Christmas Morning Scones

Ingredients:

1/2 C very warm water
1/2 tsp sugar
2 packages of quick rising yeast
1 1/2 C hot milk
1 TB oil
3 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1/2 C cold water
4 1/2 C flour 

Oil for frying

In a large deep frying pan, fill with about 3 inches of canola oil or vegetable oil and turn on to medium high heat.

Add together warm water, sugar, and yeast. Stir and let sit until foamy (just a few minutes). 

Add the following to the hot milk: oil, sugar, salt, and cold water. Then add 2 cups of flour to start. Gradually add until it is soft and kneadable--approximately 4 1/2 cups. Let set for 5-10 minutes and knead lightly. Roll out very thick on floured surface. Let stand another 5 minutes. Cut into squares or rectangles. 

Slip the squares into the frying pan. They will go down into the oil and then pop back up to the top. Check underneath and when the bottoms are golden brown--turn them over. You will be able to tell when they are done they are golden brown color. Remove with slotted spoon and serve with butter, jam, honey or whatever! 

Angel Biscuits

 Oven: 400 Degrees

Ingredients: 

2 1/2 C flour
2 TB sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 C crisco 
1 C milk
1 TB yeast dissolved in 1/4 C warm water

Directions:

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Add shortening and cut in until mixture is crumbly. In separate bowl whisk together milk and yeast. Pour over dry ingredients. Roll dough into ball and knead onto floured surface 20-25 times. Pat in 1/2" thickness and cut with cutter. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until browned. 

Buttermilk Biscuits

 

THE BEST FLAKY BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

yield: 12 BISCUITS

 

prep time: 15MINUTES MINS

cook time: 10MINUTES MINS

total time: 25MINUTES MINS

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups (426 g) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ½ tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 9 tablespoons (128 g) very cold butter cut into pieces
• 1 ½ cups buttermilk, more or less

INSTRUCTIONS 

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, or in the bowl of a food processor. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture is like coarse meal and the butter is in small, pellet-sized pieces (slightly smaller than a pea). This will take a few short pulses in the food processor.
• Pour in the buttermilk and mix/pulse only until just combined. The dough should start to come together but you don't want to overmix the dough. If there are lots of dry patches throughout the dough, add a bit more buttermilk, just a tablespoon or two at a time until the dough comes together.
• Scrape the dough out of the food processor or bowl onto a lightly floured counter. Gently pat (do not roll with a rolling pin!) the dough to about 1/2-inch thick. Gently fold the dough in half or in thirds, repeating for a total of 4-5 times and pressing it gently to 1-inch thick after the last fold. These folds, combined with the cold butter, are what help to create flaky layers in the biscuits.
• Use a round biscuit or cookie cutter to cut into circles. Do not turn the cutter while pressing into the dough, just press firmly enough to cut all the way through the dough.
• Line a large, rimmed cookie sheet with a silpat liner or parchment paper. Place the biscuits on the pan with the sides barely touching each other. This helps the biscuits rise up instead of out. If you like crustier sides to your biscuits, space them further apart. They won't rise as high but they'll have golden edges.
• Bake for about 10-12 minutes until the biscuits are lightly golden on top and bottom, taking care to not overbake. Serve immediately.

Easy Twisted Chocolate Croissant French Bread

 

EASY TWISTED CHOCOLATE CROISSANT FRENCH BREAD

yield: 4 SMALL LOAVES

 

prep time: 1HOUR HR 30MINUTES MINS

cook time: 20MINUTES MINS

chilling time: 1HOUR HR

total time: 2HOURS HRS 50MINUTES MINS

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup (227 g) salted butter, cool room temperature
• 2 cups warm water, 105-110 degrees F
• 1 tablespoon instant or active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 4 3/4 (675 g) cups all-purpose flour, more or less (see note)
• ¾ to 1 cup (113 to 170 g) coarsely chopped good-quality semisweet or dark chocolate (see note)

