Seriously Easy French Bread

A great pairing to a delicious soup is an easy homemade french bread.  Oftentimes, bread is intimidating enough to make that we leave it to the bakery, or only search for recipes that can be made in the bread machine or with our mixers dough hook.  FEAR NOT! This is an amazingly simple recipe, and easily adaptable to include nuts, cheeses, herbs or swapping some white flour for wheat.  This recipe also divides easily after the first rise for dinner rolls.  To keep this soft and chewy, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the recipe.

1 cup warm water 110-115 degrees
1 package yeast or 2 1/2 teaspoons (rapid-rise recommended)
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
approximately 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a large non reactive bowl, combine water with yeast, sugar and salt. Let sit for five minutes. Stir in flour with wooden spoon until the dough is stiff enough to knead. (Add flour a little at a time.) Knead dough until smooth and elastic–a few minutes. Place enough olive oil in a bowl to coat the dough ball;  cover. Let rise until doubled. Form dough into a French-style loaf and place on parchment lined baking sheet.  Score lightly with a knife 5-6 times.  Place immediately in oven (unpreheated!)–bread will rise as oven heats up. Set oven at 375-degrees. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

This recipe makes one loaf, but can be doubled and tripled easily.

Blue, Black, Straw or Boysen....Berry Scones

A great cup of coffee is always better with a delicious accompaniment.  Cookies, biscotti, doughnuts, bagels, cake.....doesn't really matter, they are all sinfully delicious.  One of our household favorites are homemade scones. 

This recipe is another quick and easy one, and with a light hand, can melt in your mouth.  I love the option of making it with or without streusel topping, but we never have it without a cup of fresh ground Lavazza.

Blackberry Streusel Scones:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup granulated white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons chilled, unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 cup fresh berries

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk or cream

Brushing tops of scones:

Milk or Cream

Streusel Topping:

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place rack in middle of oven. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Gently fold in the berries (I often use blackberries or blueberries). In a small measuring cup combine the cream, beaten egg and vanilla. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and stir lightly just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix the dough or the scones will be tough.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches round and about 11/2 inches thick. Cut this circle in half, then cut each half into four pie-shaped wedges (triangles).  Place the scones on the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with a little cream or milk.

For the Streusel Topping: In a small bowl whisk together the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the butter until crumbly. Top each scone with a teaspoon or two of the streusel mixture. Cover and refrigerate any leftover streusel mixture.

Bake the scones until nicely browned, about 18 - 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a scone comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. These are best eaten the day they are made but can be covered and stored for a few days.

Makes 8 scones

From Joyofbaking.com