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Hi. I'm Ali.

Bread enthusiast. Vegetable lover. Omnivore. If the kitchen is your happy place, you're in good company. Let's hang.

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Featured Post

Immense Gratitude 🍕🍕 A Personal Note + A Gift Guide

Friends, hello. Where to begin? First, when faced with the difficult decision at Tartine last week, I went with the morning bun and a cup of black coffee. No regrets. I had forgotten that Tartine flavors these buns with orange zest, and the combination of the citrusy sugar with the flaky, sweet pastry is, well, just heavenly. Second, earlier this week I learned that Pizza Night made The New York Times bestseller list. More than joy, I felt extreme gratitude. I truly have never felt so much...

1 day ago • 2 min read

Friends, hello! Good morning from San Francisco. I've been on the road for five days now, and in addition to meeting some of you in person, which has been a blast, I've been eating very well: mostly pizza but also burritos and chilaquiles. I'm about to join the queue at Tartine Bakery, and I'm so looking forward to a slice of quiche — or a morning bun? or bread pudding? or croque monsieur? How will I ever decide? I will report back next week. In the meantime, here are 10 culinary (and beyond)...

9 days ago • 1 min read

A few weeks ago, I shared a photo in my Instagram stories of my children and their four cousins sitting at the kids' table at my parents' house eating Easter Dinner. Upon seeing it, a woman messaged me immediately exclaiming: How are so many children eating salad?! On that evening, the salad had been dressed with this Apple Cider Vinaigrette, which I sent to the woman immediately along with another dressing children generally seem to like: my Great Aunt Phyllis's Greek Salad Dressing. My kids...

16 days ago • 2 min read

Friends, hello! Today is the last day to get your free bonus recipes when you preorder Pizza Night 🍕🥗 In case you missed it, the bonus recipe packet includes: Blistered Sun-Gold Tomato Pizza with Crème Fraîche and Basil⁣ (pictured above... one of my favorites) Roasted Red Pepper Salad Dressing⁣ Mixed Greens Salad with Parmesan and Roasted Red Pepper Dressing⁣ The dressing recipe and salad are inspired by a salad I had at Ops in Brooklyn: You'll also get immediate access to the Neapolitanish...

20 days ago • 1 min read

Hello Friends, Earlier this week I made the buckwheat crepes from my friend Phoebe Lapine's new cookbook Carbivore. Though I have been wanting to learn how to make buckwheat crepes at home since enjoying them during a photography trip in Paris seven years ago, somehow I have not attempted to make them once. But the memory lingers strong: Phoebe's crepes are much more delicate, made with a mix of buckwheat flour and rice flour and a lower ratio of eggs than many recipes I've since compared...

24 days ago • 2 min read

Hello, Friends! I'm popping into your inboxes a day earlier than usual because I have a new-ish recipe to share before the holiday weekend. It's for roasted fingerling potatoes, an adaptation of a favorite old pan-seared recipe, one I learned to make 20 years ago and hadn't strayed from before a few months ago, when I wanted to make crispy potatoes for a crowd. In sum, the old recipe calls for parboiling; then pan-searing. The new recipe calls for parboiling; then roasting. The old method is...

about 1 month ago • 2 min read
A large pot of escarole and chickpea soup.

Hello Friends, Last weekend, finding myself with a surplus of currants, I decided to make a batch of hot cross buns. Over the years, many people have asked if they could add dried fruit to the hot cross bun dough, and I've always said yes — why not? — but I'd never actually tried with this particular recipe because I know my children would turn their noses. To be safe, I made two batches — one with currants and one without — which confirmed both suspicions: adding dried fruit worked...

about 1 month ago • 2 min read
A large pot of escarole and chickpea soup.

Hello Friends, Earlier this week a display of raisin-studded Irish soda bread at my local grocery store made me think of these lemony currant scones from the first Tartine cookbook. So I picked up a bag of currants, made the dough that evening, stashed it in the fridge, then baked the scones the following morning. One bite reminded me why I love them so: they're flaky, buttery, nicely lemony, and perfectly sweet. If you're looking for another reason to break out the good Irish butter, look no...

about 1 month ago • 2 min read

Friends, hello. Last fall, one of you — Michael, from Ireland — emailed me asking if I had ever come across a bread recipe that "includes porridge oats or what you might call oatflakes?" He noted: "It has been a traditional way of making bread here in Ireland." Attached to the email were several recipes for "brown bread" as well as a simplified version of one Michael said his teenage son bakes regularly. He also included some notes: "As you know Irish soda bread usually has a much thicker...

about 2 months ago • 2 min read

Friends, hello. After posting last week's brownie update, I received a few emails and comments about the pan, the common sentiment being: Do I really need to buy another pan? Since having shiny-topped brownie success with the aluminum Fat Daddio pan, I have not experimented with other pans, but some of you have. One of you — hey Brian 👋 — sent me the above- and below-pictured photos of the brownies made in an 8-inch USA pan (made of steel), a pan I love and have used for brownies in the past,...

about 2 months ago • 2 min read
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