INSTRUCTIONS 

• For the butter packet: grab a piece of parchment paper about 16 1/4-inches by 12-inches (doesn't have to be exact, but should be close to those dimensions). Fold the two short edges of the parchment in toward each other about 4 1/2 inches. They will overlap a bit. Crease the edges well.
• Keep those edges folded in and fold the top and bottom edges in about 1 3/4-inches. It should form a little parchment packet when folded with the center rectangle dimensions about 8 1/2-inches by 7-inches. See pictures in the post for a visual.
• Unfold the parchment. Cut the butter into large pieces and place in the center of the parchment. Fold up the packet using the pre-creased folds and flip over so the folded edges are on the bottom.
• Use a rolling pin, lightly tap the butter (too much aggression here and the parchment could rip) until it starts to flatten and merge into a thick square. Continue tapping or use the rolling pin to roll the butter into a thin sheet so it reaches all the edges of the parchment packet and has a relatively even thickness. Place in the fridge to chill while you make the dough.
• For the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the water, yeast and sugar, and let sit until foamy, 2-3 minutes. Add the salt and flour and mix until a soft dough forms that clears the sides of the bowl. Add more flour, a little at a time, if the dough is sticking to the dough hook or sides of the bowl.
• {It's REALLY important that this dough is not over floured and stiff or it will be hard to roll it out. On the flip side, a dough that is too soft and sticky can be problematic, too. Try for a dough that is soft and slightly sticky but easily clears the sides of the bowl. It should leave a light residue on your fingers but not be overly wet and sticky.}
• Knead for 3-4 minutes until the dough is soft and smooth.
• Cover the bowl or transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover. Let rise until doubled, about an hour.
• Lightly punch out the dough and turn out onto a lightly floured counter. Roll into a rectangle about 18-inches by 11- or 12-inches.
• Take the butter packet out of the refrigerator, and unfold the parchment (but leave the butter on the parchment paper). Place the butter packet face down on the center of the rolled out bread dough. Peel the parchment carefully off the butter leaving the butter sheet on the dough.
• Work quickly and don't over work the dough during the next couple steps of folding and rolling so the butter doesn't get too soft!
• Fold one short side of dough about halfway to 2/3 over the butter. Fold the other short side of dough over the butter, overlapping the first folded side by about an inch.
• Fold the top and bottom edges over about 1/2- to 1-inch and press to seal.
• Fold the dough in half (from right to left or vice versa) once more.
• Starting in the center, roll the dough out into a long, thin rectangle, about 8-inches by 22-inches. If the dough springs back when rolling, let it rest for 5-10 minutes to let the gluten relax and roll again.
• Sprinkle about 2/3 of the chocolate over the dough all the way to the edges. Press chocolate lightly into the dough.
• Fold one short edge of the long rectangle into the center over the chocolate. Repeat with the other short edge so they meet in the middle. Sprinkle remaining chocolate on bottom half of the dough, pressing the chocolate lightly into the dough.
• Fold the dough in half over the chocolate (from one of the short sides).
• Let the dough rest for 2-3 minutes. Prepare two half sheet pans by lining with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (400 degrees F for a darker crust).
• Roll into a 12-inch or 13-inch square. If the dough springs back when rolling, let it rest for 5-10 minutes to let the gluten relax and roll again. Cut the square into four strips.
• Take each strip, twist it 3-4 times and place on the prepared sheet pans (two strips per sheet pan, spaced several inches apart).
• Cover and let rise until noticeably puffy (the dough can rise in the refrigerator overnight or for several hours - when taking out of the refrigerator, if it hasn't risen enough, let it come to room temp and continue rising until nearly doubled). You don't want to let these loaves rise in an overly warm spot or the butter will melt before it hits the oven and you won't get the flaky, buttery layers.
• Bake the loaves until nicely golden, 20-22 minutes.
• Immediately out of the oven, use a pastry brush to brush any leaked butter on the sheet pan over the top of the loaves.
• Serve warm or at room temperature. Bread can be sliced or torn into pieces.

