Category: Baking

Baking, Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

Bagels

Iris Rose

At the end of April, I had a hankering for bagels.  Not the chain store bakery ones that are really just buns with a hole in the middle but real bagels.  Slightly sticky on the crust with a real chewy middle.  Perfect for toasting and delicious for breakfast bagels, you know the kind.  Even though I bake all of our bread products, I haven’t made bagels for a very long time.

I keep a sourdough starter in my fridge that was originally given to me a few years ago by a fellow vendor at a craft sale.  It just keeps getting better and better the older that it gets.  I used this starter for my bagel’s and made the dough nice and soft so that it would stay chewy.  I can share my recipe, but you can find the same basic sourdough in most good bread books.

Here is my adventure in photos; when I reached the finish, I was really, really happy with the flavour and texture.  I will definitely make these again.

                 Rolling the dough
Shaping the bagels, man, my hands are wrinkly!
            Ready to proof
                        Boiling, boiling
Next time I will use a little egg wash to hold the seeds on.
                   Ready for the oven!
          Ah, bagels, lovely chewy bagels.
             More lovely chewy bagels.
       Ready to split and pop in the toaster.

This was an adventure that I will surely be repeating!  Have a happy week full of fun, crafting, and kindness (maybe throw in some bagel baking too).

Cooking

Soup For A Change

Iris Rose

I was going to write about a craft today but got sidetracked by soup.  We are following, and have followed for several years, a low sodium diet.  The weather turned cold here last week with the daytime highs at minus 7C or lower; today it is plus 14C, go figure.

 

Anyway, cold weather equals soup in my mind.  Using what I had on hand in the pantry and fridge, ham and bean soup sounded like it would fit the bill.  Getting back to low salt, all of the ingredients that I used are no or reduced salt but you can happily use what ever you like or what you have available.  I make my own chicken stock which is seasoned with poultry seasoning so that affects the flavour a little.

Ingredients:

Ham, 50g or 2 oz. chopped, love ham? use more

1 can mixed beans

1 can black beans

1 large can diced tomatoes

1 sweet potato peeled and chopped

¼ sweet onion diced

Handful of green beans, chopped

3 cups chicken stock

2 Tbsp flour

1 ½ Tbsp butter

½ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp dried cilantro

½ tsp black pepper

½ tsp cumin

 

Open the cans so they are ready, drain the beans.  Melt the butter in your soup pot and add the ham and onion.  Cook until the onion is limp and stir in the flour.  Pour in the liquid from the tomatoes and stir until it starts to thicken a little.  Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until it comes to a boil and is thickened a bit.  Turn down the heat and simmer until you are ready to serve.

You can use what you have; no green beans, add some frozen corn or peas or both.  No sweet potatoes, add carrots instead.  No ham, use diced bacon.  I’m sure that you get the picture.

I let my pot simmer for a couple of hours but that is not necessary as the ingredients are already cooked.  This made enough for about six large bowls of soup, another words for the two of us, leftovers to freeze.

Serve it up with some crusty sourdough or biscuits and it is like winter pig heaven!

 

Have a lovely week and remember to be kind.  You never know who is having a horrific day and you might just brighten it with a smile and kind word..

Baking

Sour Dough, Yum!

Iris Rose

I, as you may know, also love to bake and have been baking my own bread for quite some time.  Last fall I was given a sour dough starter by a fellow vendor at a craft sale and was so glad to have it when the great yeast shortage began.

I got into the habit of making sour dough bread instead of standard yeast bread for the months of March and April and just kept on going even when DD found me some yeast at a local grocer.

I follow my usual whole wheat bread recipe using the sour dough instead of bread yeast and factoring in the additional flour and water used in the build.  I always feed the starter double in the morning before I bake and then, putting away one third (one cup) for the next time, build a sponge that evening.  I use double the flour and the same amount of water that I use for feeding the starter and leave that thick sponge overnight to really get working.

I have been successfully making English muffins too and I decided that I wanted to see if I could make sour dough biscuits for a change.  After a couple of okay tries (read too much whole wheat flour for a real biscuit taste) think that I have hit the jackpot!

It is such a pleasure to make and serve your own baking.  It gives me the same satisfaction as completing a project that turns out exactly as you envisioned.  It is funny how the little homely things can mean so much in these troubling times.

Have a lovely week whatever you do and remember to be kind.

Baking

Cookies!

Iris Rose

I finally put my black cardigan together, but it is not blocked so you can’t see it yet. I finally picked up my yarn from Hobbii to finish my Twister sweater, but it is not done yet either. I feel undone!

