Note I haven’t actually tried any of the recipes in here, but rather just took the three stage proofing idea (room temp, fridge, then room temp again). Looking forward to trying some of the recipes though
I am fond of the website Cooking for Engineers
and I learned some interesting and useful stuff from the (very easy reading) book Cooking for Geeks (the first bit is a bit...condescending? It rubbed me the wrong way, anyway, but the way they explain the science of sous vide and the way they describe other ways to learn by playing with cooking techniques? Sticks with me even if I haven't cracked the book in years.
The La Brea Bakery book is great if you want to get into the weeds with bread.
Aand, that's about what I've got for "technical", so I'll restrain myself from shoehorning in other favorites that don't quite fit.
Nancy Silverton's book gives the step-by-step.
The key to brunch for me is the mix of sweet and savory foods. This panini dish definitely walked that line perfectly. I didn’t make the suggested waffles, opting for the sourdough waffles from Nancy Silverton’s La Brea Bakery book. We have been making these waffles for years and I’ve never had better. In a nod to the recipe, I added some maple syrup to the batter and it was actually really great. I will definitely be adding syrup to this batter in the future. The final dish was really interesting. I liked the punch of mustard that was slathered onto the waffles. The only thing I would like would be to find a way to make the paninis more crispy. They were pretty soggy.
For my MetaTheme, I went for the classic brunch cocktail, a Bellini. I liked this recipe because it wasn’t overly sweet or syrupy. The peach puree (had to buy this online because the peaches here aren’t very good at the moment) was nicely tart. I added a splash of simple syrup to sweeten it up a little. Next time I think I will go for some Cava instead of Prosecco so it has a built-in sweetness and there is no need for added sugar.
Breads from the La Brea Bakery is also very good.