When we asked chef Ming Tsai a few years ago to give us an insider’s guide to dining in Boston, said that anyone visiting Beantown had to go see one chef in particular. “Joanne Chang of Myers & Chang—which makes delicious Taiwanese food that’s super spicy—she also has a bake shop, Flour Bakery,” Tsai said. “I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but they make the best sticky buns ever. She’s great.”
Chang, the chef and James Beard Award-winning baker, has run Flour for two decades and Meyers & Chang for 13 years. After graduating from Harvard with a degree in applied mathematics and economics, she eventually left that career behind to cook, and she really fell in love with baking. So much so that even during the Covid-19 crisis, she’s kept baking and producing instructional videos on her Instagram.
In this episode of Robb Report Culinary School Chang bakes her recipe for currant oat spelt scones, gives a few tips on working with alternative flours, explains how the shutdown has affected her business and shares some tips on how to make better sticky buns at home.
Odds and End and Additional Links
- If you’re in the Boston area, you can order takeout from Flour Bakery & Cafe and Myers & Chang.
- This scone recipe is from Chang’s latest book Pastry Love, which she released last fall.
- Chang is hosting a weekly IG Live baking tutorial at 7pm EST every Sunday.
- When one reader asked about books she’d recommend to help make French pastry at home, she suggested Bouchon Bakery and Baking with Julia.
- Head to Robb Report’s Instagram page to check out more episodes of Culinary School, including Top Chef winner Mei Lin’s congee and James Beard Award-winner Chris Shepherd’s recipe for bacon chile jam.
