I’ve loved preparing breads and desserts from around the world for as long as I can remember, but often limit myself to exploring cuisines that have some connection to my own life.
My mom grew up in Brazil, and I have fond memories of visiting my grandparents there one summer when I was 11 years old, so I’m often drawn to making brigadeiros, doce de leite sandwich cookies, and pao de queijo. I have friends from India, my husband is Pakistani, and I studied Hindi in college, so South Asian baked goods like jeera (cumin seed) biscuits, naan, and parathas make a frequent appearance on my kitchen table. Working with Japanese chefs during a brief stint as a pastry assistant at a restaurant in Manhattan inspired me to learn how to make red bean buns and mochi from scratch. And so on.
To mix things up, I decided to use randomly generated geographic coordinates (using the aptly named site random.org) to determine what cuisines to try next. On my first attempt, I landed in Siberia, a region whose cuisine I’m not all that familiar with. Stay tuned for my post on Siberian baked goods!
Baker Without Borders 