advance prep required

Pan de Muerto recipe | Epicurious.com

all-purpose flour

sugar

active dry yeast

sea salt

water

eggs

(2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

orange,

egg yolks, beaten

unsalted butter, melted

Basic Soft White Sandwich Loaf recipe | Epicurious.com

unbleached all-purpose flour

water, at room temperature (70° to

instant yeast: 3/4 teaspoon (2.4 grams)

8 1/2-in-4 1/2-inch loaf pans, lightly greased with cooking spray

dry milk, preferably nonfat: 1/4 cup (1.5 or 40 grams)

unsalted butter, softened: 9 tablespoons (4.5 ounces or 128 grams)

salt: 2 1/4 teaspoons (15 grams)

Vanilla Cream–Filled Doughnuts Recipe | Epicurious.Com

(2 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast cake yeast

(160 grams) milk,

(490 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour

(270 grams) sugar

salt

Canola oil,

(90 grams) heavy cream

Pastry Cream

Salted Rye Cookies Recipe | Epicurious.Com

(2 sticks / 225 g) unsalted butter,

(150 g) granulated sugar

Kosher salt

orange zest

(230 g) whole (dark) rye flour

coarse sparkling sugar or turbinado sugar

Basic Brioche recipe | Epicurious.com

water, at room temperature (70° to 90°F): 2 tablespoon (1 ounce or 29.5 grams)

instant yeast: 1/4 teaspoon (0.8 grams)

unbleached all-purpose flour (use only Gold Medal, King Arthur,

egg (2 ounces

instant yeast: 1 1/4 teaspoons (4 grams)

(3.3 grams)

unsalted butter, very soft: 8 tablespoons (4 ounces or 113 grams)

cream

If you've never tried Nutella, that ambrosial combination of hazelnuts and chocolate, put this book down right now, run to your nearest grocery store, and buy a jar. Bring a spoon along to expedite the Nutella-in-mouth process. OK, now that we're all on the same Nutella-obsession page, I'll proceed with a recipe that will make you fall into an incoherent puddle of babbling ecstasy, while simultaneously making you the most popular of all your friends (if you can bring yourself to share). What's more, this is a speedy, incredibly easy one to whip up, so you don't have to delay your satisfaction for too long.

Nutella Pie

Chocolate Cookie Crust

(270 g) Nutella

mascarpone cheese

(55 g) chopped toasted hazelnuts

Epicurious

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Pat the crust into a 9-inch (23-cm) pie plate. Bake it for 10 minutes, then let it cool completely.

Make the filling: In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together the Nutella, mascarpone, and salt until light and fluffy. Spread the filling into the pie shell, cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

Top the pie with the chopped nuts, slice the pie, and serve. This pie can be refrigerated for up to 1 week, covered in plastic wrap (but it won't last that long!).

_**Wiśniówka**_  

"Life is dandy, cherry brandy!" So goes a line from a poem by Russian writer Osip Mandelstam—meant to be ironic, of course, as he lived in the darkest days of Stalinism and died in the Gulag. Cherry brandy, cherry vodka, cherry liqueurs: These are the obvious consequence of Eastern Europe's famous and abundant cherry orchards, of which there are just as many in Poland as there are in provincial Russia. Do note that this recipe works for any kind of fruit that is not too sweet. In particular it is worth trying with black currants or Polish _jagody_—wild blueberries—if you can find them.  

The quantities given here are for a 34-oz/1-L jar, but do reduce them (or increase them!) in proportion to the bottle you are using.

Cherry Vodka

oz/750 ml clear vodka

tbsp sugar (optional)

Wiśniówka
"Life is dandy, cherry brandy!" So goes a line from a poem by Russian writer Osip Mandelstam—meant to be ironic, of course, as he lived in the darkest days of Stalinism and died in the Gulag. Cherry brandy, cherry vodka, cherry liqueurs: These are the obvious consequence of Eastern Europe's famous and abundant cherry orchards, of which there are just as many in Poland as there are in provincial Russia. Do note that this recipe works for any kind of fruit that is not too sweet. In particular it is worth trying with black currants or Polish jagody—wild blueberries—if you can find them.
The quantities given here are for a 34-oz/1-L jar, but do reduce them (or increase them!) in proportion to the bottle you are using.

Pit and halve the cherries. As in all vodka recipes, it is important that the flesh of the fruit be somehow exposed.

Fill a jar with the cherries, but do not pack it. Pour the vodka on top and seal tightly. Leave in a dark place, preferably for at least 2 weeks—or up to 6 months. At the end of that time, open the jar and strain. If you have a very fine-mesh strainer, that will do. If not, use an ordinary strainer lined with a cheesecloth or even a coffee filter. Set the strainer over a large bowl, ideally one from which you'll be able to easily pour afterward. Pour the vodka mixture through the strainer and allow the fruit to sit, seeping liquid, for a good hour or so, stirring a bit and pressing if need be to make the liquid go through.