Since I seem to be unable to present you with anything new or exciting this week, how about some cookies? These are a favourite with DH and the rest of the gang. I have been making them for ? years, too many to count.

I hope that you will make them for your family and/or friends along with coffee or tea.

 

 

Cherry Filled Cookies

Ingredients
3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
¾ cup butter, soft
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
¼ cup milk
1 can of cherry pie filling, or make a date or raisin filling if you prefer

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cream the butter in a large bowl, adding sugar gradually. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Stir the flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients in parts to the butter and egg mixture alternating with the milk until well blended. Use your hands and work lightly to form a ball.

Roll out the dough on a floured board or counter and cut with a round 2” cookie cutter. You will need two pieces for each cookie. Place half of the cookies on a parchment lined or greased baking sheet. Place three or four cherries in the centre of each cookie. Top with the remaining cookies and press the edges to seal.  Cut a small slice in the top of each cookie to vent the steam from the filling.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until lightly golden at the edges.

Enjoy them plain or ice with a little glaze, while still warm, made with icing sugar, about a cup, cream, one to two tablespoons, and vanilla. I topped some of the cookies with coconut while the glaze was still warm so that it stayed put.

Enjoy and have a great week filled with lots of fun crafting and cookies!

Baking

Ginger Chocolate Scones, Enjoy!

Iris Rose

It is time to share another of my favourite recipes, Ginger Chocolate Scones today, yummy! Put on the coffee or tea as soon as you take these lovelies out of the oven.

I love to have a bag of scones of some type or other in my freezer for those times when you need a little something with your afternoon break and veggies just won’t do it. The basic recipe for these can be changed up to make them fit your taste.  Remember to eat them the same day as you are baking them or freeze them to maintain that wonderful fresh scone flavour.  A quick minute in the oven will make them taste fresh again.

There is a little prep to be done before mixing of the dough so be prepared for that before you start.

Preheat the oven to 425F. Prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper or grease it lightly. Normally you don’t need to grease the pan for scones but the chocolate can stick when melted.  You will also need a round cutter of a knife to cut the dough and a little extra flour for the cutting board or counter.

Ingredients:

4 c flour
¾ c sugar
2 Tbsp plus 1tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp powdered ginger
1 c butter softened, most scones ask for cold but I like to use soft butter for a speedy mix
3 eggs
1/3 c 10% cream or whole milk
1 c buttermilk
1tsp vanilla
¾ c candied ginger
1 ½ c chocolate chips or pieces, I used Ghiardelli and used the whole bag.

Before you start to measure and mix your dough, chop or snip the candied ginger into little pieces and set aside. Kitchen scissors are the easiest to use. This is the prep done that I warned you about before.

Measure out the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and the powdered ginger into a large mixing bowl. Stir a little to combine everything. Break up the butter and add to the bowl. With your hands, gently rub the butter into the dry stuff until it resembles coarse crumbs. It is important that you use a light hand here and don’t over mix or your scones will be heavy and a bit tough. When the butter is mixed in, prepare your wet ingredients.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs a little, mix in the cream, buttermilk, and vanilla. Stir well to combine all of the egg into the milk.

Add the candied ginger and the chocolate to the dry/butter mix and stir gently to distribute. Make a well and pour in the wet ingredients. I like to use a table fork here and lift up the dry from the sides of the bowl toward the centre while I am turning the bowl. Just make sure that, as with the butter, you do not overmix the dough. Once you have as much liquid in with the fork as you can, use your hands and gently turn the dough over and over to mix in the remaining dry part. You might have a couple of Tbsp left in the bowl and that’s okay.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board or counter and pat it out to about ¾ inch thick. Cut the scones out with a round cutter and place them on a parchment paper covered baking sheet. You can pat the dough into a square and cut out squares or wedges with a knife if you prefer those shapes.

Put in the sheet pan into the middle of the oven and bake 15 to 20 minutes until they are golden on the top.

If ginger and/or chocolate (what’s wrong with you on the chocolate?) is not your thing, you can snip up some dates or other dried fruit and substitute. I love these made with fresh dates and also with dried apricots.  Fresh blueberries are yummy too!  Just make sure that you dry them after washing them before adding them to the dry mixture.

Have you got the coffee started? These are seriously and sinfully good for breakfast too!

I hope that you enjoy my recipe and have fun making these scones to share with friends and family. Have a happy week and stay warm for those of you in the northern part of the world.