Global Markets Falter After President Trump Calls For Tariffs On Steels And Aluminum, The Fate Of Cabrini-Green And Public Housing, Better Baking

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• Tips For Conquering Your Baking Fears

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  Maybe you’re a great cook who’s in your element throwing together last-minute dinners, julienning and sautéing with confidence. But when it comes to baking, you balk.

  If that sounds familiar, author and baker Erin Jeanne McDowell, is here to tell you you’re not alone.

  “I totally understand why baking scares a lot of people, because there’s not that same kind of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants vibe that cooking has,” said McDowell, author of “The Fearless Baker: Simple Secrets for Baking Like a Pro.”

  “But if you understand what’s going on behind a recipe, suddenly it becomes much easier to kind of tweak your baking recipes,” McDowell told WPR’s “Central Time.”

  In other words, you can become a more flexible baker if you know your stuff, and much of it comes down to the simple chemistry of baking. There are reasons why, for example, you can’t substitute honey for sugar in a given recipe, some doughnuts are lighter and fluffier than others or the moisture levels of fresh fruit versus jam affect baking.

  McDowell’s shared some simple tips for trepidatious bakers:

  • Don’t try a one-for-one substitution of whole wheat flour for all-purpose flour; it won’t turn out the same because whole-wheat flour absorbs more moisture. Instead, try whole wheat pastry flour.
  
  
  • Get your ingredients to room temperature before you start baking — eggs, butter, etc. When you’re baking, you’re often trying to make an emulsion, or a mixture of two liquids that are normally unmixable, like a vinaigrette. That’s easier to achieve if everything’s at room temperature, McDowell said.
  
  
  • This tip is a classic, but it’ll save you every time: read the recipe from beginning to end before you begin baking! Most people’s baking problems result from not reading the recipe before they started, McDowell said. If you know everything you need to do in advance, you’re less likely to get tripped up. “And also, planning ahead in baking just makes it more enjoyable. One of the pleasures of baked goods is that a lot of things can be made ahead,” she said.

• Global Markets Falter After President Trump Calls For Tariffs On Steels And Aluminum

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  President Donald Trump announced yesterday that he’s seeking tariffs on steel and aluminum. The decision was met with criticism from both sides of the aisle and several publications, including the Wall Street Journal, said the tariffs could have a negative impact on the U.S. economy. The President justified his decision in a series of tweets and said, “trade wars are good, and easy to win.” Mark Copelovitch, Associate Professor Political Science and Public Affairs, joins us to explain how this move might affect U.S. foreign trade and policy.

• The Fate of Public Housing

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  The Cabrini-Green high rises once housed 15,000 people on Chicago’s near north side– a public housing project that came to symbolize public housing for both the city and the country. The buildings became notorious for crime and drug activity, and bad living conditions. By 2011, the last of the buildings had been demolished. We talk with Ben Austen about his new book, “High-Risers: Cabrini-Green and the Fate of American Public Housing.”

• Does baking make you a little (or, a very) nervous? Does the thought of having to put together a pie or a cake make your break out in a cold sweat? Or, do you microwave store-bought cookies to fool your friends? Rest easy! On this week’s Food Friday, baker Erin Jeanne McDowell joins us to give us some baking tips to make your time in the kitchen fun and stress-free. She’s the author of “The Fearless Baker: Simple Secrets For Baking Like A Pro”.