Lemon Scones

I was feeling a bit thrifty trying to decide what to bake for this blog entry. I looked over my wish list and started going through recipes to see what I could make with ingredients I already had on hand here in the apartment. Thanks to some remaining heavy cream leftover from a messy, but very yummy, truffle-making experiment and with the exception of a few fresh lemons, I had everything I needed to make a simple summer breakfast treat of lemon scones.



After a little bit of research, I learned that one of the keys to successful, flaky scones (like biscuits as well) is to handle and work the dough as little as possible. Like the pie crust, you also want to use a pastry blender to cut the butter in this recipe into the dry ingredients while it is cold.



The Joy of Cooking also recommends using two butter knives to cut fat into a flour mixture if you do not have a pastry blender.



This recipe turned out to be relatively simple and easy to execute. I look forward to making scones again and again, adding different flavors and ingredients each time. Orange and white chocolate chip scones are sounding like an excellent idea for fall!

Here is the recipe so you can try it in your own kitchen!

Lemon Scones
Preheat your oven to 450°F

Dry Ingredients:
1 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour
2 ¼ teaspoons of baking powder
1 tablespoon of sugar
½ teaspoon of salt

Wet Ingredients:
¼ cup ( ½ stick) of cold butter
2 large eggs
1/3 cup of heavy cream
2 tablespoons of lemon zest

-Combine dry ingredients and sift together into a medium-sized bowl.
-Cut the butter into the flour mixture.
-In a small bowl, beat the two eggs together and then set aside 2 tablespoons of the beaten egg for later use.



-Add the heavy cream to the beaten eggs
-Mix 2 tablespoons of lemon zest to the liquid mixture.
-Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the liquid mixture into the well.


*I forgot to add the lemon zest earlier, so I had to add it in at his point. Turned out to work just fine.*

-Just combine the ingredients in a few strokes. Don’t mix thoroughly! Turn the dough onto a floured work surface.



-Pat the dough to ¾ inch thick and into an 8-inch round.



-Cut into 8-12 wedges



-Place on an ungreased baking sheet



-Brush with the reserved egg.



-Bake at 450°F until golden brown (about 15 minutes)
-Remove from the oven and sift powdered sugar over the top.



You can eat them warm out of the oven or let cool completely and store in an airtight container to enjoy for up to a week. Tea drinkers will love this treat combined with their favorite summer tea.


Enjoy!

Sandwhich Bread

I have been looking forward to making my first real loaf of bread for the blog and the time has finally come. Last week, I hurriedly packed my bags as I was about to head down to New Mexico for a week and a half of work. Looking over my “wish list” for the blog, I wondered what baking project might fit into my travels and time in Los Alamos. I eventually decided that I would attempt a loaf of sandwich bread, practical for my lunches in the field and relatively simple ingredients to pack up and bring with me. Luckily, my company has a few corporate apartments here in town, so I am fortunate to have a kitchen at my disposal during my time here.



I had every intention of baking a hearty whole wheat loaf for my first solo bread attempt. However, another drastic difference in flour amounts recommended by the JOC resulted in a nice loaf of white bread. Most whole wheat bread recipes call for equal amounts of whole wheat and white flour. The JOC recipe says to use 5-6 total cups of flour, 3 white and 2-3 whole wheat for this particular bread. I ended up only using a total of 3 cups of flour combined with all of the other ingredients. Since I added the white flour first, it ended up being the only flour used and the recipe then only yielded one single loaf as well.

Despite all of that, my one loaf of white sandwhich bread came out really well. It has been very tasty for lunch the last few days.



Here is my revised version of the recipe.

Pre-heat the oven to 450⁰F

Combine in a saucepan and heat until melted and warm (105 - 115⁰F):
1 cup of milk (you can use also water)
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of shortening or lard
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of salt

In a separate bowl, combine and let stand until the yeast dissolves:
¼ cup of warm water (105-115⁰F)
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons) of active dry yeast

Once the yeast has dissolved, combine with the mixture above.

