The Crumb - Bake from Scratch

Brian and Kyle Grace talk with Erin Jeanne McDowell about the art of pies, from the flaky crust to amazing filling. Erin has come out with her new cookbook, The Book of Pie , and will be answering listener questions on some pie troubleshooting. Plus, we’re sharing some of the exciting things that are on the horizon for Brian, Erin, and the baking community.  A special thank-you to our sponsors for...

This month’s lesson is all about lovely lamination—that amazing process that creates unbelievably flaky croissants, puff pastries, and, of course, Danish. Lamination is the process in which you incorporate a firm butter block into a base dough through a number of folds and rolls, creating slivers of butter within the dough. During baking, the water in the dough and butter becomes steam, puffing th...

Brian and Kyle Grace talk with Gemma Stafford, the amazing baker behind the blog and YouTube channel Bigger Bolder Baking . Gemma talks about her life as an Irish baker in America, as well as classic Irish baking tips. We explore Barmbrack, the classic Irish fruitcake served during Halloween. Plus, we dig into our Authentic Ireland issue, the ultimate baking adventure to the land of the Emerald Is...

For our ninth module in the Better Baking Academy with Bob’s Red Mill, we’re taking on an enriched bread dough steeped in history and tradition: challah. Rich with eggs and often beautifully braided, challah is served during many Jewish holidays and for Shabbat. For Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, challah is shaped into an intricately knotted round loaf, symbolizing continuity. Our challah rec...

Our eighth module in the Better Baking Academy with Bob’s Red Mill is about two things we know and love: chocolate chip cookies and the power of flour. Featuring recipes that make the most of Bob’s Red Mill Organic All-Purpose Flour, Artisan Bread Flour, Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour, Cassava Flour, Super-Fine Blanched Almond Flour, and Semolina Flour, each recipe in this lesson yields distinct b...

Welcome back to the Better Baking Academy with Bob’s Red Mill! This seventh module is all about pâte à choux. Bake from Scratch and Bob’s Red Mill are teaming up to bring you our Better Baking Academy, a one-year baking education series that delivers custom recipes, invaluable baking lessons, and visual tutorials straight to your inbox every month. A twice-cooked dough—first on the stovetop and ag...

In the time of quarantine and social distancing, the world has become obsessed with sourdough. With this revival in mind, we reached out to Bryan Ford, the sourdough genius behind the new cookbook New World Sourdough . Bryan describes his baking style as having Honduran roots blended with a New Orleans upbringing, bringing a sourdough spin to South American classics like pan de coco and semitas de...

Our sixth module in the Better Baking Academy with Bob’s Red Mill is a pizza party! Bake from Scratch and Bob’s Red Mill are teaming up to bring you our Better Baking Academy, a one-year baking education series that delivers custom recipes, invaluable baking lessons, and visual tutorials straight to your inbox every month. For this lesson, we’re featuring a recipe for pizza with an obsession-worth...

Brian and Kyle Grace talk with John Whaite, winner of the third season of The Great British Bake Off and owner of John Whaite’s Kitchen Cookery School. John opens up about falling back in love with baking during quarantine and how teaching feels like his unique calling. He offers some sweet inspiration if you’re thinking of giving British baking a try. Plus, we introduce our Authentic Ireland issu...

Our fifth module in the Better Baking Academy with Bob’s Red Mill is all on the galette, the free-form tart that has endless possibilities. Bake from Scratch and Bob’s Red Mill are teaming up to bring you our Better Baking Academy, a one-year baking education series that delivers custom recipes, invaluable baking lessons, and visual tutorials straight to your inbox every month. This module stars a...

We have another entry in our Better Baking Academy, this time on the ultimate Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake. Bake from Scratch and Bob’s Red Mill are teaming up to bring you our Better Baking Academy, a one-year baking education series that delivers custom recipes, invaluable baking lessons, and visual tutorials straight to your inbox every month. Our fourth module features our gluten-free blend comp...

Brian and Kyle Grace bring on Joanne Chang of Boston’s Flour bakery to talk about how we can support our local bakeries during this time of uncertainty. In addition, Joanne and Brian have words of inspiration for all of those housebound right now. And for baking ideas, you’ll find no short supply, from great pantry substitutions to recipes that make the most of what you have on hand. Because while...

Welcome to the third module in our Better Baking Academy, our one-year baking education series. This month, it’s all about macarons! First, Brian and Kyle Grace break down the amazing new recipe, Vanilla Bean Macarons with Strawberry Buttercream. Aided by Bob’s Red Mill Super-Fine Almond Flour, our delicate macarons are speckled with rich vanilla bean seeds and filled with a luscious Strawberry Bu...

