With these two chewing the fat, King Arthur Baking's new podcast is a delicious mix of wisdom, stories, and tidbits
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'Things Bakers Know' is the new podcast from King Arthur Baking Co.
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The hosts begin the sourdough episode with a back-and-forth about naming starters, which many bakers do, and what they call their own. Hers is Jessica's Jazzy Starter, named for her by a colleague. She doesn't name anything, not even her cars, she says. His four starters are called 'Choices,' as in, it's your choice to feed your starter or you'll pay the consequences. We hear listeners' recorded voices with more names: Bread Pitt, Rise Up, Domer Simpson, Yeast Mode, The Baby (which the caller explains got confusing when she and her husband had a real baby).
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The hosts obviously amuse each other. Their laughter is genuine. They're smart, a little sassy, and quick with quips. They sound like old friends, which in fact, they are. They knew each other before they started working together.
Her laugh is a joy and makes you want to laugh with her. He says that recently he listened to a sped-up recording of a work meeting he couldn't attend. 'Your laugh at high speed is amazing,' he tells her.
Jessica Battilana is cohost of the new King Arthur Baking podcast, 'Things Bakers Know.'
Battilana, 46, is the staff editor at the company. She was raised in Woodstock, Vt., did a stint as a cheesemonger at Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge, earned a Grand Diplome from
Tamarkin, 47, is the editorial director. He comes from Cincinnati and describes himself as 'Midwestern to my core.' He was a producer for 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,' worked at Time Out Chicago, and spent many years at the website
David Tamarkin is cohost of the new King Arthur Baking podcast, 'Things Bakers Know.'
The two are not together when they record, though segments have an armchair quality. They're in their homes with scripts, says Battilana, but if they stick too closely to them, they don't like how stiff they sound.
In a discussion about how to reheat pizza, Battilana says that she reheats slices cheese-side down in a nonstick skillet, then turns them over to heat the crust.
'You're lying!' he says. 'That's not possible!' He tells her she's essentially heating the crust in pizza grease. 'What you're making is fondue.'
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Guests appear now and then, including
Zoë François of 'Zoe Bakes Cookies' chatted about her chocolate chip cookies on the podcast.
Zoe Francois
'Begging them not to,' interjects Tamarkin, who ends every podcast with some variation of 'Just please follow the recipe.'
On a biscuit podcast, after Battilana says that 'your biscuit vibe says a lot about you,' he describes his as fluffy with soft edges that have almost baked together in the pan; hers are flaky, buttery, crispy-edged, high in stature.
He hears this question often: 'Why'd my biscuits come out so thin?' His answer: 'Because you put them in thin, baby.'
We learn that before he makes biscuits, he freezes everything. Then a discussion about flour (ideally something with less gluten than all-purpose), butter (American, not European), grating frozen butter (the water in the butter forms pockets of steam during baking that create flakes).
For their second season, 10 episodes will launch in September and run until just before Thanksgiving. Subjects include butter, Thanksgiving pies, and an entire episode on holiday baking questions.
The duo is often riffing — about everything. In the pizza episode she says the Neapolitan trend is over. He sees a rise in super thin pizza, like 'Great Lakes tavern-style' in Chicago and surrounding areas. Later in an email, he tells me, 'It is a very thin round pizza, made with a dough that is enriched with butter, that is cut into squares and usually served in bars alongside beer. Very delicious!'
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Both think slices that droop at the pointed end are out. He calls a more structured style 'a no-dip tip.' An ideal slice remains stiff when you hold it up.
At one point when Tamarkin is explaining to listeners how to send in a question, he says, 'Jessica and I will use it to pontificate and have long conversations that have nothing to do with your question and eventually get around to answering your question.'
Find 'Things Bakers Know,' on
or Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get podcasts. Subscribers will be notified about new episodes. You'll also see a link to send a voice message with a baking question.
Sheryl Julian can be reached at
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