Editor

Ah, bread.  No one can deny that bread is one of the best parts of a meal, whether it’s the main ingredient or just a side dish.  Personally, I love making my breads from scratch, but I know most people don’t do that.  Buying a loaf of bread from the store is cheap and convenient.  But, did you know that making your own bread is cheaper and also convenient?
There are many breads that can be made in a matter of just fifteen minutes and can bake unattended.  When I make my own bread, I use ingredients that I have at home and generally end up spending around fifty cents for a loaf of bread.  Compare that to your $2.99 loaf of bread at the store, and making your own bread starts to sound like a good deal, right?
I think having good bread is absolutely necessary for breakfast and lunch.  Sandwiches and bread-based options such as toast or French toast are always great options to serve to people.  If you’re serving dinner, it’s always nice to provide homemade bread to your guests so they can soak up the sauce.  If you’re serving a starch-heavy dinner such as baked potatoes or pasta, bread isn’t entirely necessary, but still nice to serve for a side dish.
If you want to start making your own bread, all you will need is a stand mixer, pan and oven – that’s it!  If you think about how cheap it is to make your own bread, the stand mixer will pay for itself within a matter of months.
Another great reason for making your own bread is that you can completely customize the flavors.  When I’m making bread as a crostini base, I love to throw in a bit of rosemary and dried kalamatta olives.  You really get the chance to be creative when you make your own bread, and isn’t that what being a chef is all about?

Brunch is certainly popular these days – seems like you can’t even go a single weekend day without seeing pictures of your friends brunching left and right.  Many of my friends have asked me how I feel about brunch as a culinary professional; they wonder whether or not reducing the number of meals in a day is bothersome to me.
Here’s the truth: I think brunch is wonderful.  I really like brunch for the purpose of having family and friends over for a short time in the mid-day.  Brunch is really nice because it frees up the evenings and isn’t so early that you can’t sleep in.  Also, brunch is a really nice change of pace and a great way to leisurely catch up with friends and family over a good meal.
Here’s the thing I don’t like about brunch: potlucks.  As a chef, I think it’s better that someone is completely in charge of the entire brunch operation from start to finish.  Some people like to assign different dishes to people to bring, but I think that can go wrong unless you explicitly state which exact dish needs to be brought.  The other thing I don’t like about brunch is the bottomless beverages – I think that’s a complete recipe for disaster! When I go to brunch, I generally expect there to be bloody mary’s or mimosas, because that’s just part of the culture.  However, the whole point of brunch is to eat and socialize!  You can’t easily do that when you’ve had too much to drink!
If you’re hosting a brunch for the first time, you should note that presentation is extremely important.  Usually, the brunch items are displayed and served buffet-style.  Therefore, you should try to make your presentation as impressive as possible.  Also, you should note the proper brunch time if you’re hosting for the first time. The best time for brunch, in my opinion, is to start around 11:00AM or 11:30AM.  You’ll usually find people going home around 2:00PM, with some staying a little later and some leaving a little earlier.
Also, one last tip of advice: If you brunch every month, I think you’re doing it too much.  Brunch is meant to be on a special occasion such as Mother’s Day or Easter.  Some people even do it for friend reunions, which is fine as well.  The important thing is to not do it too often but to really enjoy it when you do.
My top three brunch staples are: quiche, salad and eggs benedict.  What are yours?

Pizza is one of my all-time favorite foods. It’s good at night, in the morning, for lunch – pretty much all the time. I would consider myself somewhat of a pizza expert, and I’ll tell you something: I’ll always make my own pizza over buying it.
There are a lot of differences between mass-produced pizza and self-made pizza, but I just want to highlight a few of the main differences:

1. Crisp Crust – when you make your own pizza, you have a certain control over the crust that you won’t get when you have it made for you. What ends up happening is that you can make a crispy crust with a nice “snap” to it. Because you’re controlling the heat source, temperature and placement, you have complete and total control over how crispy your crust will end up being. You just won’t get that with Domino’s.
2. Tomato Sauce – you just can’t beat the freshness you’ll get with making your own tomato sauce. When you make your own tomato sauce, you can puree tomatoes with raw garlic, herbs and salt and pepper. You have complete control over how much sauce you disperse throughout your pizza and you can completely customize the taste.
3. Flour Taste – Specific types of flour affect the taste of the pizza dough differently. For example, if you make your pizza dough with semolina, you will end up with a nice, chewy quality to your pizza dough. No matter what your preferences are, you can customize your taste depending on what you make your

Another misconception people have about pizza is that it’s a quick, casual meal that isn’t meant to have any thought put in. That’s where you’re wrong! For me, pizza can still be a complete gastronomic experience that can cater to a wide array of tastes. When you make your own pizza, you can decide what toppings to put on as well as what type of sauce and dough to use. One of my favorite pizzas to make is the Grilled Shrimp and Roasted Eggplant Pizza with Bell Pepper Puree.
It’s been my experience that presentation isn’t as important with pizzas as other types of foods, simply because the pizza will be cut and divvied up within a matter of seconds.
If you’re interested in learning more about making your own pizzas, sign up for my PIZZA Pizzaz! class on Saturday, March 29th from 3:00PM – 5:30PM.  Register here.

Chef Rocha graduated from our Master Chef program and soon after launched his own company, Bulls Eye Baking Co.  The company specializes in making Bulls Eye Baking Parchment.  Bulls Eyes Baking Parchment is a piece of parchment paper that has lines and bulls eyes on it in order to ensure even placement when baking.
The desire to create this parchment paper came from Chef Rocha wanting to serve perfectly-proportioned baked goods.  After all, in food – presentation matters.
We hope you’ll support Chef Rocha’s Kickstarter campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bullseyebakingco/bake-it-fun-with-bulls-eye-baking-parchment
Chef Rocha had this to say about his experience in the Master Chef Program: