Why you should pull your croissants

Spotted peanut butter cake, a stance on supplements/probiotics

Food news of the week:

Let me quickly give you a rundown of some new and old pastry favourites, but a proper ranking is deserving of a separate newsletter altogether. I was at Entree yesterday morning and experienced the delight of crusty flaky pastry encasing warm pistachio cream, and a buttery croissant that broke only at a soft degree of stretch when pulled along the middle, assuring me it’s not dry. Alongside this newer Georgian café find, I particularly enjoy croissants from Montparnasse, Patisserie Saint Anne, Aux Pains de Papy, and Sip&Rise. I used to be bigger fans of Dusty Knuckle, Jolene (for the fat ones) and Miel, all in London, but these other ones have definitely taken over in the ranking. Pastry aside, I am having a love affair with the grilled oyster mushrooms with macadamia hummus from Milk Beach (the Soho branch is particularly stunning), which I’ve ordered each time I’ve visited. Salty, sweet and nutty! And today’s review below is on a London establishment that’s hard to avoid whether you’re a tourist or local…

Science of the week:

Nothing quite like understanding why our guts and the stuff it contains (all that gut bacteria aka our gut microbiome) is so important. I love being able to talk about health and science, while ranking things like croissants by flavour and texture, a food you’d think lambasted by gut health enthusiasts. But understanding the importance of the gut, moderation of consumption, and probiotics, really allows for balance and a certain degree of leniency.

Insight of the week:

Saying you don’t need supplements or probiotics because you pee a lot of the good stuff out and it’s better to get stuff from food is like saying you don’t need to drink water because you pee it out anyway. Thing is, the body and brain takes what it needs and benefits tremendously from the good stuff. There is way too much evidence to support the need for key vitamins, bacteria and minerals, the main ones being: vitamin D3 (+K2 if you can get it in that combination), fish oil, and a good quality probiotic, because in today’s society (and especially if you live in the city) you’re hard-pressed to have a diverse and healthy gut. Others which are also pretty important but more optional are magnesium, B12 if you don’t eat meat, and collagen. I’m experimenting with phosphatidylserine (or PS) now for cognitive function, which is pretty fun.

Recipe of the week:

Didn’t eat much peanut butter or tahini in Taipei so obviously felt like something was off when I returned, and I made this college favourite. I remember packing this to have in between lectures and sharing with friends. Good times.

Spotted Brown Sugar Peanut Butter Loaf Cake (makes one 9×5-inch loaf, adapted from Yossy’s brown sugar pound cake)

Ingredients

200g (a little more than 1 1/2 cups; used slightly more than stated in the original recipe) flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 eggs

110g (1/2 cup) white caster sugar

220g (1 cup) dark brown sugar, the darkest you can find at your store, packed

200g (7 oz) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

120ml (1/2 cup) whole milk

6 heaping tbsp peanut butter of choice

Directions

Preheat your oven to 170C (325F). Butter your loaf pan and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate, larger bowl, whisk together the softened butter (has to be soft!!) and white sugar. You could use an electrical whisk here if you wish as well, but I just like to use a standard wire whisk. Take your dark brown sugar and crumble it into the butter and white sugar mix, leaving some large and some small clumps. Whisk briefly so as not to break up those larger lumps.

Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract. Pour the dry mix into the wet, add the milk, then whisk everything together. Pour half of this batter into your loaf pan, then dollop blobs of peanut butter and hazelnut spread on top. Spoon the rest of the batter into the pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes; take out when a wooden skewer inserted in the middle has moist (and peanut buttery) crumbs clinging to it. Leave to cool, then serve. As the original recipe states, wrap and store this at room temperature for 4 days.

Sweet and rich and amazing.

Restaurant of the week:

OK hot take: it’s better than her neighbour Quo Vadis, and better value too even though no, this place is definitely not a budget dinner spot. After having so many quality tapas and pintxos in and around Spain and the Basque Country, you can forget me using Barrafina as a benchmark.