days later? 

The bakers of King Arthur are here to solve the kitchen conundrums you share with us, whether it’s on the phone, computer, or by the good old postal service.

You’ve probably heard of red velvet cake, the classic Southern dessert vividly tinted with red food coloring and a hint of cocoa powder.

It would be impossible to talk about the history of American baking without talking about Black bakers, who have contributed immeasurably to the food culture of this country. From an inventor who revolutionized bread machines, to a caterer who designed the first spring-loaded biscuit cutter, to generations of home bakers who preserved and passed on their recipes, Black Americans have shaped what and how we bake.

I have a tiny kitchen. There’s hardly room for essentials like a stand mixer, baking pans, and even flour and sugar — seriously, my closet is my pantry. Which means I get by baking with the bare minimum.

During the depths of winter, I revel in the hours I spend baking in the kitchen, appreciating the great indoors. (Can you tell I’m not a skier?) Plus, there are plenty of holidays and events to bake for this month. From symbolic foods for Lunar New Year to romantic bakes on Valentine’s Day to trophy-winning snacks for your Super Bowl parties, we’ve got you covered for the next 29 days.

Many bakers simply assume that all flour is the same. But all flour isn’t created equal — from the wheat it’s milled from to how it’s processed to its protein content, flour varies in so many ways. At King Arthur, our mission is to offer the highest quality flour to help you bake your best. Here’s what that means.

There are several ways to categorize wheat, including its growing season (winter or spring) and its color (white or red). But one of the variables that has the most impact on your baking is “hardness” — based on this factor, wheat is categorized as either hard or soft. But what exactly does that mean? Read on.

Do your homemade pizzas look more like a map of South America than a circle? It’s a common problem that pops up during shaping; sometimes dough stretches too much in one section, too little in another, and suddenly your pie turns into a (still delicious) polygon.

But worry no more! Here’s how to make round pizzas, every time.

Self-rising flour is one of those “if you know, you know” ingredients. Anyone who bakes with self-rising flour regularly knows that it can be the secret to softer, more tender baked goods. It’s also a brilliant baking shortcut, cutting out steps and streamlining your recipes.

Want to start baking with self-rising flour? Here’s what you need to know.

What has the lightness of whipped cream, the rich flavor of pastry cream, and the stability of buttercream? Meet diplomat cream, your new favorite cake filling.

Sourdough starter can prompt a lot of questions. From how often to feed it to ways to use discard to where to store it, bakers keep our hotline busy. But for the answer to that last question (and others, too!), we have a new favorite tool: the Sourdough Home.

In a perfect world, I always have a dessert at the ready, whether it’s frozen cookie dough or a snacking cake to power me through the week. But in reality, most desserts take more time than I have on a typical weekday, when even making dinner at home can sometimes feel like a major effort. Enter these 13 recipes, which take less than an hour — prep and bake time included.

Last winter, I was testing bread recipes — lots and lots of bread recipes — while working on the manuscript for King Arthur’s forthcoming bread cookbook (coming fall 2024!). While my colleagues in the Test Kitchen were producing lofty loaves of Seeded Sourdough and Japanese Milk Bread, my sluggish doughs took hours to rise in my home kitchen and my breads baked up squat. 

The chocolate chip cookie is iconic. It’s one of the first — and most frequent — things people bake, and the gold standard by which they judge bakeries. Everyone has passionate opinions about what makes their ideal cookie the best. So when chocolate chip cookies were first tossed out as a contender for our 2024 Recipe of the Year, my initial thought was, you must be joking, since as Senior Recipe Developer it would be my job to actually develop the recipe.

Be honest. Are you eating your pizza crusts? Not just most of the time, but always? The truth is, I don’t always eat mine, either. It doesn’t matter how delicious the dough is (or how many hours I put into making it special) — sometimes a crust just can’t compete with sauce, cheese, and toppings. But we can fix that. With a few tricks and techniques, let’s make a crust that’s more than just a handle. Here’s how.

The bakers of King Arthur are here to solve the kitchen conundrums you share with us, whether it’s on the phone, computer, or by the good old postal service.

The bakers of King Arthur are here to solve the kitchen conundrums you share with us, whether it’s on the phone, computer, or by the good old postal service.

Another year is over, which means it’s time to look back at all of the recipes that made it great. From cake-inspired scones to a maximalist cinnamon roll to a coffee cake so good that we named it our Recipe of the Year, it’s been a year full of stellar bakes. Below, a list of the most popular Bakes of the Week this year. If you haven’t made these recipes yet, now is the time!

There’s nothing I love more than learning some simple trick that makes a task easier. 

You encounter the same phrases in almost every bread recipe. That’s great unless ... you don’t know what those phrases mean! What, exactly, is a shaggy mass? When can the dough be considered “smooth and elastic”? Just how dark is “deep golden brown”? Here’s where our visual bread guide comes in. (And of course, for even more visual recipe demos you can always watch our YouTube channel.)

On a mission to discover the best gifts for bakers who hold a special place in your heart? Look no further. We’ve pulled together a list of the perfect presents, whether it’s a delightful stocking stuffer, an extravagant indulgence, or an already-packaged treat. This selection of gifts will resonate with your beloved bakers, no matter their level of expertise — and if you need more ideas, check out our full Holiday Gift Guide.

With colder temperatures outside, time spent in a warm kitchen is more than welcome this time of the year. If you can imagine bopping around the kitchen with holiday tunes playing in the background, then I think you’ll especially like this list of recipes. (Bonus points if your spatula doubles as a microphone.)     In this collection, you’ll find everything from cheesy bread for a cold winter night to dinner party appetizers — plus breakfast treats, nostalgic recipes, and more. 

When you’re skimming a recipe — perhaps chocolate chip cookies — and see that it calls for you to “chop chocolate,” what’s your first impulse? Let me guess: You’re reaching for that handy bag of chocolate chips.  

The GE Profile Stand Mixer is one of the many products featured in this year’s Holiday Gift Guide. Check out the full guide for everything you need this gifting season, from stocking stuffers to splurges.

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White flour is white flour — but not all white flour is created equal. Differences in milling, as well as how the flour is treated after it’s milled, can have big impacts on flour. And one of the primary ways flour is treated is through bleaching.

Turkey and stuffing aside, a basket of warm, soft, and buttery bread is always the sleeper hit of Thanksgiving. Rolls go with every side dish (especially gravy) and are an essential part of leftovers — because what’s the day after Thanksgiving without a sandwich? You can’t go wrong with any homemade bread, but if you need inspiration, here are our 16 best roll recipes.

What if your flour could do more?

What if it didn’t just make comforting baked goods, but it was also milled from wheat that combatted climate change by storing carbon in the soil, building healthier ecosystems, restoring natural habitats, and much more?

Soggy bottoms — they’re the bane of every pie baker. Because who wants to spend hours laboring over a pie, only to discover, upon slicing it, that it has a pale, flabby bottom crust instead of a crispy, golden brown one?

To ensure this never happens to you, we asked our favorite expert pie bakers for their tips on how to prevent soggy bottoms.