NOTES

Flour: the exact amount of flour will depend on a lot of factors, mostly how you measure the flour. If you aren't using a kitchen scale, gently fluff the flour, scoop and then level. You may need a bit more flour if the dough is too sticky; it's totally fine to continue adding flour a little bit at a time until a soft, slightly sticky dough is formed that clears the sides of the bowl. I have not tried this recipe with whole wheat flour. 

Chocolate: good quality chocolate is key here for taste and meltability. I use Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips and coarsely chop them, but other chocolate chips (especially other brands like nestle or generic brands) won't melt/work as well as Ghiradelli or Guittard. A coarsely chopped high quality bar of chocolate would work well, too.

Helpful Tip: to ensure the butter doesn't get too soft or squeeze out of the dough when folding and rolling, make sure to work quickly and effectively once you start folding and rolling. Use quick, sure motions with the rolling pin and don't over work the dough. Also, make sure you aren't stretching the dough when folding it over. This could create super thin layers of dough that tear easily or cause the butter to peek through when rolling. 

Homemade Bagels

 

Homemade Bagels Recipe

★★★★★4.9 from 426 reviews

• Author: Sally
 
• Prep Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
 
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
 
• Total Time: 3 hours
 
• Yield: 8 bagels

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Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) warm water (between 100-110°F, 38-43°C)
• 2 and 3/4 teaspoons instant or active dry yeast*
• 4 cups (520g) bread flour (spoon & leveled), plus more for work surface and hands*
• 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar or packed light or dark brown sugar (or barley malt syrup)*
• 2 teaspoons salt
• coating the bowl: nonstick spray or 2 teaspoons olive oil
• egg wash: 1 egg white beaten with 1 Tablespoon water

For Boiling

• 2 quarts water
• 1/4 cup (60g) honey (or barley malt syrup)*

---

Instructions

1. Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm water and yeast together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
2. Add the flour, brown sugar, and salt. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes. The dough is very stiff and will look somewhat dry.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. With lightly floured hands, knead the dough for 4-5 minutes. The dough is too heavy for the mixer to knead it!
4. Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel.  Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 60-90 minutes or until double in size.
5. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
6. Shape the bagels: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release any air bubbles. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. (Just eyeball it– doesn’t need to be perfect!) Shape each piece into a ball. Press your index finger through the center of each ball to make a hole about 1.5 – 2 inches in diameter. Watch video below for a visual. Loosely cover the shaped bagels with kitchen towel and rest for a few minutes as you prepare the water bath.
7. Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).
8. Water bath: Fill a large, wide pot with 2 quarts of water. Whisk in the honey. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-high. Drop bagels in, 2-4 at a time, making sure they have enough room to float around. Cook the bagels for 1 minute on each side.
9. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash on top and around the sides of each bagel. Place 4 bagels onto each lined baking sheet.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. You want the bagels to be a dark golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow bagels to cool on the baking sheets for 20 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
11. Slice, toast, top, whatever you want! Cover leftover bagels tightly and store at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Notes

