“She said, ‘But knowing your expertise in other areas and your perspective, you can teach those of us who’ve been doing sourdough for a while a different way of looking at sourdough. ’ That got me thinking about something,” recalls Tan over an iced chai at a pulled tea shop on Singapore’s Arab Street.
“Many of the sourdough books are written in temperate countries, but the climate is so different that many of the instructions don’t apply here. I’m sure I’m not the only one struggling with this problem,” he says. say.
The book does not take into account the room temperature and humidity in tropical regions such as Singapore, where the mercury reached 36 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit) in March, he added.
It was then that Tan, 51, began imagining the possibility of another book. NerdBaker 2: Tales from the Yeast Indieshe started working on in 2021.
Not only does he rigorously test recipes for baked goods from places ranging from Malaysia, Singapore and Japan to Hong Kong, Indonesia and India, he also photographs every baked item using the natural light streaming in through his kitchen window. I did.
one called dim sum in hong kong, chronicles traditional Hong Kong dim sum from the 1950s to the 1980s. The recipes were written in English and Chinese, but the glossary was not translated.
“To master the bursting pork char siew” bao, it’s actually not from the yeast itself, but mainly from the baking powder. And that’s something that books don’t teach you,” he says.
“I wanted to introduce this because I’ve never seen this in an English cookbook. It’s just the old-fashioned way.”
I’m also annoyed that YouTube videos teach people how to make them. Youtiao By using milk, eggs, and yeast, it will rise more dramatically. While it’s Instagram-worthy, it also leaves you feeling exhausted quickly.
“My recipes are geared toward classic crispiness: just flour, seasonings, and yeast-free leavening agents,” he says. “I have old Hong Kong cookbooks and Chinese cookbooks.
“I study recipes and try their techniques and try to find what works with today’s ingredients, because they’re not the same. Baking powder and flour are not the same.”
“I was visiting Germany for work to attend a cookware exhibition and was dazzled by the amount of bakeries there. It comes in a tray with lots of items.
“Ever since then, I’ve loved this bread and wondered if I could make it taste like this.” Kaya Cheers,” he says.
The only recipe created specifically for this book was Durienne Tropezienne.
“I was looking on Instagram and people were really into layering dough and cutting these weird shapes of croissants and sourdough that are still trending. And I was like, ‘Why can’t they make durian shapes?’ I thought, ‘So I figured out how to do it,’ he laughed.
Not only does he share recipes with fruits that people either love or hate, he spends two pages singing their praises. Nerd Baker 2with the title “The Glory of Dorian.”
“The texture of the pulp is comparable: soft as toothpaste, smooth as satin, creamy as pudding, sticky as caramel, thick as boarding school custard; “It coats the mouth like a nut butter and glides on lightly like a mousse. It can be starchy like sweet potato puree or light and fibrous like a banana,” he writes.
Tan says Nerd Baker 2 It’s a sequel to his 2015 book NerdBaker: Amazing Recipes, Stories, and Baking Adventures from a True Oven Fanatiche describes it as a “sleeper hit”.
“It may sound really strange to say this, but this book was published before baking became popular, before the pandemic,” Tan says of her first book, which is part memoir and part cookbook. To tell.
“Even the publisher thought it was a little bit risky. They were like, ‘We don’t know who’s going to read this book,’ because they haven’t published it yet.”
Tan’s interest in baking began when he was 14 years old and his family moved to the UK after his father found work there.
“Baking was my first love.” […] And bread was first [I made]. This was shortly after my parents and I moved to England.
“All of a sudden, ingredients like good flour, good milk, and yeast were all much more readily available, and I started baking.”
Tan has written and edited numerous food stories throughout her career, but 15 years ago she started teaching others how to cook and bake, and found that she enjoys passing on her knowledge to others. I noticed that.
when he launched Nerd Baker 2 In January, many students and his fans visited a bookstore on Singapore’s Orchard Road.
“This woman came in and said, ‘I have all your books, but I haven’t cooked anything.’ That’s my bedtime reading.”
“I was like, ‘Oh no, I have to get into the kitchen.’ I’m writing this to empower you,” he says with a laugh.
“I have students who have been in my class for 12 years. They have stuck with me that long because they go home and make my recipes and I work for them. I think that’s why they always want to learn more.”
