Now, this is the advice that I pass on to anyone starting a business, be it an online business or one selling a physical product. Start collecting emails and start blogging, baby! In the early days, I shared recipes for side dishes that I thought would pair nicely with the pizzas. Because they were meant to be an elevated alternative to your standard grocery-store options, I positioned them as something you could serve at a dinner party or on date night — and shared easy side dish recipes to go with them. This turned out to be the training ground for everything I’m doing now. It taught me a lot about business. But it really taught me how to market a business with a budget of exactly zero dollars.

Before starting that business, I had barely used Instagram. I was interested in food writing and hoped to do something like that one day, but I had no idea where to start. I think I was also embarrassed to put myself out there and fail? In front of who exactly? I have no idea. But with a business to market, this felt easy to overcome, and in doing so, I learned how to edit, make content, and finally, I had a reason to write recipes and share them with people.

As I continued sharing recipes, I expanded from sides that specifically paired well with pizzas to anything that sounded good to me. Then, when I stopped doing the pizzas and started sharing cooking videos online, I transitioned the website from selling pizzas to strictly sharing recipes. That eventually moved to Substack and became Scaled Down. The more you know!

This was a recipe from the pizza days archives. I originally shared it at peak pandemic. But since then, it’s become a favorite at Scratch Made, especially during this time of year when we’re drowning in sweet peppers. At work, we roast our own peppers on the grill, and then steam and peel them, remove the seeds and stems, and blend them into a pesto with Parmesan, toasted nuts, roasted tomatoes, and whole-milk ricotta. At home, I used the jarred option, which makes this a quick and delicious weeknight meal.

Tools you’ll need:

• A food processor or immersion blender

• A large pasta pot

• A silicon spatula for getting every last bit of sauce and stirring the pasta

• A spider or colander for staring the pasta

Red Pepper Pesto Pasta

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As someone who cooks for a living, I, of course, own a stand mixer at home. I’ve had it for years and, for the most part, I’m totally happy with it. It does the job, with the usual pitfalls of leaving the batter just a bit undermixed along the edges and at that pesky point at the very bottom of the bowl where butter and sugar seem to find refuge from from the flour and whatever other ingredients I’m trying to incorporate.

I’ve been on the hunt for something to use at Scratch Made. We cook out of a shared kitchen with the benefit of a 30-quart and a 60-quart stand mixer. That’s how I mix my 30- to 40-portion batch of focaccia dough or my brown butter chocolate chip cookie dough that yields a whopping 250 cookies. But, here and there, we need to make lesser quantities of something that’s a little more than I’d want to mix by hand, but by no means big enough to warrant a 30-quart mixer. I’ve explored a number of options—either the industrial version of what I have at home (the price is astronomical) or a duplicate of what I have at home, which, frankly, I’m not in love with.

When Ooni reached out to me this summer asking if they could send me one of their new stand mixers, I thought, why not? But, it’s proven to be exactly what we needed. So good, in fact, that now I’m tempted to keep this one for my house and get a second one for the kitchen! The Ooni Halo mimics a professional mixer by simultaneously rotating the bowl and the spiral hook in opposite directions around a stationary breaker bar. This mixes everything more evenly while also promoting superior gluten development, for oh I don’t know, making pizza at home perhaps??

I’ve written about this before here, but in the spring I got the Ooni pizza oven and it’s changed my life. A homemade pizza party is now my favorite way to entertain. It’s interactive and requires minimal prep. It’s the kind of party where you’re actually better off leaving the cooking for when the guests arrive. Below I’m sharing recipes for my 2 favorite pizzas, exactly how I make my go-to pizza dough, how to cook the pizzas whether you’re using a pizza oven or standard oven, and a few tips for hosting a pizza night at home.

Shop the Ooni Halo mixer here

Hosting tips:

• Proofing Schedule: This dough takes about 3–4 hours to proof after mixing, or it can be made the night before and refrigerated. If making it ahead, just pull the dough out 1 hour before you want to bake the pizzas.

• Keep It Simple (and Cheap): I usually skip the whole appetizers thing when I’m hosting. As someone who has people over often, appetizers are the thing that can make entertaining expensive. Often, I’ll take someone up on their offer to bring something, suggesting wine or a snack, but I don’t sweat it if there’s no app—I usually have dinner almost ready to go by the time people arrive anyway. However, in the case of a pizza party, I think a cheeseboard or something simple relieves the pressure of feeling like you need to rush out pizzas. Delegating the apps saves money and stress. Put one guest in charge of wine and another on cheeseboard duty so you can focus on the dough and toppings.