Now taste the vodka. Add sugar if you want an after-dinner liqueur, or leave it out if you want something sharper. Pour (or ladle) into a decorative bottle.

One mention of a food that interests us, and we're off.  

Our friend Luisa, who writes a food blog called The Wednesday Chef, spent a good part of her summer in Italy, with her family there. Clearly feeling nostalgic for her time there, Luisa spent weeks trying to replicate her grandmother's focaccia bread. The photographs of her last, successful attempt left us both a little dazed. We wanted some.  

Of course, we had to change it quite a bit, since hers contained gluten.  

I was shocked to find that most authentic Italian focaccia breads contain a potato. But it makes sense. Boil the potato and then put it through the ricer and you have a light-as-air starch. Focaccia breads are lighter than other breads. The egg white, beaten to stiff peaks, adds lightness here too, like a soufflé. Try this bread with rosemary or oregano. It's a little taste of Italy, right in your kitchen.

Gluten-Free Focaccia Bread

Yukon gold potato, peeled and quartered

(2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast

water (about 110°F)

(120 grams/4.2 ounces) tapioca flour

(95 grams/3.4 ounces) sorghum flour

(129 grams/4.5 ounces) potato starch

(102 grams/2.2 ounces) cup sweet rice flour

xanthan gum

guar gum

fine sea salt,

egg,

olive oil,

rosemary

One mention of a food that interests us, and we're off.
Our friend Luisa, who writes a food blog called The Wednesday Chef, spent a good part of her summer in Italy, with her family there. Clearly feeling nostalgic for her time there, Luisa spent weeks trying to replicate her grandmother's focaccia bread. The photographs of her last, successful attempt left us both a little dazed. We wanted some.
Of course, we had to change it quite a bit, since hers contained gluten.
I was shocked to find that most authentic Italian focaccia breads contain a potato. But it makes sense. Boil the potato and then put it through the ricer and you have a light-as-air starch. Focaccia breads are lighter than other breads. The egg white, beaten to stiff peaks, adds lightness here too, like a soufflé. Try this bread with rosemary or oregano. It's a little taste of Italy, right in your kitchen.

Put the potato quarters into a large saucepan with cold water and enough salt to make the water taste like the ocean. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium-high heat until a knife inserted into the potato slips out easily, about 20 minutes. Drain the potato and set aside. When the potato has cooled enough for you to work with it, press it through a fine-mesh sieve, using the back of a ramekin or a large wooden spoon. (If you own a ricer, use it here.)

Combine the yeast and sugar in a large wide-mouthed bowl. Add the warm water. (Run the water over the inside of your wrist. When it feels like the temperature of your skin, the water is ready.) Stir together gently. Give the yeast 10 to 15 minutes to proof.

Sift the tapioca flour, sorghum flour, potato starch, and sweet rice flour through a fine-mesh sieve into the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir in the xanthan gum, guar gum, and salt.

Add the egg yolk, oil, yeasty water, and rosemary to the dry ingredients. Run the stand mixer with a paddle attachment on medium speed until the dough comes together, about 5 minutes. When you first stop the mixer, the dough will look like a firm ball, and then it will start to slump off the paddle attachment. The dough will have the consistency of thick cake batter.

Beat the egg white until it is stiff. Gently fold it into the dough. Set the bowl in a warm place and allow the dough to rise until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Grease both sides of a piece of parchment paper with oil and lay it down in a 9-inch pie pan.

Push the dough into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle on olive oil and sea salt, if you wish. Slide the focaccia into the oven and put a large oven-safe saute pan filled with ice cubes on the rack beneath it. Bake until the top is browned and the internal temperature of the bread reaches at least 180°F, about 25 minutes.

Allow the focaccia to cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes. Tip it onto a wire rack and cool for another 30 minutes. Enjoy.

If I were making dessert for one of my favorite movie stars, George Clooney or Meryl Streep, I'd bake this galette because it is simple, rustic, and honest. If you want to serve it to a large group for a special gathering, the recipe doubles easily to make a 12-inch galette. Accompany with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and you have a totally scrumptious home-style dessert. --Marcy

Peach Galette

unbleached all-purpose flour,

whole wheat flour

kosher salt

milk

Turbinado sugar,

unbleached all-purpose flour or tapioca flour

cinnamon

peaches

To make the pastry, combine the flours, granulated sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse until blended. Scatter the butter over the flour mixture and pulse until it looks like coarse sand. (Alternatively, combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl and work the mixture with a pastry blender until it has a sand-like texture.) In a small bowl or cup, whisk together the 1 egg and the milk until blended, pour into the food processor or bowl all at once, and pulse or gently mix by hand until the dough forms a rough clump. Do not overwork the dough to avoid toughness.