Have 3-4 cups of flour ready (you can use all white or a half white/half wheat mixture)

Add about half of the flour to the liquid mixture and stir for a good while. Gradually keep adding flour until the dough is not longer too sticky and you can take it out of the bowl to knead.



Knead the dough on a solid, flat surface while continuing to add enough flour so that the dough is smooth, elastic, and doesn’t stick to your fingers. Once you are finished kneading, your dough should easily form into a smooth ball.



Place the dough back into the mixing bowl, cover, and let rise for an hour. After an hour, punch the dough down and knead again to remove air bubbles. You may need to add a little more flour at this point as well.



Once you have kneaded out all of the bubbles, form the dough into an oblong loaf and place into a lightly oiled 5”x9” loaf pan and let rise for another 45-60 minutes.

Once the dough has risen a second time, lightly oil the top of the dough and place in a pre-heated oven at 450⁰F for 10 minutes.



After the 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 350⁰F and bake for an additional 30 minutes until the loaf is golden brown.



Remove the loaf immediately from the pan and let cool completely before slicing.

Enjoy!

Granola

Before heading out on our travels to the Pacific Northwest, Orin and I decided to make a big batch of granola for the upcoming weeks on the road. Granola travels well and is the perfect breakfast when you’re on the go or even on a mountain!




Over the past two years, I have tried a few different recipes for granola. The best one by far is a simple recipe passed on to us by Orin’s mom, Ilana. The great thing about granola is that you can pick and choose what nuts or dried fruits you like to add and the basic recipe still remains the same. I like to buy most of the ingredients from the bulk foods section of Sunflower Farmers Market. Buying in bulk is often much cheaper and fresher than most pre-packaged foods.



The first step in making granola is to measure out your basic ingredient, the rolled oats, and coarsely chop the nuts you would like in your mix.



Using the meat cleaver for chopping the nuts reduces the amount of work you have to do since the weight of the cleaver will do a lot of the chopping for you. I think it's better to keep the nuts pretty coarse, so that they don’t get too dark when toasting.



Once the oats and nuts are ready, it’s time to mix your syrup. A good trick to use when mixing your syrup is to measure out the oil before the honey and swirl it in the measuring cup.



This way, when you measure out the honey, it will easily slide out of the measuring cup, saving you from a more lengthy and sticky cleanup.



Don’t quite bring the syrup to a boil before evenly pouring it over the oat a nut mixture.


Try to stir well and coat all of the oats and nuts with the liquid.



I use a large pizza pan to toast my granola, but a roasting pan(the kind you would cook a turkey in) actually works much better. I just don’t have one.



Try it for yourself. It’s really easy and much healthier than any store bought granola out there! I enjoy mine best with some yogurt and fresh fruit. It’s also very tasty with milk! On Mt Rainier, it even tasted good with powdered milk and warm water.

Preheat your oven to 350°F

Combine:
6 cups of Rolled Oats
3 cups of coarsely chopped nuts (any mixture of almonds, pecans, or walnuts will work)
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Spread the mixture evenly in a roasting pan.



Mix Syrup:
1 Tbsp of vanilla
2/3 cup of water
½ cup of vegetable oil
1 cup of honey
2 tsp of salt



Slowly warm in a saucepan over the stove. Heat until the mixture is well blended. Don’t boil! Pour the syrup evenly over the oats and nuts.



Mix well with a large spoon.

Bake initially for 15 minutes. After the first 15 minutes, remove from the oven and stir well. Bake for an additional 30-40 minutes, stirring the mixture every 10 minutes. Be careful not to over toast the oats. Remove from the oven before it gets too golden brown in color. Once you remove it from the oven, it will continue to bake for a few minutes, so you don’t want to overdo it.

Let the mixture cool completely before adding your favorite dried fruits and any other ingredients your heart may desire. Be creative and try a variety of combinations to suit your tastes.



I like to add:
½ cup of dried cranberries
½ cup of raisins
1 cup of dried banana slices.
2 cups of bran flakes



Thanks again to Orin for his lovely photos and also thanks to Ilana Bakal for the great recipe and teaching us how to make it just right!