• Cap the Options: Choose two pizzas that you want to make and prep for those and only those. It’s the times when I’ve made a full pizza bar stocked with every topping under the sun that I’ve regretted the whole thing. This should be fun, and more is not necessarily more here. If you prep ingredients for these two pizzas, you'll naturally have enough base ingredients left over for a plain cheese pizza or something simple. You don’t need to also have pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, and God knows what else just because they’re common toppings.

• Contain the Prep Station: Although pizza making is obviously fun to do in a group, prepping the toppings is not. I like to grab a big sheet tray and a sleeve of deli containers to create an extremely contained, manageable topping station. You can prep these ahead, lid them up, and leave them in the fridge to easily pull out and arrange on your tray before guests arrive. For the sauce recipe below, I literally put the ingredients in a quart-sized deli container, stir it up, and add the deli to the toppings bar. Easy.

• Prep Your Tools: For a pizza oven, you will want a peel to build the pizzas on and rotate them once they're in the oven (I like a non-slotted option like this). You’ll also want to wrap a damp bar towel around a turning peel. (Bar towels like these are great to keep on hand—they're cheap, effective, and not heartbreaking to toss after a messy job.) Alternatively, you could use a brush to clean out the oven but you risk hairs (or worse, metal bristles) coming loose and sticking to the bottom. I’ve found this method works best for brushing out ash between rounds of pizzas. If you’re only making a couple pizzas, you can skip this step!

• The Shimmy Test: Always shake the peel to ensure the dough slides freely before attempting to launch it into the oven. If it clings, lift the edge and dust a pinch of flour underneath.

• Portion Math: People eat less than you think when food comes out piecemeal. If you’re feeding 4, plan for 4 balls of dough. If you're new to using a pizza oven, make an extra dough ball or two for practice.

• Leftover Magic: If you do end up with leftover dough, it makes for fabulous thin, crispy pan pizzas the next day! At night during cleanup, I oil a quarter-sheet pan and stretch the dough as far as it will go across the bottom. The next day, pull the dough out to proof 1 hour before baking, top with whatever you have leftover, and bake at 400°F. Absolute heaven

• Keep It Crispy: Finally, when you take the pizzas out of the oven, place them on a sheet tray with a wire rack to keep the bottoms from getting soggy.

  

Corn and Sausage Pizza

Yield: 4 small pizzas (approx. 10–12 inches each)

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 375 g water (room temperature)

• 500 g 00 flour

• 2 g active dry yeast

• 12 g fine salt

For the toppings:

• 16 oz fresh mozzarella, torn into small pieces

• 4 ears of fresh corn, kernels removed from the cob

• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

• 0.75 lb fresh Italian sausage (casing removed, browned, and crumbled)

• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

• Extra virgin olive oil

• Pinch of salt

Step 1:

Set up a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Add the flour and salt to the mixing bowl. In a separate medium bowl or measuring cup, whisk the yeast into the room-temperature water until dissolved, then pour it over the flour mixture. Mix on low-medium speed for about 6 minutes, or until the dough is fully combined and smooth. Cover the bowl with a silicone lid or damp towel and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes

.

Step 2:

Stretch-and-fold the dough: reach under one side of the dough, pull it upward, and fold it over the top. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat three more times until all four sides are folded into the center. Cover and proof for 30 minutes. Repeat the stretch-and-fold process once more, shape the dough into a smooth main mass, cover, and let it proof at room temperature for 1 hour.

Step 3:

• Turn the proofed dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 4 equal pieces (roughly 220g each).

• Gently shape each piece into a tight, smooth ball by pulling the outer edges underneath and rolling it on the counter using the palm of your hand.

• Place the dough balls onto a lightly oiled tray or dough box, leaving space between them. Cover and rest for 1 to 2 hours at room temperature until doubled in size and relaxed enough to stretch. (Note: You can also refrigerate the dough at this step and pull it out 1 hour before you want to make the pizzas.)

Step 4:

Preheat your Ooni oven until the stone center reaches 850°F–900°F (450°C–480°C).

Step 5:

• Dust your work surface liberally with 00 flour. Press one dough ball outward from the center into a 10–12 inch round, leaving a ½-inch raised crust around the edge.