Lightly flour a work surface. Transfer the dough to the floured surface, form it into a ball, and then flatten into a disk 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick. Don't knead it! Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours or for up to 1 day.

When the dough is well chilled, preheat the oven to 375°F.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it warm at room temperature for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, make the filling. In a small bowl, stir together the granulated sugar, the flour, and the cinnamon, mixing well. Place the peaches in a bowl, sprinkle the sugar mixture over the top, and toss gently. (If the peaches are tart, you may want to add a little more sugar.)

Lay a large sheet of parchment paper on a work surface and dust the parchment with flour. Place the dough on the floured parchment and roll it out into a round about 11 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick. Transfer the pastry with the parchment to a rimmed or rimless baking sheet large enough to accommodate the pastry round comfortably. Starting 1 to 1 1/2 inches from the edge of the round, arrange the peach wedges in a single layer in concentric circles, continuing until you reach the center of the round. Fold the outer edges of the pastry over the peaches, creating overlapping folds as you work around the perimeter. If your peaches are extra juicy, leave the extra juice in the bowl so that the filling does not overflow in the oven. Brush the pastry border with 1 tablespoon beaten egg and then sprinkle lightly with the turbinado sugar.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling. If your galette has a lot of juice, you may want to place a second pan on the lowest rack in the oven under the baking sheet to catch any juices that overflow.

Let the galette cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack. Cut into wedges to serve.

Healers have touted saffron's medicinal properties since the days of Hippocrates, and Cleopatra claimed that it was an aphrodisiac. Its scarcity (it takes some four thousand crocus blossoms to create an ounce of saffron) and the belief that it could be used to treat everything from wounds to the plague even caused the Austrians to go to war over the spice during the Dark Ages. This is at least one feudal folk myth that modern science has corroborated. Studies have shown that saffron has outstanding antibacterial and antiviral properties and also aids digestion. People sometimes balk at saffron's cost, but it isn't unreasonable when you consider its potency; this recipe calls for only 1/8 teaspoon, and as you'll see, a little goes a long way. This pilaf is a delightful and gorgeous dish. The rice is sautéed before cooking to avoid that sticky, gummy consistency, and ginger, parsley, and lemon zest add zing.  

 Prepare ahead: Soak the rice in cool water and the juice of half a lemon for 8 hours or overnight before cooking; this will make its nutrients more available and decrease the cooking time. If you don't have time to soak the rice, add an extra 1/4 cup of broth and cook for an additional 15 minutes.

Brown Rice Pilaf with Saffron and Ginger

saffron

olive oil

shallot

brown basmati rice, soaked, rinsed, and drained well

water or vegetable broth, homemade or store-bought

(1-inch) ginger

lemon juice

lemon zest

parsley

Healers have touted saffron's medicinal properties since the days of Hippocrates, and Cleopatra claimed that it was an aphrodisiac. Its scarcity (it takes some four thousand crocus blossoms to create an ounce of saffron) and the belief that it could be used to treat everything from wounds to the plague even caused the Austrians to go to war over the spice during the Dark Ages. This is at least one feudal folk myth that modern science has corroborated. Studies have shown that saffron has outstanding antibacterial and antiviral properties and also aids digestion. People sometimes balk at saffron's cost, but it isn't unreasonable when you consider its potency; this recipe calls for only 1/8 teaspoon, and as you'll see, a little goes a long way. This pilaf is a delightful and gorgeous dish. The rice is sautéed before cooking to avoid that sticky, gummy consistency, and ginger, parsley, and lemon zest add zing.
Prepare ahead: Soak the rice in cool water and the juice of half a lemon for 8 hours or overnight before cooking; this will make its nutrients more available and decrease the cooking time. If you don't have time to soak the rice, add an extra 1/4 cup of broth and cook for an additional 15 minutes.

Combine the warm water and saffron in a small bowl. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallot and sauté until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the rice and saffron and cook, stirring constantly, until the rice is evenly coated with the oil. Stir in the water, salt, and ginger. Increase the heat, cover, and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until the water is absorbed. Check after 20 minutes; if there are steam holes on the top, it's ready. Remove ginger. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and parsley and fluff with a fork to combine.

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Top 10 advance prep required recipes from across the web

The most viewed advance prep required recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Pan de Muerto recipe | Epicurious.c...

Basic Soft White Sandwich Loaf reci...

Vanilla Cream–Filled Doughnuts Rec...

Salted Rye Cookies Recipe | Epicuri...

Basic Brioche recipe | Epicurious.c...

Nutella Pie

Cherry Vodka

Gluten-Free Focaccia Bread

Peach Galette

Brown Rice Pilaf with Saffron and G...

The most viewed advance prep required recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Vanilla Cream–Filled Doughnuts Rec...