Blueberry Pie

It’s berry season! I thought it would be nice to take advantage of the current high quality and low cost of my favorite seasonal fruit and make a classic summer treat. I have been unable to resist the plump strawberries and blueberries at the grocery these last few weeks. They are at the peak of freshness right now and oh so tasty! Blueberries in particular have taken hold of me this summer and I just can’t help myself. And why should I? They are a true superfood. Did you know that blueberries have the highest antioxidant capacity of any fresh fruit? They also help preserve your vision, increase brain health, lower the risk of heart disease, improve digestion, and fight cancer!



For my first attempt at a fruit pie with homemade crust, I followed the recipes and directions directly out of The Joy of Cooking for the Blueberry Pie and Basic Pie Dough. I have heard horror stories about failed pie crusts and people who work years to develop the right techniques for a successful pie. I was anxious to say the least.



Making the filling was pretty easy. Just mix the blueberries with some sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Once the mixture sets for a while, it starts to really look good.



Then it was on to making the dough. Unlike bread doughs, you don’t want to overwork the dough or activate the gluten in the flour. You blend the ingredients while cool and with some delicacy. Some recipes call for butter and others for lard. I decided to go with the classic lard recipe because I have heard and read that using lard really does produce the better pie crust. So, for the first time ever, I went to the grocery and bought lard! The stuff is as gross as it sounds.



*This is where you have to remind yourself of all the health benefits you’re going to get from the blueberries to help justify cooking with pure animal fat. *

I used a newly purchased pastry blender to cut the lard into the flour. This is another area where I did some prior research. Apparently this is really the only reliable method of blending pastry and pie doughs.



The next step was to roll out the dough and create the crust. I will have to admit that I struggled a bit with this part of the process. My dough cracked around the edges and tore in a few places, but in the end, I managed to get it into the pie dish without too much trouble. I found that using a piece of fishing line will come in handy if you get the dough stuck to your countertop.



At this point, I was more concerned with the pie tasting good, rather than looking flawless. The crust always breaks apart anyways, right?



So, once the crust is assembled in the pan, all that’s left to do is fill and cover.







I used wax paper on the countertop for rolling out the second piece of dough. It worked out much better.



The final step was to seal the edges of the pie with a fork crimp method and then bake!



And what goes best with warm fruit pie out of the oven? Ice cream! My good friend, Andrea, was gracious enough to come by with some fresh vanilla bean ice cream from Little Man Ice Cream, my favorite local ice cream spot. The two made a perfect combo that just melted in my mouth. Yummm!



I was overall pleased with the results. I feel like my first pie was a success. What the crust lacked in beauty, it more than made up for in flaky goodness! I can't wait to make another!

Try it for yourself and don’t forget the ice cream!

Filling
Combine in a bowl and let stand for 15 minutes:
5 cups of fresh blueberries (washed and picked over)
1 cup of sugar
4 tablespoons of cornstarch
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
pinch of salt

Dough (for a 9-inch pie dish)
Preheat oven to 450°F
Sift together :
2 ½ cups of all purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoon of salt
Add :
¾ cup of chilled lard
3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
Cut half of the lard into the flour mixture with a pastry blender until it has the consistency of cornmeal.



Cut the remaining half into the dough until it is pea-sized. Sprinkle the dough with:
6 tablespoons of ice water
Blend the water gently into the dough until it just hold together.
Divide the dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.



Lightly flour a work surface. Place the dough in the center of the floured surface and lightly flour it as well. Exert even pressure on the dough with a rolling pin and roll the dough from the center out in all directions, stopping just short of the edge of the dough. Check for sticking along the way and sprinkle with flour as needed.



Once you have placed the shaped bottom crust into the pie dish, overlap and trim the edges. Fill the crust with the already mixed fruit filling, dot with cubes of butter, and repeat the process for the top crust. Seal the edges of the crust by crimping with a fork. Cut a few slits into the top crust for venting.



Bake in the oven for 10 minutes on 450°F, then turn the oven temp down to 350°F and bake for an additional 35 to 40 minutes. Once the pie is golden brown, remove from the oven and let cool completely.



Once again, all of the lovely images for this blog were captured by Orin Salah.