• Transfer the stretched dough onto a floured pizza peel. Shimmy to ensure the dough doesn’t stick to the peel (add a pinch of flour under any area that clings).

• Scatter a quarter of the fresh mozzarella evenly over the base.

• Top with sweet corn kernels, halved cherry tomatoes, crumbled sausage, and thinly sliced red onion. Finish with a pinch of salt and a light drizzle of olive oil.

Step 6:

For baking pizzas in the Ooni pizza oven:

• Lower the flame setting to low just before launching to keep the top toppings from burning before the bottom crust crisps.

• Launch the pizza onto the center of the stone.

• Cook for 20–30 seconds until the crust begins to puff and set, then use a turning peel to rotate the pizza 90 degrees every 15–20 seconds.

• Bake for a total of 1–3 minutes until the crust has dark leopard spots, the corn is slightly charred, and the cheese is completely melted.

For baking pizzas in a standard home oven:

• Place a pizza steel or stone on the highest rack of your oven and preheat to its maximum temperature—500°F to 550°F (260°C–290°C)—for at least 45–60 minutes.

• Launch the assembled pizza directly onto the hot steel or stone.

• Bake for 5 to 7 minutes until the crust turns deep golden brown and the cheese is bubbling.

• Switch the oven to Broil for the final 60 seconds to char the corn and cook the top thoroughly.

Broccoli Rabe and Sausage Pizza

Ingredients

For the sauce:

• 1 (15 oz) can crushed tomatoes

• 1 clove garlic, finely minced or grated

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tsp salt

For the toppings:

• 16 oz fresh mozzarella, torn into small pieces

• 1 bunch broccoli rabe, blanched, squeezed dry, and chopped

• 0.75 lb fresh Italian sausage, browned and crumbled

• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

• Extra virgin olive oil

• Pinch of salt

Step 1:

Prepare, proof, divide, and ball the pizza dough using the recipe above.

Step 2:

In a medium bowl or quart-sized deli container, combine the crushed tomatoes, grated garlic, olive oil, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir until fully combined. No cooking required—the sauce will cook on the pizza in the oven.

Step 3:

Prepare the broccoli rabe by bringing a pot of salted water to a boil. Submerge the broccoli rabe for 1–2 minutes, then immediately transfer to a bowl of ice water to lock in the bright green color. Once cool, squeeze the greens to remove as much excess moisture as possible. Cut the broccoli rabe into small pieces.

Step 4:

Shape the pizza according to the base recipe. Spread 2–3 tablespoons of sauce evenly over the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge. Scatter the torn mozzarella over the sauce, followed by the broccoli rabe, red onion, and sausage. Season with a pinch of salt and a drizzle of olive oil.

Step 5:

• In an Ooni Oven: Bake at 850°F–900°F (450°C–480°C) on low flame for 60–90 seconds, rotating every 15–20 seconds until the crust is charred and crisp.

• In a Home Oven: Bake on a preheated pizza steel or stone at 500°F–550°F (260°C–290°C) for 5–7 minutes, finishing under the broiler for 60 seconds to char the edges.

The kitchen that we work out of is a huge warehouse-like building that’s tucked away such that you could literally walk past it and not realize that it’s there. What’s the opposite of public-facing? Our kitchen is that. And although we share it with about 20 other businesses, we’re a bit isolated from all of the many local businesses outside of it. Because we work as a delivery model, that works fine for now. The kitchen is only meant to be a production space. But, sometimes I wish that we weren't so secluded.

Similarly, with social media, my interactions with people online—both with followers and other content creators—are, for the most part, relegated to my phone. There are people who feel like my colleagues because we’ve mutually followed each other for years and have established some reasonable level of parasocial familiarity, who I don’t expect to meet anytime soon, if ever, because I don’t live in LA or New York City. I’m kind of sequestered here in Baltimore. Or it can feel that way sometimes, anyways. Being in the mix is something that I publicly don’t care about and privately crave.

So when the internet magically showed up in my actual, physical kitchen this week, I was pumped.