1. Overnight Make Ahead Instructions: Prepare the dough through step 4, but allow the dough to rise overnight in the refrigerator instead of at room temperature for 60-90 minutes. The slow rise gives the bagels wonderful flavor! In the morning, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let the dough rise for 45 minutes at room temperature. Continue with step 5. I don’t recommend shaping the bagels the night before as they may puff up too much overnight.
2. Freezing Make Ahead Instructions: Baked bagels freeze wonderfully! Freeze them for up to 3 months, thaw overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature, then warm to your liking. You can also freeze the bagel dough. After punching down the dough in step 6, wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then punch the dough down again to release any air bubbles. Continue with the rest of step 6.
3. Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer | Baking Sheets | Parchment Paper or Silicone Baking Mats | Large Pot (such as a large 5.5 quart dutch oven) | Pastry Brush
4. Yeast: Use instant or active dry yeast. If using active dry yeast, the rise time may be up to 2 hours. 1 standard packet is about 2 and 1/4 teaspoons, so you will need a little more than 1 packet of yeast. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
5. Bread Flour: Bagels require a high protein flour. Bread flour is a must. Here are all my recipes using bread flour if you want more recipes to use it up. All-purpose flour can be used in a pinch, but the bagels will taste flimsy and won’t be nearly as chewy.
6. Barley Malt Syrup: This ingredient can be a little hard to find, but truly gives bagels that traditional malty flavor we all know and love. Most natural food stores carry it. I offer alternatives such as brown sugar in the dough and honey in the water bath; I’ve made bagels with these alternatives AND with barley malt syrup and honestly love both versions.
7. Bread Machine: Place the dough ingredients into the pan of the machine. Program the machine to dough or manual, then start. After 9-10 minutes, the dough will be quite stiff. Allow the machine to complete its cycle, then continue with the recipe.
8. By Hand: If you do not have a mixer, you can mix the dough together in a large bowl then knead by hand for 10-15 minutes.
9. Bagel Varieties: See blog post above for various add-ins and toppings. Note that the toppings are added after the egg wash in step 9. Some readers have used this bagel recipe to make whole wheat bagels by replacing half of the bread flour with whole wheat flour. I haven’t tried it, but let me know if you do!
10. Halve or Double: You can halve this dough recipe by simply halving all of the dough ingredients (do not halve the water or honey for the boiling step). No changes to the recipe instructions. For best taste and texture and to not overwhelm your mixer with excess heavy dough, I do not recommend doubling this dough recipe. Instead, make separate batches of dough.
11. Adapted from a mix of recipes I’ve tried: King Arthur Flour, Cook’s Illustrated, and Complete Book of Breads

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast I like SAF brand
2 cups warm water
1/3 cup honey
4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour approx

(can omit 1/2 C flour for 1/2 C oats)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1. Combine yeast, water and honey in the bowl of a stand mixer; let sit for 5 minutes or until frothy and bubbly.
2. Place the paddle attachment on the mixer, if using a stand mixer.
3. Add 3 cups of flour, mix. Add salt and another cup of flour, mix until combined.
4. At this point you should have added a total of four cups of flour. The recipe may take a little less, or a little more, depending on climate.
5. The dough should barely pull away from the sides of the bowl when it has the proper amount of flour added. Using the dough hook, knead for 4 minutes on low. Cover dough and let rise in a warm, draft free place until doubled.
6. After the first rise, punch down dough with floured or greased hands, shape and place in a greased loaf pan.
7. Let rise again until doubled.
8. Preheat oven to 350, set rack in middle of oven.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove bread from oven.
10. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove loaf and cool completely.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Mel's Kitchen Cafe

3 C all purpose flour
1 C granulated sugar
2 TBS poppyseeds
1 TBS baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 C plain Greek yogurt (or buttermilk)
2 TBS lemon juice
1 1/2 TBS freshly grated lemon zest
2 large eggs
1 stick butter, melted and cooled until no longer hot

Glaze
1/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C fresh lemon juice
Coarse sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease two 12 cup muffin tins or line with muffin liners. If you only have one pan, you can easily bake in separate batches. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking power, baking soda, and salt.

In another bowl or large liquid measuring cup, whisk together the yogurt/buttermilk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and eggs.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together once or twice to start combining (stop stirring before it's fully combined; it's okay if there are dry streaks remaining). Add the melted butter and gently fold/stir until just combined. Don't overmix or the muffins might be dry and tough!

Fill the muffin cups about 2/3 of the way full.

Bake for 17-20 minutes until the top springs back lightly to the touch.

For the glaze, while the muffins bake, simmer the sugar and lemon juice together in a small pan on the stove, for about 5 minutes until the mixture is thickened into a light syrup. Remove from the heat.

Pretty quickly after the muffins come out of the oven (within 2-3 minutes), keeping the muffins in the tin, brush the top of the muffins equally with the lemon syrup. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Let the muffins cool another minute or two in the muffin tin before removing the wire rack to cool completely.