I cheated. I so wanted to bake a bread for the 7th World Bread Day. I even refreshed my sourdough starter for days, sniffing the sour champagne like aroma, weighing attentively the bread flour and the rye flour to make it strong and alive. It was bubbling, it was ready. I had no time. The [...]

Posted in Baked Good 12 Comments »

Its name is schiacciata (flat bread), but it is anything but flat. It’s the typical Easter sweet bread of my areas, popular in most of the Tuscan region with slightly different names and small changes that could allow an expert eye to attribute undoubtedly the schiacciata to the Sienese area, the Elsa valley or the [...]

Posted in Baked Good, Desserts, Spring, Tuscan Recipes 19 Comments »

For me, living on the border between the provinces of Siena and Florence, driving south in Tuscany means going through one of the most breathtaking scenery on the planet, the Val d’Orcia and the Crete Senesi, declared by UNESCO, in 2004, World Heritage Site. The outlines of the hills are well known throughout the world, just [...]

Posted in Autumn, Baked Good, Cakes, Chocolate, Desserts, Tuscan Recipes, Winter 33 Comments »

Mum has a sweet tooth for whipped cream. Sweet tooth may be simplistic to describe her relationship with whipped cream and the speed with which her spoon speeds under my eyes when I make a cake, returning to her full of whipped cream. This said, she loves simple and traditional desserts: tiramisu, mantovana, rose cake [...]

Posted in Baked Good, Cakes, Desserts, Winter 20 Comments »

My ghost of Christmas past would bring a Tom and Jerry sweatsuit, a big yellow bag which contained the gifts the whole family, a baked fillet of salmon and a spinach flan. If I had to identify in every Christmas past, flipping through my memories album, an element that is always present, that tastes of [...]

Posted in Baked Good, Christmas, Side Dishes, Tuscan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes, Winter 10 Comments »