First, (plugging her instagram here) reached out asking if she could stage with us at Scratch Made. A stage is essentially a working interview—historically unpaid, although that’s changing now—that serves as an opportunity for both the cook and the team to get to know each other and determine skill level and overall fit. It’s a vibe check for everyone involved. However, it can also be an opportunity to observe another kitchen for the day with no expectation of being hired. Mei reached out to me wanting to see how we operate at scale because she happened to be in Baltimore for a few days. These things can go a few different ways. Sometimes the cook is genuinely helpful, but often they’re not because how could they be?? They simply don’t have a lay of the land yet. And, as such, they require a lot of hand holding. Not Mei though. I had a good feeling when she asked, so I said yes immediately, and thankfully, my hunch was correct. She jumped right in and understood the rhythm of the kitchen immediately. I loved working alongside her.

Then, the very next day, the veggie queen herself, and one of my favorite Instagram co-workers, (you can find her in her office located here) came through to cook with us and she was exactly as you’d imagine her to be from her videos online—the best. She’s hilarious and a complete joy to cook with. I could have talked her actual head off, but alas, we had work to do!

Grace’s debut cookbook, Protein-Packed Vegetarian comes out August 25th and in preparation for that, we’ve been trying to find a time where we could meet in real life to film a video. After much calendar swapping, we finally settled on a Monday, which just so happens to be our busiest day of prep. Grace, trooper that she is, agreed to come meet me at the kitchen and we were able to put the salad on the menu so that our customers could order it. Talk about a dream scenario!!

The salad we chose is one that will definitely be making a comeback on the Scratch Made menu! It’s a fridge salad, essentially. Meaning one that you can dress and throw in fridge, knowing that it will marinate and get better and better as it sits. The base is quinoa loaded up with edamame, grated carrots, red bell pepper, scallions, and toasted peanuts. That gets dressed with a delicious tangy peanut butter vinaigrette. There’s soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, grated garlic, and a pinch of sugar. But, the real star of the show, in my opinion, is the marinated roasted tofu. The tofu gets pressed to remove excess moisture and yield a denser, meatier texture. Then it gets dressed in more of that dressing plus corn starch and roasted at high heat until it puffs up and gets crispy. I couldn’t stop eating it. The dressing sort of caramelized around the tofu and gets to be this very satisfying texture. If you are a tofu-hater, I challenge you to try this version. So good. Grace was kind enough to let me share the recipe with you all here!

You can find info on ordering the book and her book tour here!

Edamame Salad with Sesame Tofu

Serves 4

prep: 20 minutes

cook: 25 minutes

PER SERVING:

Calories: 520

Protein: 26g

Carbs: 52g

Fat: 26g

Fiber: 12g

for the tofu:

1 (14-ounce) block extra-firm tofu

3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce or tamari

3 tablespoons sesame oil

1 tablespoon pure maple syrup

2 garlic cloves, grated or minced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Pinch of red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon sesame seeds for the salad

for the salad:

½ cup quinoa, rinsed

1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt, divided

Juice of 1 lime

1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar

1 tablespoon creamy natural peanut butter or nut or seed butter of choice

3 cups shredded carrots

1 ½ cups frozen shelled edamame, thawed

8 mini sweet peppers, thinly sliced

1 bunch scallions (about 6), thinly sliced (white and green parts)

½ cup loosely packed finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

¼ cup salted roasted cashews or peanuts, chopped

Make the tofu: Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (For air fryer instructions, see opposite.) Drain the tofu and wrap in a few layers of paper towels.Place on a cutting board and weight it down with a heavy object, such as a skillet or large can. (Alternatively, use a tofu press.) Set aside to drain for at least 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the soy sauce, oil, maple syrup, garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes. Pour half into a large bowl for the salad.

Whisk the cornstarch and sesame seeds into the medium bowl. Once drained, unwrap the tofu and slice into ¾-inch cubes. Add to the bowl and toss to coat. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and arrange in a single layer.

Bake the tofu until crispy, 20 to 25 minutes (no need to flip).

Make the salad: In a medium pot, toast the quinoa over high heat, stirring constantly, until the water has evaporated and the quinoa smells toasty, about 3 minutes. Add 1 cup water and ¼ teaspoon of the salt and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is just tender (it should still have a slight bite), 12 to 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.

To the large bowl with the reserved soy-maple mixture, add the lime juice, vinegar, and peanut butter and whisk to combine. Add the carrots, edamame, peppers, scallions, cilantro, cashews, cooled quinoa, and remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Toss to coat.

If serving right away, top with the tofu. If meal prepping, add to individual portions day-of. Store in the fridge for up to 4 days.

to air-fry the tofu

Heat the air fryer to 400°F. Coat with cooking spray. Add the sesame-coated tofu and cook, flipping halfway through, until crispy, about 15 minutes.

