Flour

Equal parts fruit crumble and coffee cake, this not-too-sweet dessert starts out bright pink but bakes to a toasty golden brown.

Senior food editor Alison Roman caught up with Zachary Golper of Bien Cuit to find out what’s inside of his stellar chocolate buckwheat cookies.

The decidedly grown-up flavor of buckwheat—tannic, earthy, nutty—pairs nicely with chocolate and is tempered by sugar. Store unused flour in the freezer, as it can turn quickly.

This resilient dough is easy to roll very thin; baking the flatbreads at the bottom of the oven maximizes their crispiness.

Is this birthday cake a project? Yes, it certainly is. But you can tackle it one component at a time and work well in advance of party day. Watch the video here.

We like this textured, molasses-tinged loaf with a mix of seeds, but you can simplify by using a larger amount of just a couple of them.

Simmering vegetables in a covered pot over low heat so that they steam in their own liquid—a French technique called à l'étouffée—is the ticket to achieving a soup with pronounced depth. We love this method with cauliflower, but also try it with celeriac or rutabagas.

The best beignets come from New Orleans, but the high protein content in bread flour gives this classic-style beignets recipe an authentic texture.

Rolling out the dough between sheets of parchment paper means it won’t stick to your pin or tear.

Because it contains more essential oils, whole grain rye flour can spoil quickly. Store the unused portion in the fridge or freezer.

Weekday pancakes sound like a stretch? Make the batter Sunday evening and start the week strong.

Chef Sara Kramer cooks the chops medium-rare so they stay juicy; you can also use rib chops.

Candied herbs, edible dried flowers, and freeze-dried berries are beautiful decorations for these iced cookie wreaths.

Spaghetti squash varies greatly in terms of wetness. You’ll really want to squeeze out as much liquid as possible so your fritters fry up crisp, not soggy.

“Good for dessert but even better for breakfast.” –Brad Leone, test kitchen manager

Make sure your eggs and coconut oil are at room temperature for this pumpkin bread recipe: Cold eggs can make the oil seize, making the batter uneven.

Grinding half of the walnuts into the streusel makes for extra tender, buttery muffin tops.

Chef Ryan Pera, Coltivare Pizza & Garden, Houston, learned the art of arepas from his sister-in-law. Now, this recipe is his easy Sunday meal of choice, packed with leftovers or farm-fresh produce.

Cooked summer squash can be mushy. Solution: Eat it raw. If you can’t find buckwheat groats, use chopped toasted almonds instead.

How is this shortcake different from all others? Cake flour makes it extra-tender, for starters, then it’s baked in one big circle and bathed in tarragon-infused butter. You might never go back.

Semolina flour is ground from durum wheat and is usually used to make pasta; toasting it deepens its flavor, and its fine grain yields a tender, custardy cake.

Try a combination of strawberries and rhubarb in this buckle-inspired breakfast cake.

These hot and crunchy filled crepes are known as banh xeo in Vietnam.

Selling skeptics on the idea of a vegetarian dinner is easy when it’s in pie form. Maitake mushrooms add heft.