intimidated by bread? focaccia is a great place to start

Hi friends!

It’s Wednesday, July 23rd, 2025. Here’s all the news that’s fit to newsletter.

Since we last talked, two more videos have gone up on No Expert.

Specifically, in the video, I’m making my olive-tomato-sambal focaccia – but the toppings, while delicious, are really secondary to the bread recipe.

Focaccia was the first bread I learned to make, and remains my favorite. It’s relatively easy to get a good result, even if something goes amiss, and I’m used to fitting its rhythms around my schedule.

This recipe – my own amalgamation of a few beloved recipes – is simple, but requires patience and a small amount of courage (it’s a very wet dough, and you might get a little sticky!). Wet your fingers frequently when kneading and accept a little mess and you’ll be just grand.

This is the third video in a series of three sponsored recipes I put together for MOWI Salmon US, each one demonstrating a different technique for making quick and tasty salmon filets for dinner.

This final iteration is a broiled salmon recipe with a fresh garlic-herb sauce. While broiling salmon might not achieve the crispy skin you get when pan-searing, it takes less than 10 minutes and achieves a moist, tender piece of fish. A great option for those nights when dinner feels like a chore!

A few quick updates and recommendations!

Things I’ve been doing:

• You can now grab my pistachio & black lime date square recipe on Yahoo

• I was thrilled to get to make a couple Instagram videos for my friends at Epicurious and Bon Appétit at the beginning of the month covering snacks and trends at the Summer Fancy Food Show

Things I’ve been loving:

• This quick tutorial on the uses of lemon curd vs. custard vs. posset vs. jam from my friend Sarah at Half Batch Baking

• This YouTube channel, Adventures in Aardia, where a guy does roll checks to decide what to put on his sandwich (thank you, algorithm)

• My friend Felipe’s thoughts on the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where he works as a writer (long-time No Expert fans will remember Felipe from when he and his perfect wife Taylor came to my house and made arepas)

• The TV show Poker Face, which everyone told me to watch, and now I am. You were right, everyone!

• Andrea Nguyen’s guide to putting together a Vietnamese bún salad – just a perfect summer dinner

• These black salt chips and this savory instant oatmeal (which I recommend adding a little extra water to and dressing up like congee or juk or jok – we’ve been eating it with an egg, chili crisp, and fried shallots)

• And lastly, the playlist below! If your feelings on Spotify are mixed, I totally understand, but I feel obliged to tell you that Ina Garten (or, quite possibly, whoever she’s hired to do this kind of thing so she can sip cosmos in her garden and forget the internet) has shared a number of delightful playlists on there, including, most recently, this one, titled Ina’s Mini Cooper Ride.

Next time, we’re back at the kitchen table for an interview!

I know I’ve threatened this before, but I think there’s a non-zero chance you’ll be getting two emails a month for the next little bit, so gird your loins accordingly.

Talk soon and hope you’re doing well,