Raspberry tartlets
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Chef John Barricelli of SoNo Baking Company and host of Everyday Baking (on PBS) spoke at Sacred Heart University, as part of public radio station WSHU's Join the Conversation Series.
We sat down with him before the event and talked about his new book and got some excellent home baking advice.
He explained that his book, The SoNo Baking Company Cookbook, starts with simple drop cookie recipes and takes you gradually through much of the rest of baking, explaining tools, techniques and provides a shopping list and an invaluable glossary.
Some of the advice he gave included buying ingredients in the smallest possible sizes, so they won't deteriorate. "You're going to throw them away anyway," he explained. He noted that in humid areas like Connecticut, flour that sits around can become hydrated and not bake as you expect.
He also emphasized that you should make sure that your oven temperature is calibrated and that your oven is level, or you will get crooked cakes. The best thermometers for this calibration are have mercury or alcohol inside. Avoid the spring-based thermometers as they are far less accurate.
Chef Barricelli started out right out of high school, by apprenticing at the River Cafe in Brooklyn, and then attended the Culinary Institute of America (the chef's CIA). He himself is a third generation baker: both his grandfather and great grandfather were bakers. After graduating from the CIA, he took a number of jobs that enabled him to learn more about baking, to round out his chef's credentials, and after working as a baker at the Helmsley House, he opened Cousin John's Bakery in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Eventually he sold this bakery to one of his cousins, and moved to Connecticut, where he began working for Martha Stewart, setting up a test kitchen for her TV productions. This led to the PBS TV shows Everyday Food and Everyday Baking. While he still appears with Martha Stewart, he opened the SoNo Baking Company in Norwalk 5 years ago. He described the bakery as the place he always wanted, where he could bake the way he wanted to.
All the breads and pastries are hand made daily, using fresh ingredients. He described the croissants as requiring two days to complete, and having eight different sourdoughs that must be "fed" each day. They try to use Connecticut ingredients as much as possible and are regular vendors at the Westport Farmer's Market and the Fairfield Winter Farmer's Market.
In discussing icing, he mentioned that they make real butter cream icing at the bakery, and when parents order children's birthday cakes, he urges them to have them taste their icing in advance, since it is so markedly different from the standard bakery icing which is "all shortening and sugar." It has a different taste and is not as sweet.
In answer to questions, he noted that at home he has the home model of the Garland stove, and that oven manufacturers are now beginning to make models that provide the live steam injection that professional bakers have long relied upon.
He is now working on a second volume of his cookbook, featuring fruit baking recipes.
In trying to reassure novice bakers, he told us that baking is no more difficult than assembling IKEA furniture (just follow the instructions) and it is not something you should approach with trepidation.
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