Friday, July 27, 2001


today i took a break from the gita and perused shirley corriher's excellent book cookwise.

you may recognize shirley as the adorable food scientist often seen on alton brown's charming and light-hearted foodtv show, good eats. (part of what's charming is alton's dedicated fan network, best found at good eats fan page.)

i have to recommend this book to you. it explains the chemistry of many common foods and techniques, such as bread and of course, chocolate. she then offers her own recipes that illustrate these scientific principles. i've only read 10 pages in the bread section and already my world's in a spin!

for example, she suggests adding small part of the water in a bread recipe in the form of crushed ice! this is because a lower temperature creates stronger gluten bonds, resulting in lighter, more springy bread. i can't wait for the next cool rainy day -- otherwise it's too hot to bake bread now -- to try this out.

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