Baking with Julia

Executive chef Craig Kominiak of Ecce Panis Bakery in New York City bakes focaccia. He shows how to test the elasticity of the dough by stretching it to see the "window," creates a sandwich with the finished product, and adds fruit and a topping of sugar to turn focaccia into a dessert or breakfast item.

Berkeley, CA teacher and chocolatier Alice Medrich creates a chocolate genoise raspberry ruffle cake, provides tips on the best way to melt and shape chocolate, and demonstrates how to cut the cake into layers. She layers the cake with crème fraiche, melted chocolate, rum syrup, and raspberries in an adjustable pan, then places the chilled, fan-shaped chocolates as a decorative topping.

Master chef Michel Richard of Citrus in Los Angeles demonstrates the making and baking of puff pastries. He creates a tourte Milanese filled with layers of spinach, red bell pepper omelet, ham, and cheese. For dessert, he makes apricot pastries designed to look like eggs sunny-side-up.

Bread machine wizard Lora Brody of West Newton, MA makes machine-kneaded buttermilk white bread. She bakes one loaf in the oven and another in the machine to compare the results, then uses some of the dough to form cloverleaf rolls and twisty rolls and breadsticks. She also creates a salsa quitza made from a dough containing refried beans and flour, topped with cream cheese, salsa, and shredded cheddar cheese.

While creating a white chocolate pattycake with chocolate tulips, chef and author Marcel Desaulniers of the Trellis in Williamsburg, VA also offers advice on selecting white chocolate (cocoa butter is the key). He makes the tulips by dipping balloons into melted dark chocolate.

Pastry chef Gale Gand of Brasserie T in Northfield, IL creates two spectacular desserts: a towering chocolate Napoleon and a "fettuccine" ice cream sandwich. The Napoleon is made of chocolate filo dough, poached pears, cranberry compote, whipped cream with ginger, and mocha granache, while the sandwich has raspberries and a fresh fruit kabob between more filo dough.