Brian and Kyle Grace give a sweeping overview of Bake from Scratch: Volume Four , our new cookbook that features more than 650 recipes. Brian highlights some of his favorite recipes, from Twice-Baked Meringue Cake to the Braided Black Cocoa and Peanut Butter Brioche. Meanwhile, Kyle Grace reminisces on her adventures in sourdough, pâte à choux, and French Apple Cake. Hot idea of the episode: let’s...

Odette Williams gives Brian and Kyle Grace insight into her cookbook, Simple Cake: All You Need to Keep Your Friends and Family in Cake , her manifesto on taking versatile base recipes and transforming them into creative masterpieces. Odette also gives ideas on how to bring your kids into the kitchen to bake. Plus, she offers her direction on how to decorate and dress up your cakes, and her favori...

We’re back with another episode for our Better Baking Academy, this time all on brownies. Bake from Scratch and Bob’s Red Mill are teaming up to bring you our Better Baking Academy, a one-year baking education series that will deliver custom recipes, invaluable baking lessons, and visual tutorials straight to your inbox every month. Our second module of the Better Baking Academy features our Tripl...

Brian and Kyle Grace interview Shauna Sever, a cookbook writer and baking expert who specializes in Midwest baking. We dive deep into her new tome, Midwest Made: Big, Bold Baking from the Heartland , a collection of community cookbook recipes packed into one magnum opus and accompanied by beautiful color photography. Plus, the bakers talk about baking for the Lunar New Year and all the exciting wa...

Class is in session, bakers! Bake from Scratch and Bob’s Red Mill are teaming up to bring you our Better Baking Academy, a one-year baking education series that will deliver custom recipes, invaluable baking lessons, and visual tutorials straight to your inbox every month.  We’re kicking off our Better Baking Academy with our Do-It-All Dough, a versatile enriched dough powered by Bob’s Red Mill Or...

The bakers bring on Edd Kimber, a British baking icon who won the first series of Great British Bake Off . We get his insight on UK baking idiosyncrasies, from the catchall term “pudding” to the holiday baking traditions that have endured over the years. Then we get his formula for making some of the very best chocolate chip cookies. Plus, Brian shares the holiday pie he can’t stop serving, and Ky...

We’re bringing Erin Clarkson onto The Crumb for a deep dive into her background as a Kiwi baker and innovative blogger of Cloudy Kitchen. Erin has four glorious cookie recipes in our latest Holiday Cookies special issue and is bringing her baking know-how to our podcast. She’s offering excellent guidance on how to build, fill, and decorate a cookie box, the best way to bring a lovely assortment of...

Brian and Kyle Grace spill all of their top tips on how to make the best cookie swap-worthy holiday cookies. Learn how to make them look flawless (including how to nail those viral pan-banging cookies!), make-ahead tips, the proper tools you should have on hand, and the right way to mail your cookies to loved ones. Then we bring on one of our expert bakers from the test kitchen, Laura Crandall, to...

You have questions; we have answers. We’re proud to have Red Star as our podcast sponsor, but beyond making an incredible product, they’re also an invaluable resource for understanding the how and why of baking with yeast. For our interview, we tapped Kelly Olson, the mind behind Carol Stevens, the main contact for all of Red Star’s baking and yeast-related questions. So, think of her as the baker...

It’s a celebration of all things weeknight baking! We have a chat with Michelle Lopez, author of the new cookbook Weeknight Baking and the blogger behind Hummingbird High . We get her best tips on time management, prepping, and sweet hacks to expediate the baking process. Plus, Brian spills on his new favorite stir-together cake recipe, Carrot Cake Loaf, and Kyle Grace gives one of the recipes fro...

This week on The Crumb , we’re talking shop with Zoë François, a fantastic cookbook author and the baking teacher for the digital age. Zoë takes us inside her Minneapolis, Minnesota, kitchen, which she designed herself, and gives us a little peak at her ninth forthcoming cookbook all on cake. Plus, Zoë offers insight into what gets her baking and dancing, and why she loves to use a flamethrower on...

In celebration of National Biscuit Month, the bakers talk all things biscuit with Carrie Morey of Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit. Her biscuits are so iconic, even Oprah is a fan! Carrie offers an inside look at the rise of her biscuit empire, how to get your kids involved in the kitchen, and all of the fun ways she keeps the biscuit formula fresh. Plus, get the scoop on our viral Jam and Brioche Tart...