I’ve been recipe testing focaccia muffins for a while now and it’s not going that well. The outside is always perfect—crispy, golden brown. It almost feels fried. But, when I cut them open, the inside doesn’t have the big elastic bubbles I’m looking for. Instead the bubbles are consistently tight like a dinner roll. The recipe and development continues,…

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The recipe below makes 10 big bakery style cookies, but when I make them at the kitchen, I mix a 25x batch of the dough. If you are also making these at scale, this recipe will work for you too (I included the ingredients in grams as well as in at-home measurements for that reason!). To ensure that large batches are evenly mixed, transfer the mixed dough from the mixer to a large mixing bowl or bus tub and hand-mix it again, making sure that whatever was at the bottom of the bowl (usually sugar and butter) is evenly incorporated into whatever was at the top (usually flour). Otherwise, the top half of the batch will turn out caky while the bottom half turns into melty puddles because the flour didn’t work its way all the way down.

Whether you’re making 200 cookies or 10, here are my top tips for navigating this recipe:

• This recipe calls for brown butter, but you can’t mix it in while it’s hot (it will melt the sugars and ruin the texture). Brown the butter first, then let it sit until it’s room temperature or just barely warm. If I’m feeling impatient (which is almost always the case), I pour the warm butter right into the bowl of my stand mixer and run it on medium speed so it cools rapidly while I measure the rest of my ingredients.

• Don’t be afraid to really brown the butter! It should be a deep, dark caramel color.

• The milk accounts for the liquid that evaporates out of the butter during browning. Adding a splash of milk to the dough adds just enough liquid and milk fat back to the dough, which creates a slightly chewier texture, encourages the dough to spread uniformly, and prevents the cookies from drying out. If you don’t have any on hand, the recipe will still work without it.

• I use a 2 oz scoop (a standard #16 blue disher) to portion the dough.

• Always, always top the dough with Maldon flaky salt (the tub version is a particularly satisfying thing to own). If you don’t have it, add an extra pinch of fine salt to the dough itself. At work, we sell the dough frozen and sprinkle the balls with salt ahead of time so they’re ready for our customers to pop into the oven. Typically recipes recommend that you sprinkle cookies with Maldon salt after baking to preserve the crunch, but I find that you’ll still get that satisfying burst of salt once baked!

• I use these specific dark chocolate chips because I love how evenly distributed they stay once baked. However, different chocolate styles give the final cookie a totally different vibe! Bigger discs give you big, pool-like pockets of chocolate (when I use disks, I like milk chocolate). Chopping up chocolate bars creates tiny flecks throughout the dough. When I chop chocolate, I like to break one bar into larger chunks and press a piece onto top of each dough ball before baking for a picture-perfect pool on top.

• I like to mix the chocolate chips into the wet ingredients before adding the flour. That way, the chips get evenly distributed without risking over-mixing the dough once the flour goes in.

• You simply must freeze the dough before baking. It creates a much denser, chewier cookie. If you bake them unchilled, they’ll spread out thin and flat.

• Portion the dough into balls while it’s freshly mixed, then freeze. Scooping cold, hardened dough is a workout you don’t need!

• When I make these at work, I use this local flour from Pennsylvania, but at home I usually make these with King Arthur’s AP flour and they’re almost indistinguishable. I would say that the local flour yields a slightly nuttier flavor and the cookies spread ever so slightly more.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yields ~10 large bakery-style cookies

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I worked, heard from loved ones, and went out with my husband for a slew of small plates, getting buzzed-plus off a single Negroni and glass of Tempranillo. I opened presents and saw a preview of a custom tote bag coming in the mail next month—one that I’ve been lusting after for a while now. By any measure, a great day. Yet to be honest, I was in a bad mood for half of it. Every year I look forward to the date, only to feel a rush of relief once it’s over. Does anyone else like the lead-up to their birthday better than the actual day?

Part of it is because my birthday marks the turn of late summer—the most bittersweet time of year. We spend months pretending we have the full gamut of summer produce at our fingertips, but in reality (in the Mid-Atlantic, anyway), tomatoes and peppers only hit their stride late July through September. The peak sweetness of the season happens just as it’s about to say goodbye.

This dish celebrates that peak. It asks you to grill—a pleasure once the humidity starts to break—and open a bottle of white wine to use in cooking down cherry tomatoes with garlic until jammy.

