Food news antipasto

If you tried to mail order any Bob’s Red Mill products in the last couple of weeks, you already know that the company has ceased its online ordering operation. According to a spokesperson, “Due to our excellent distribution network and the wide availability of Bob’s Red Mill products in stores and online, Bob’s Red Mill will no longer sell our products directly to customers.” Those of us in smaller markets might have to go hunting for some of our favorite products.

Baking bread can be a rewarding endeavor, but it can be frustrating as well. Depending on conditions in your kitchen, the dough can rise faster or slower than the times indicated in the recipe, making it difficult to know when it has risen enough. The folks at King Arthur Flour offer advice on judging when a dough is properly risen, providing visual and physical cues.

Martha Stewart has published dozens of cookbooks and her magazine carried even more recipes, but until now the domestic doyenne has not had a restaurant. She is about to change that by opening The Bedford on the Las Vegas strip. Each room in the restaurant is modeled on rooms in Stewart’s upstate New York home, including her bedroom. As for the food, Stewart says “What you’ll eat here at the restaurant are dishes I serve at my own homes, recipes we have perfected over the years.”

Earlier this week we highlighted a podcast that focuses exclusively on cookbooks, plus an episode of another podcast devoted to the subject. We have the pleasure of introducing you to one more cookbook-themed episode, this time featuring David Lebovitz and veteran editor Susan Friedland, who edited Richard Olney, Marcella Hazan, Paula Wolfert, and more great authors.

Michelin-starred San Francisco restaurant Manresa might be closing at year’s end. The restaurant’s chef, David Kinch, announced that is selling the business at the end of December. Kinch isn’t ready to retire yet, however, saying that he would continue to work at his more casual restaurants: the Bywater; Mentone; and the bakery and cafe chain Manresa Bread.

The Covid-19 pandemic has devasted the economies of tourist-dependent countries such as Bali. The chef of two restaurants in Bali, Dean Keddel, decided to do what he could to help the country recover, creating a cookbook called Our Bali Your Bali, with proceeds from the book going to relief efforts. The book has received international recognition at the 27^th annual Gourmand Book Awards in Umea, Sweden, and there are related documentaries in the works. To date, the book has raised over $500,000 to help the people of Bali.