Melissa Weller's guest appearances

Melissa Weller

Special Sauce with Ed Levine

Cooking Issues

The Morning After

Anne Saxelby

Sara Moulton

J. Kenji López-Alt

Julia Turshen

Ivan Orkin

Pok Pok

Andy Ricker

Anthony Bourdain

Jonathan Gold

Christina Tosi

David Lebovitz

Lidia Bastianich

Seth Godin

David Burke

Joe Yonan

OwlTail

Amy Scherber

This week's Special Sauce episode unintentionally turned into a carb fest. Although I knew I was having on a couple of the finest bakers in the land- Amy Scherber, the founder of Amy's Bread, and Melissa Weller, a baker and partner at High Street on Hudson- I had not anticipated that the other segments of the show would have a similarly starchy focus. But let's start with the bread-bakers: Scherber founded Amy's Bread way back in 1992, and it was one of the first artisanal bread-baking businesses in New York City, established long before "artisanal" became such a ubiquitous marketing term. Weller, who used to be the head baker at Per Se and has overseen a number of well-regarded baking operations around New York, is now turning out some of the finest bagels in the city (and that's saying something). The two of them gave me some much-needed insight into what it was like to earn their chef stripes in all-male kitchens and, more importantly, what it takes to finally say, "Screw it!" and start your own business. In the advice portions of the episode, Kenji fields a question from Serious Eater Melissa Staricha about the food processor he uses for his New York-style pizza dough, which sends him on a Kenji-like riff about enzymes and autolysis and how to make good pizza. And, finally, just in time for the holidays, Daniel Gritzer offers some advice for how to make mashed potatoes way ahead of time and "still have them shit the table as good as new." Kenji on pizza dough, Amy Scherber and Melissa Weller on their paths to bread-and-pastry entrepreneurship, and Gritzer on making mashed potatoes in advance to ease your holiday cooking stress. As someone on a low-carb diet at the moment, I have to say this episode of Special Sauce is an exquisite and yet thoroughly enjoyable form of torture. The full transcript for this episode can be found over here at Serious Eats:  https://www.seriouseats.com/preview?record=450340

<p>This week's Special Sauce episode unintentionally turned into a carb fest. Although I knew I was having on a couple of the finest bakers in the land- Amy Scherber, the founder of <a href="http://www.amysbread.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amy's Bread</a>, and Melissa Weller, a baker and partner at <a href="https://highstreetonhudson.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">High Street on Hudson</a>- I had not anticipated that the other segments of the show would have a similarly starchy focus.</p> <p>But let's start with the bread-bakers: Scherber founded Amy's Bread way back in 1992, and it was one of the first artisanal bread-baking businesses in New York City, established long before "artisanal" became such a ubiquitous marketing term. Weller, who used to be the head baker at Per Se and has overseen a number of well-regarded baking operations around New York, is now turning out some of the finest bagels in the city (and that's saying something). The two of them gave me some much-needed insight into what it was like to earn their chef stripes in all-male kitchens and, more importantly, what it takes to finally say, "Screw it!" and start your own business.</p> <p>In the advice portions of the episode, Kenji fields a question from Serious Eater Melissa Staricha about the food processor he uses for his <a href="https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/new-york-style-pizza.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">New York-style pizza dough</a>, which sends him on a Kenji-like riff about enzymes and autolysis and how to make good pizza. And, finally, just in time for the holidays, Daniel Gritzer offers some advice for how to make <a href="https://www.seriouseats.com/2010/11/how-to-make-mashed-potatoes-thanksgiving-sides-fluffy-creamy.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">mashed potatoes</a> way ahead of time and "still have them shit the table as good as new."</p> <p>Kenji on pizza dough, Amy Scherber and Melissa Weller on their paths to bread-and-pastry entrepreneurship, and Gritzer on making mashed potatoes in advance to ease your holiday cooking stress. As someone on a low-carb diet at the moment, I have to say this episode of Special Sauce is an exquisite and yet thoroughly enjoyable form of torture.</p> <p>The full transcript for this episode can be found over here at Serious Eats:  <a href="https://www.seriouseats.com/preview?record=450340" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.seriouseats.com/preview?record=450340</a></p>

Special Sauce: Kenji on Pizza Dough; Amy Scherber and Melissa Weller on the Business of Baking [1/2]

White Girl Asian Food, a case of mistaken identity at McDonald’s, and druggy carrots crossing the border: welcome to this week’s _ The Morning After _! Tune in as host Jessie Kiefer welcomes Melissa Weller of Sadelle’s to the studio talking her background working in the bakery at Roberta’s to head baker at Per Se to masterminding her own vision of bagels, pastries, and more. Melissa goes on to divulge her methodology to perfecting her bagel plus thoughts on the gluten-free revolution, the Pete Wells Per Se review, and, of course, The Morning After Quiz!  “If the gluten-free is made with lots of starches like Xanthan gum, I feel it’s less healthy of a choice rather than just going gluten-free all together.” [28:00] –Melissa Weller on The Morning After

<p>White Girl Asian Food, a case of mistaken identity at McDonald’s, and druggy carrots crossing the border: welcome to this week’s _ <strong>The Morning After</strong> _! Tune in as host Jessie Kiefer welcomes Melissa Weller of Sadelle’s to the studio talking her background working in the bakery at Roberta’s to head baker at Per Se to masterminding her own vision of bagels, pastries, and more. Melissa goes on to divulge her methodology to perfecting her bagel plus thoughts on the gluten-free revolution, the Pete Wells Per Se review, and, of course, <em>The Morning After Quiz</em>!</p> <blockquote> <h4>“If the gluten-free is made with lots of starches like Xanthan gum, I feel it’s less healthy of a choice rather than just going gluten-free all together.” [28:00]</h4> <h4>–Melissa Weller on The Morning After</h4></blockquote>

Episode 160: Melissa Weller of Sadelle’s