The real star, however, is the string beans: blistered in hot olive oil until tender-crisp, almost like wok-charred veggies. Use whatever you have—green beans, haricots verts, Romano, or wax beans. They pair beautifully with grilled steak, but they’re just as happy next to chicken (especially with this balsamic marinade or herby marinade), lamb kabobs, or shrimp. A true plays-well-with-others summer side.

By the way, this post isn’t sponsored by DuMol Winery, but I worked with them this month to promote their Fall release. It’s one of my favorite wineries in Sonoma Valley and if you’re interested in trying them, you can get complimentary shipping on their wines by shopping through this link. Not sponsored just passing that along!

Summer Steak and Beans

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Last week Collin and I went to New York to do a collab focaccia sandwich with Radio Bakery. Kelly, the chef/owner, and I were line cooks together at Bouchon Bistro in our early twenties. She’s a rare case of a chef who has boots on the ground experience in both baking and pastry and savory cooking.

When we worked together, she had just made the switch from the Bakery to the Bistro and was working on the line. I think that’s part of the secret to her success with Radio—her understanding of both flavor combinations and techniques.

We’ve been talking about doing this collaboration for a while now, and it turned out better than I could have imagined! The sandwiches sold out in under 2 hours. The sandwich itself is out of this world but each element can be used throughout various dishes. The herby marinade is my new go-to for grilling and the green goddess dressing is a twist on the classic that I plan to dip crudité in, drizzle over grilled veggies, and dress salads with all summer long.

Grilled Chicken Green Goddess Sandwich

Herby Chicken Marinade

Yield: ~ 1 1/2 cup marinade

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Recently, I’ve felt like my dough is over-proofing. I’m not quite getting the lift that I’m used to, which makes sense given the recent heat in Maryland. I’ve also been getting a ton of questions about how to get the bottom of the focaccia dark and crispy. My main thought on this topic is that the darker the baking vessel, the darker your crust. Which means that a glass casserole dish is only ever going to yield a light, spongey crust and a cast iron pan or something like this will automatically give you a darker crust.

My friend Jen, who owns Bakers Bench in LA, imparted some additional wisdom on the topic, that was truly news to me! We need to be mixing our dough longer, people! Mixing strengthens the gluten and leads to a better rise, better structure, and unexpectedly (to me anyways) a better crust. Historically, I’ve been more worried about over-mixing than under-mixing. Because I fold my dough into thirds every 20 minutes for an hour after the dough is mixed, I figured that this was enough.

As a result, I’ve been mixing my dough way longer—about 10-15 minutes for the flour and water and then another 15 minutes after adding the salt and yeast. That, in addition to my usual folds has led to a much fluffier, more elastic dough. Furthermore, the bread has been popping out of the pans so much easier once baked. The more you know.

There’s so much to know about bread and it’s always changing as the temperature and humidity shift. Additionally, because we use a local flour, I find that the character changes season to season more than your standard grocery store flour. I’ve updated the recipe to reflect this change. Let me know if you try it! I’m so excited to hear what you think!

Note, before we get into the recipe: This works best to bake in a smaller baking vessel like this 1/8 tray because it’s easier to fully coat the focaccia in the cinnamon sugar mixture. It’s also best to remove the focaccia from its baking vessel as soon as it’s out of the oven because that yields the crispiest crust.

Churro Focaccia

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This recipe is my back pocket, never-fails-even-if-I’m-multi-taking-and-fudge-the-measurements kind of cake. I always seem to be making it when I’m in a rush and despite my best efforts to mess it up, it always turns out exactly how it’s supposed to! It’s magic. The yogurt and olive oil makes this cake moist enough to sit on your counter for days without drying out (not that it will last that long).

You can tweak it to fit your needs. I’ve subbed buttermilk, kefir, and sour cream for the yogurt and it’s still been tasty. I’ve made this with rhubarb in the spring, berries in the summer, and stone fruit as summer starts to fade into fall. I’ve done an upside down version in the winter with cross sections of citrus at the bottom of the pan. It’s completely customizable!

I’m sharing it this week because I think you should make it for the 4th of July with strawberries and blueberries and top it with a fat dollop of homemade whipped cream. Like I mentioned, it’s a moist batter, which means that you can make it the day before.

