Baker, baker make me a cake...or some bread!

Just a quick foodie post to add to the pile - o - posting I am doing tonight.  I have made a few fun new recipes in the last few weeks.  And last week I started actually sitting down, writing out supper plans for each night, reviewing the list and seeing what ingredients I needed to go to the store for.  Last week worked like a charm  - there were no hostile stares at Ryan asking, well what do YOU want for supper...just got home, opened the crock pot or got out the frying pan and got to work.  While I realize this is not a revolutionary idea it really did help our week run more smoothly. 

While ironically, neither of these items were on the menu last week I can't stop thinking about them.  One, because I think I am a bread fanatic and two, because I told my dearest friend Alice that I would share the scone recipe with her and this is the venue I am finally remembering to do so on :) 

Recipe #1 - Classic Scones from the Joy of Cooking.  Couple of early notes, I have made these in a large quantity and frozen them to later reheat, they can become a bit of a dried out biscuit but I think the key is reheating for a short amount of time and either schmearing with jam or dunking in coffee.  I know I'm like a freakin' marvel of cooking wisdom today :)  However, I made these for friend Alice one morning prior to going garage sailing for the day and they were reheated in the oven for about 15 minutes at 350 then drizzled with jam and they were fantastic!  Also, when you are forming the disk to cut, it's going to look like a mess. Just know that ahead of time.  Don't beat yourself up, but if yours DON'T look like a mess than congratulations, perhaps you can get segment on The Chew :)

Classic Scones

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Sift together in a large bowl:
1 3/4 C all purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp baking POWDER (I frequently get powder and soda confused so I like to dramatically differentiate)
1/4 C sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Cut in using a pastry blender or 2 knives until the size of small peas:

1/4 C (1/2 stick) cold butter

Beat in a small bowl:
2 Large eggs

Reserve 2 T of the eggs and beat into the remaining eggs 1/3 cup heavy cream.

Make a well in the dry ingredients.  Pour in the liquid and combine with a few swift strokes.  Hand the dough as little as possible.  Turn it out onto a lightly floured board.  Pat into a 3/4 inch thick circle.  Cut into 8 or 12 wedges.  Place on ungreased baking sheet.  Brush with remaining egg and sprinkle with salt or sugar.  Bake until golden about 15 minutes.

Side notes, I typically add something to the dough because frankly it seems really boring to have a plain scone.  I like to fold in cranberries, blueberries or chocolate chips.  Also, after they come out of the oven serving with a side of jam is just delish.

Recipe #2  Artisan Bread.  I really shouldn't have access to this good and easy of bread at all times.  I actually should probably burn the recipe after this because I can tell you with a pretty high degree of certainty that I will make it more than I should.  But it's so darn easy and awesome.  A few weeks ago Barb and Alice both went to a ladies retreat and raved about the bread they were taught to make and lucky for me they both love me enough to share :)

Artisan Bread - Makes about four 1 lb loaves
3 C lukewarm water
1 1/2 T granulated yeast
1 1/2 T kosher salt (I used 1 T of table salt in place)
6 1/2 C unbleached All-Purpose white flour

1) Mix ingredients
2) Let rise for 2 hours (aka go get lost on Pinterest or take a nap)
3) Either pull off a grapefruit sized hunk to make or sore in Fridge for later use.  Seriously.  That easy folks.

 When you want to bake it:
1) Shape and cloak with flour
3) Let rise 20 minutes in a warm kitchen, or if you live with Ryan Thomas, in a kitchen that you are cooking in and the residual heat will help it rise in about 40 minutes (love you Honey)
4) Heat oven to 450 for 20 minutes with a baking stone and a pan of water
5) Transfer bread to stone and bake with steam for 30 minutes.

So good.  So simple.  As life should be :)