simple french bread

Have I ever mentioned before how my friends and I love to bake?  Well, allow me to reiterate.  During my senior year at college, I had the pleasure of coming home to freshly baked bread approximately once every two weeks.  It was our love of baking fate that brought Katie, Amanda, and I together.  Although we were masters of beer pong and stayed up until 4 AM on school nights watching Sex and the City more times than we can ever begin to count, our inner housewives creeped out every once in a while.  Or at least Amanda's.

So naturally, when Amanda came to visit, I ordered her to bake bread while she stayed with me.  Now that we're super responsible and mature adults, we got up at 7 AM to bake this bread.  (The real reason why we were up that early is totally negates my previous statement beside the point, but that's neither here nor there.)  Regardless, it was finally my time to learn Amanda's secrets.  I was astounded at how simple this bread comes together.  Believe me, if it turned out like this on my first try, I think you can do it, too.  And you should.  It makes incredible toast, awesome with a sharp cheddar and soft pinot (we had a Garnacha), or even just good for snacking.  This bread is simple, yet intriguing. Delicate, yet dense.  Salty, yet...well, not too salty.  Crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.  Perfect.  Yes, that's the word.

Simple French Bread

adapted from Amanda Jelinek

1 package active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3 cups flour (approximately)

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in 3/4 cup of the warm water by adding water slowly and letting sit for 5 minutes. Once bubbles have formed, slowly and gently stir to ensure that yeast is completely dissolved.
2. In a large bowl, combine other 3/4 cup of water, sugar, salt, and olive oil.  Add dissolved yeast mixture slowly and stir just to combine.
3. Begin adding flour, one cup at a time, mixing each cup with 3-4 long strokes.  Once dough is sticky yet somewhat crumbly, cover with a towel and let dough rest.
4. After ten minutes, knead dough with damp hands by gently folding dough into itself 2-3 times.  
5. Repeat four more times for a total of five kneads.  By the fifth and final knead, dough should be about double the size of what it was at the beginning.  If it isn't, let it rest for 10 more minutes.
6. Form dough into boule, demi-loaf, or baguettes according to your preference, but careful not to over-handle.  Score bread with a sharp knife in four diagonal cuts (baguette), criss-cross (boule), or one longitudinal cut (demi loaf).  
7. Lightly sprinkle sea salt over tops of bread.  
8. Place on olive-oil lined baking sheets and bake for 25-30 minutes, until top is golden brown and sounds hollow when struck with the blunt edge of a knife.
9. Remove from oven and, if desired, rub with cold butter, allowing butter to melt over warm bread.

maple oatmeal walnut scones

Grant me a little grievance here with this one, friends. I have to admit that my love of scones came from none other than Starbucks.  Yes, I know, how westernized-consumer-tastic of me.  But do I get extra points for telling you that love was only deepened once I realized that, to my surprise, I had a scone genuis right in my own family?  My Gramma makes some of the best scones I've ever had!  Every now and then my dad would come home with a bag of scones from her, laden with currant scones, cinnamon chip (amazing!), blueberry (my fave, obvi), cherry (oh, wait, that's my fave...) and so many more.  These. things. are. incredible.

So this Thanksgiving when I was home for a week, I made it a point to take my sister and Aidan over to Gramma's for some quality time.  She even had scones at the ready for me when we got there!  She knows her granddaughter well.  So, like a true foodie, I asked my gramma if I could look in her recipe box.  Two hours later, I found myself with three pages of scrap paper filled with as many scribbled recipes as I could cram in.  This recipe was the first one I searched for, and I can assure you, this won't be the last recipe you'll see from Gramma McGregor. 

Like I've said before, I think a scone and a latte would probably be my last meal.  I just love how dense and flavorful they can be, and how well they go with any type of coffee.  Not to mention the infinite possibilities for mix-ins.  So, even though my favorite scone is likely blueberry or cherry (look for some of these soon), I've been itching to use some of the maple syrup that my dad sent me a while ago.  And there you have it: maple oatmeal walnut scones.