The only thing to be aware of with this cake is that it takes longer than you might think to bake. It will differ depending on the oven you use, but in my experience it takes at least an hour to fully bake. Be patient, stay the course and rotate the cake every so often as it bakes if your oven heats unevenly (most do). Otherwise enjoy! Let me know if you make it!

Strawberry Olive Oil Cake

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My quick pitch for this recipe goes as follows: It’s delicious (and this cannot be overstated), requires very little clean up, can be made almost entirely in advance, is gluten free and dairy free, is extremely customizable, and is exactly the kind of light/crunchy faire that’s perfect for a hot summer night.

The prep basically comes down to getting the meat in marinade, making the peanut sauce (I mean crack. This is actual crack sauce! You will want a full quart of it.), and washing and slicing the veggies. I also like to make a batch of white rice but that’s totally optional. This means that you can spread out the tasks, making the sauce and preparing the veggies the night before or make everything earlier in the afternoon, leaving yourself ample time to do the dishes, wipe down the counters, and feel like you sort of have your shit together by the time people come over. Once they do, all that’s left to do is light the grill and pour yourself a drink.

Steak Lettuce Wraps with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Soy-Lime Marinated Skirt Steak

*note: also works for chicken thighs

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We’ve started adding frozen items to the menu more often and bean and cheese burritos were the most recent addition. They far surpassed my expectations and our customers seemed to love them.

They’re great for stocking your own freezer, but also a welcome offering to anyone in your life welcoming a baby, moving into a new home, or whoever you love the mos…

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This month was sponsored by swimming as much as my schedule allows, going to the arcade at Bethany Beach and having—dare I say— the time of my life??, grilling with abandon, and watching my garden take root. I’m hosting a lot, but in a chill easy, no-prep-required way. Let the best season commence!

Before we get into it, here’s everything I shared over t…

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We have approximately 30 minutes left of rhubarb season and this recipe is here to help you soak up every last bit of it! That being said, I’m not actually rhubarb’s #1 fan. I like its fruity, tart flavor and the way it feels somewhere between a stalk of celery and a green apple. But it’s far from my favorite fruit. I much prefer a raspberry or a strawberry, if you’re asking.

What I love about it is not necessarily the flavor, but what it represents. The moment you see those happy pink stalks at the farmers market, you know for sure that winter is more or less behind us. It’s an early sign of spring and for that, I love it. Same goes for ramps, green garlic, and fiddlehead ferns. It’s far from my favorite produce, but seeing them makes my heart sing all the same.

This is a recipe that can carry you all the way through summer. Right now, we’ll celebrate the season we’re in by simmering rhubarb into a compote with a little bit of sugar and lemon, because it’s what we have. But, later in the summer, I’ll top the same batter with fresh raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries (Heck—I might even mix them into the batter and bake them that way!). Once stone fruit season is here, I’ll dice up fresh peaches and scatter them over the top. In the fall, I’ll dice up apples and stew them down with cinnamon, clove, and lemon to bake between the batter and streusel.

Thanks to the hefty amount of fat in the batter (shout out to sour cream and butter), this recipe is virtually un-fuck-up-able. Incorporate the fruit into the batter itself, cook it into a compote, or skip it altogether, it doesn’t really matter. The cake will come out delicious all the same. It’s rich, moist, and always garners a lot of compliments (my primary motivator).

A note on streusel: Typically, streusel is made by pulsing together cold, cubed butter with flour and sugar. Here, I have you melt the butter and stir it into the flour and sugar to create more of a crumbly dough. Both work—I prefer this method because I find it easier to make. It yields a more cookie-like streusel, whereas using cold butter yields more of a crumbly crunch on top. It’s up to you. You can use the same quanities below to make either method.

Rhubarb Crumb Cake

For the cake batter:

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We love to host anyways, but having a brand-new deck is making that all the more enjoyable (the splinters and ever-leaning rails were getting old). I don’t love planning dinner parties far in advance, so I’m always on the hunt for easy, low-maintenance, relatively inexpensive meals to cook largely on the grill.

This one fits the bill. The chicken grills up super quickly because it’s sliced thin, and the marinade makes it juicy and tangy. Then all that’s left to do is make the tomato sauce and boil the spaghetti.

If you don’t have a grill, no worries! This can be made on the stove just as easily.

This wasn’t part of my original recipe, but when I was eating leftovers, the next day, I topped the chicken cutlets with a dollop of fresh basil pesto while they were still hot and damn. That’s probably how I’ll serve it next time I make this.

