a gluten-forward food diary

recipes

viral olympic chocolate muffins (box mix dupe)

viral olympic chocolate muffins (box mix dupe)

and now, a brief muffin interlude. like the rest of the world, i was swept up in olympic muffin mania last month. unlike the rest of the world, 90% of my freezer was actually filled with aforementioned paris olympic village muffins. let me explain. in READ MORE

pumpkin spice mooncakes

pumpkin spice mooncakes

in my early 20’s, i wasted way too much time worrying if my interests were cool. when i moved to brooklyn, i found myself surrounded by a cluster of late 20-somethings with impeccable style and taste in music, two things i thought i sorely lacked. READ MORE

pumpkin sourdough

pumpkin sourdough

a post-vaccine life motto i’ve adopted: seek more opportunities to turn ordinary moments into special ones. i buy all the flowers at the farmers market stand as it closes and cover every surface of my apartment with them. i lug bushels of apples home to READ MORE

toaster oven sourdough

toaster oven sourdough

what do you really need to bake good sourdough bread? baking in taipei, without my usual suite of tools, has really pushed me to reflect on this question. i optimistically brought doug, my sourdough starter, with me, to taiwan. i say optimistically because it turns READ MORE

sourdough cracker toffee

sourdough cracker toffee

sourdough cracker toffee may be the best treat i have ever made for my friends. i’ve seen grown adults reaching for a quickly emptying tub, eyeing the crumbles at the bottom, only to eventually tip them eagerly into their mouths to get that one last READ MORE

cheddar dill sourdough rolls

cheddar dill sourdough rolls

i’ve always considered dill to be a second tier herb. my mother cooked with a multitude of herbs, often, even growing chives and green onions in our backyard. during peak harvest times, my mother would cook nothing but chives for weeks at a time — READ MORE

tiny sourdough

tiny sourdough

i made this tiny sourdough reel for april fools’ inspired by how “small batch” has taken off this past year. it quickly became my most popular post! i’m blown away by the response, and wanted to share a longer video and process with all of READ MORE

sourdough rosemary crackers

sourdough rosemary crackers

the last time i lived close to wilderness, i was 11. i had a patch of wood in my backyard. a small, trickling creek ran through it. wild turkeys, the size of vacuum cleaners, would often visit. life whisked me away to more and more READ MORE

sourdough cheese rolls

sourdough cheese rolls

i ended last year hung up on three things. the first: a boy (isn’t it always?). quarantine fact: break ups are much, much harder during a global pandemic when there is not much else to do except sit on a rollercoaster ride of uncomfortable feelings READ MORE

baked sweet nian gao 年糕 (mochi cake)

baked sweet nian gao 年糕 (mochi cake)

this is a deviation from my regular sourdough content, but i promise it’s worth it. i baked a nian gao 年糕 for my birthday last week and it truly was one of the best things i’ve done for myself all year. nian gao is an READ MORE

easy vegan sourdough discard zucchini fritters

easy vegan sourdough discard zucchini fritters

long, lazy summer days call for simple, produce-centric meals. i love spending weekends gobbling up as many colors as i can. heirloom tomatoes topped with flaky sea salt. watermelon with handfuls of fresh mint. cucumbers with avocado and dill. what are your favorite farmers market READ MORE

sourdough discard sesame flatbread (shao bing 燒餅)

sourdough discard sesame flatbread (shao bing 燒餅)

this is the very first guest post on this blog! charlotte, the author, and i share a long, beautiful friendship over our love and appreciation for food (among many, many other things). we first met in 6th grade in surburban minnesota! her culinary creativity constantly READ MORE

cheddar pepper sourdough

cheddar pepper sourdough

we could all use a little more comfort in our lives right now, even in the blistering heat of summer. for me, no other food combination spells out comfort more than cheese and carbs. this loaf deliciously combines the best of both worlds. the savory READ MORE

sourdough discard kimchi pancakes (kimchijeon)

sourdough discard kimchi pancakes (kimchijeon)

although my korean food journey began with bowls of stone pot bibimbap in restaurants, i owe the bulk of my learning and appreciation to my korean friends. i have many happy memories of cooking for each other, swapping recipes from our childhoods and stories of READ MORE

extra crispy potstickers with sourdough discard skirt 煎饺

extra crispy potstickers with sourdough discard skirt 煎饺

years ago on one of my buzzfeed tasty binges, i saw a method of pan frying potstickers i had never seen before. using a cornstarch slurry, the mystery hand effortless created a lacy, crispy, delicious looking “skirt”. as i recipe tested my dumplings last weekend, READ MORE

sourdough discard dumplings 餃子 part ii

sourdough discard dumplings 餃子 part ii

dumpling series this is the second part of my three part series on sourdough discard dumplings! in the first part, i explain my formula and method for making dumpling wrappers using sourdough discard. in this part, i focus on shandong style dumpling wrapping technique (with READ MORE

sourdough discard dumplings 餃子 part i

sourdough discard dumplings 餃子 part i

dumpling series this is the first part of my three part series on sourdough discard dumplings! in this part, i explain my formula and method for making dumpling wrappers using sourdough discard. in the second part, i focus on shandong style dumpling wrapping technique (with READ MORE

olive sourdough

olive sourdough

i wish i could say that perusing the olive and cheese selection at the park slope food coop is what inspired me to make this loaf, but alas. i must confess i made this loaf because i once loved a man who really, really loved READ MORE

country brown sourdough

country brown sourdough

i don’t talk about ken forkish enough. i really should because he changed my life. in 2016, my coworker, artur, brought in a loaf of bread (so crusty, so good) and evangelized a book he used to make it, flour water salt yeast (fwsy, for READ MORE

sourdough discard  chocolate chunk shortbread cookies

sourdough discard chocolate chunk shortbread cookies

confession: i have never baked a chocolate chip cookie i truly loved. before i begin my saga, i would like to set the record straight and say i have eaten many chocolate chip cookies that i have loved. i line up dutifully each year at READ MORE

cast iron sourdough discard pizza

cast iron sourdough discard pizza

my earliest meaningful memory of pizza is of waiting in line with my mother at papa murphy’s take and bake, bogo coupon in hand, ordering two supreme pizzas. then, there was the costco food stand. our family of 4 would pile into the car, do READ MORE

sourdough croutons, and other ways to love old bread

sourdough croutons, and other ways to love old bread

if you’re like me and love baking bread just as much as you love eating bread, you might occasionally have the unique, and frankly excellent, problem of sometimes being in possession of perhaps, too much bread (writing this pains me because i’d like to defend READ MORE

sourdough discard okonomiyaki

sourdough discard okonomiyaki

the wonderfully talented caroline schiff reminded me recently that that frying up sourdough discard on its own makes for a pretty damn tasty pancake. this, of course, had me dreaming of all the savory pancakes i’ve loved in my life and how to recreate them. READ MORE

sourdough discard scallion pancakes 葱油饼

sourdough discard scallion pancakes 葱油饼

growing up, my mother made dumplings from scratch at least once a month. she always purposely made extra dumpling dough, and with the remains, we’d make scallion pancakes, often without the scallions. a thing to know about my mom: whenever my mom makes anything, she READ MORE

pandemic focaccia

pandemic focaccia

i’ve been making a lot of focaccia recently. it seems like the entire world is stress baking along with me as a result of coronavirus. my covid-19 experience thus far has been rocky: i’ve been away from my home and home kitchen this past month READ MORE