I was surprised at how well these turned out for my first batch, considering how I used my Gramma's recipe as a base and modified it from there.  Next time I'll definitely add more walnuts and more maple syrup, since I opted for the more conservative side of measuring for experimentation's sake.  But I love how they crack and rise as they bake, and have a somewhat hard exterior and crumbly inside.  Try these with a latte or even a rich, deep coffee like a Jamaican Blue Mountain from Burman Coffee.  There's really no better breakfast treat!

Maple Oatmeal Walnut Scones

Based on my wonderful Gramma McGregor’s recipe 
 
2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup oatmeal
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1-tbsp pieces
1 egg
2/3 cup buttermilk [I used skim, but use buttermilk if you can.]
½ cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup maple syrup

Maple Drizzle:

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large mixing bowl. 
3. Add butter pieces to flour mixture and incorporate until crumbly. Sprinkle sugar on top, not mixing together. 
4. Beat egg and buttermilk in small bowl and pour over flour/sugar mixture. 
5. Carefully mix milk and egg mixture into dry ingredients with a fork, scraping from bottom to top in large swift sweeps. 
6. When dough is about half-mixed, add maple syrup and walnuts. Continue to mix until all flour is incorporated, but no further.
7. Form dough into a rectangular loaf and cut into 8 triangular pieces. Sprinkle sugar on top before baking. Place each triangle on a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes.
8. Once scones have cooled, mix maple syrup, vanilla, and powdered sugar in a small bowl and drizzle over top of scones.

brown butter peanut butter cookies

Ever since this little experiment, I have a problem. No, not that I decided not to bake with chocolate chips anymore. Nor do I let the butter in my fridge talk me into anything anymore. I am obsessed with browning butter. Yes, you heard me. Browning butter. (I also get an odd amount of joy from creaming butter by hand, so it's really a win-win no matter which route I choose.)  But browning butter? It's wildly convenient. It's fun to do. Oh yeah, and it makes some uniquely delicious baked goods. 

Naturally, then, when a friend asks for peanut butter cookies, I invent a recipe that uses brown butter. Maybe I have too much pride, but I feel like anything can use brown butter (at least, it won't hurt to try it...well, maybe on second thought, it might hurt your waistline.) Regardless, I was pretty pleased with the outcome of this recipe.

The cookies came out moist, and with a great nutty flavor. What better combination than the nutty flavor from the browned butter and actual peanut butter? I read a few recipes/blogs that said that natural peanut butter (we all know the devil on my shoulder is Natural Jif) is bad to bake with, but I think Natural Jif is a safe choice. It's the only "natural" peanut butter that doesn't have the oil sediment on top of it, so the joke's on you, Jif. Although, I'm not complaining, because I personally find salty/oily peanut butter repulsive.


Okay, I'm getting off the topic here.  Cookies.  Right.  Make these.

Brown Butter Peanut Butter Cookies

from yours truly

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 ½ tsp baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ tsp salt

½ cup unsalted butter
½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed light brown sugar

½ teaspoon honey
¼ cup milk
1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 egg

1. In a large bowl, mix brown sugar and granulated sugar. Brown the butter in a medium saucepan and add to the sugars. Set aside and allow mixture to cool for about ten minutes.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Once butter is cooled, add peanut butter and honey and beat on medium speed just until smooth. Beat in egg. Mix in milk.
4. Add the flour mixture and mix just until dough comes together.
5. Cover and refrigerate dough for at least two hours or up to overnight.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
7. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Flatten by pressing down with a fork, while holding sides of cookie in order to maintain circular shape. Press fork into cookie again in a perpendicular angle to first indentation, forming a crosshatch pattern.
8. Bake until cookies begin to brown around edges, but centers still look somewhat doughy, about 9-10 minutes.
9. Immediately upon removing from oven, sprinkle sugar on tops of cookies and let cool on baking sheets until firm enough to handle, then transfer to a wire rack.

Makes about 40 cookies.