Grilled Chicken Parm

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This is one of my favorite grilled dishes that we make at Scratch Made. The yogurt marinade makes the beef more tender and juicy, and the spices become even more robust when charred by the grill.

Before we get too far here, I want to be clear that this is a situation where you should marinate your meat the night before, or at the very least, the morning before you want to grill. More acidic marinades only need a couple of hours to work their magic, but this is not that. Lemon juice and vinegar make up a small percentage of the overall mixture, and yogurt needs a little bit of time to penetrate the meat. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

That being said, planning ahead is the hardest part of this whole meal. Otherwise, it comes together easily with very little effort or extra dishes. You only need to marinate your meat before you go to bed or after your morning coffee and then let the grill do the rest.

My ideal dinner would be these kebabs served over rice pilaf with grilled veggies for the perfect warm-weather feast! Bonus points if it’s served family-style on a big platter. If grilled veggies aren’t doing it for you, any of the vegetable side dishes below would also make a welcome addition to the table:

• Braised green beans with burst cherry tomatoes

• Ensalada mix with salsa criolla vinaigrette

• Grilled zucchini salad

• Lemony wax beans with brown butter and toasted almonds

• Marinated grilled lunchbox peppers

• Radicchio salad with fennel, feta, and olives

• Seared Romano beans with marinated peppers and capers

While we’re on the topic, I made a roundup of platters worth considering for summer hosting. It’s my opinion that a nice big platter is a hosting necessity, so I put together a little list of various prices and styles here.

Also on the topic (and then I promise, we’ll get to the recipe!), my number one tip for grilling is to clean the grates properly and oil them before cooking. I promise this will make your life so much easier. Here’s what I do before anything touches the grill to avoid sticking:

• Turn the flame on medium and allow the grill to preheat for about 5–10 minutes. This allows anything stuck to the grates to burn off.

• Then, use a grill brush to scrape away any residue. Be thorough here!

• I like to roll up a cheap kitchen towel (I buy these by the pack and use them for a whole host of kitchen tasks) and drizzle about 1/4 cup of neutral oil onto an 1/8 sheet tray. Use tongs to rub the towel in the oil and then rub the towel over the hot grates before any meat touches the grill. This both cleans the grates and coats them in oil.

• To be completely transparent, if I’m grilling at work or for a party at home, I use the bar towel to grease the grates and then throw it away after grilling. If it’s just Collin and I, or I’m only grilling for a few more people, I use a paper towel.

Spiced Yogurt Marinated Beef Kebabs

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This might be my most high-maintenance focaccia recipe yet, but I promise it’s so worth it! I tinkered with this flavor a couple of years ago when I first started putting sweet flavors on the menu. For the inaugural effort, I processed the rhubarb stalks into a compote and then, once cooled, folded spoonfuls of it into the focaccia, like a hot pocket. I was worried about the compote burning, so I thought it would be best to put it in the middle of the dough, like a focaccia jelly donut. It was good, but not great.

Last week, when rhubarb returned to our produce availability list, I wanted to give it another go. I thought about poaching diced rhubarb in a simple syrup and mixing it into the dough for a more subtly sweet flavor. But so much can go wrong when you mix additional ingredients into the dough itself, especially when those additions are sweet. The whole thing could overproof, leaving me with flat, sad, subtly sweet focaccias. I couldn’t risk it.

What I landed on instead was mixing the dough as usual. The next day—when it was time to portion, proof, and bake—I spooned big pools of compote over each proofed portion and used my fingers to try to dimple it in place. (Probably useless, but hey—it worked!)

To prevent the compote from roasting to a crisp in the 500°F oven, I covered each portion with a generous, crumbly handful of streusel. I followed that with my usual drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of flaky salt and pushed them into the ovens with fingers crossed. They came out gorgeous, if I do say so myself. The whole thing baked to bubbly, golden-brown perfection and was finished with a drizzle of creamy glaze.

Next time you see rhubarb at the farmers market please scoop it up to make this! Or at the very least, my the compote and streusel recipe and top a big scoop of vanilla ice cream with both.

Rhubarb Crumble Focaccia

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It turns out that over the years, I’ve shared quite a few recipes on here. So, in an attempt to make Scaled Down a greater resource for you I’ve organized them all into an index. Everything is linked and categorized. My hope is that whenever you’re th…

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