recipes

Peasant Bread

1 1/8 cups warm water
2 tbls olive oil
3 1/4 cups flour
1 tbls wheat gluten
1 tbls sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbls yeast

Mix the yeast and sugar into the warm water and let sit for about 10 minutes to ‘proof.’ When the mixture is ‘yeasty’ smelling and somewhat frothy, you are ready.

Add the remaining ingredients…salt last.

I put all this into my bread maker’s bucket and set it to ‘dough.’ 90 minutes later the dough is well-mixed and finished with its first rise.

I take it out and knead it for about 5 minutes, shape it for the loaf pan I’m using and put it in the oven for the 2nd rise. I find that this takes between 30-60 minutes in a turned-off oven with the light on.

When it has risen sufficiently, I turn the oven on to 350 degrees and cook for apprx 30 minutes.

Easy Drop Scones

Preheat oven to 400F

ingredients:
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold butter, cut into bits
3/4 cup raisins, blueberries, chocolate bits, or your favorite (optional)

1 – Whisk the vanilla, egg & milk together in one bowl and the floour, sugar, baking powder and salt in another.

2 – Drop the butter into the flour and, sing your fingers, cut and rub until the mixture is pebbly. Pour in the milk and egg. Mix with a fork until the dough is evenly moist. Add raisins (or whatever you like) and give the verey sticky dough a few more stirs.

3 – Spoon mounds of dough onto a baking sheet and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until the scones are golden brown. Cool for a few minutes. Serve warm with butter, jam or your favorite topping.

adapted from 1-2-3 Bake by Dorie Greenspan

Basic Pizza Dough
from The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook
by Beth Hensperger
(seriously, get this book if you can…300 recipes…and you don’t even have to use a bread machine)

ingredients:
1 1/3 cup water
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp yeast

Put everything in the bread machine and set it to the ‘dough’ cycle.

On my machine that means coming back in 1 1/2 hours, turning the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and dividing it into the needed # of pieces. I separate it into 2 equally, and then each of those halves into 2 unequally (one adult, one child pie each.)

Work these out, roughly, into the shape of your pan. Then cover with a damp cloth and leave for 30 minutes, or until the dough has increased about 20% of its size.

Once the dough has risen sufficiently, you can either use as is, or roll out. If you like thicker crust, then move the dough to the pan before the final rise, and then don’t handle…just top and bake.

If you like thinner crust, then roll it out with a rolling pin after that final rise.

I do thin crust and it takes them about 15-20 minutes to bake up in a 450F oven.