Studio of Good Living Blog

Buckwheat and Date Scones

under: Bread

I have this thing about ‘healthy’ pastries for breakfast.  Vegan, low fat, whole grain Chocolate chip muffins? Oh yes.  I’ll take my croissants with whole wheat flour, thank you very much.   And don’t even think about touching my flax seed enhanced, bee pollen sprinkled brown sugar coffee cake.   I want whole grain flours, dark sugars and fruit purees.  That’s one of the reasons I am so entranced with ‘Good to the Grain’ by Kim Boyce.  I know that I have talked about it before and this book is definitely one of the ‘it’ cooking books of the summer if not the year.

I loved the look of the Figgy Buckwheat Spiral scones that she has pictured on page 81.    With no figs in the pantry I quickly turned my attention to the medjool dates I had just purchased and decided to make Buckwheat-Date scones instead.  They were really good.  Quite awesome, in fact.

I hope that you enjoy these as part of your own healthy breakfast!  (you can add 2 Tbsp. of ground flax seeds to the date puree if that makes you feel better….)

Date Puree with Vanilla and Orange Zest

1 cup Medjool dates, pitted

½ cup water or orange juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. orange zest

In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the dates and water.  Bring to a simmer and cook the dates until they are soft, about 10 minutes for fresh dates and 15-20 minutes for dried dates.   Puree the softened dates and add the vanilla and orange zest at this time.  Set aside to cool.

Buckwheat Scones “Good to the Grain” by Kim Boyce with Amy Scattergood

Dry Mix

1 cup buckwheat flour

1 ¼ cups all purpose flour

½ cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

Combine in a food processor

Wet Mix

8 Tbsp. (1 stick) of cold butter cut into small pieces

1 ¼ cups heavy cream

1 cup Date Puree

Sprinkle the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients in the food processor.  Pulse the butter into the dry ingredients.  It should have a sandy, granular texture. Transfer the butter mixture to a bowl.  Pour the cream over the butter-flour mixture and gently mix until just combined.

Transfer the dough to a well floured surface—the dough will be sticky.  Using a rolling pin or your own well floured hands pat or roll the dough into a rectangle that is about ¾” thick, 16” long and 8” wide.   Spread the date puree over the dough. Roll the long side of the dough up and land seam side down.   Cut the log in half, you should have (2) 8” long logs.   Place the logs on a plate or cookie sheet and chill, covered for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F

Remove the logs from the fridge and cut into 1 ¼” rounds.  Place the rounds cut side down onto parchment or a silpat lined baking sheet.  You may give the scones a squeeze to shape them into rounds.   Bake for 35 minutes or so, rotating the cookie sheet half way through.  The scones are ready to come out when the underside is golden brown.

Bon Appétit!

Feta, Roasted Pepper and Basil Muffins

under: Bread

Feta, Roasted Pepper and Basil Muffins

I’m really lucky, in the food department, I know.  My assistant works with me on Tuesday afternoon specifically testing and developing new recipes.  Right now we are in the midst of testing freezer-friendly recipes that are all organic, natural and healthy.  I don’t always have the time to cook dinner and I really would prefer not to purchase frozen food or order takeout—again.  It’s a lot of fun and it’s a lot of work.  Tuesday afternoon is definitely the best smelling afternoon at my house.  In addition to our freezer experiment we’ll make a few meals for my mom, some food for Lily, and one recipe just because it sounds interesting.  That’s where these muffins came in. Not only were they pretty to look at, but they tasted good too.  Mmm…my favorite kind of food.  It looks good and it tastes good.    They would make a great addition to a bread basket for the dinner table or you could even have them for breakfast— with some scrambled eggs or an omelet perhaps?

Feta, Roasted Pepper and Basil Muffins

From The Art and Soul of Baking by Sur La Table and Cindy Mushet

1 dozen Muffins

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

¾ cup (3oz) crumbled Feta cheese

½ cup jarred roasted red pepper, patted dry and finely chopped

3 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh basil

1 cup butter milk

¼ cup olive oil

1 egg

  1. Preheat the oven to 375F and grease a muffin tin with melted butter or high heat canola oil spray.
  2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in the large mixing bowl.  Set aside.
  3. In a medium bow, stir together the feta cheese, roasted bell pepper and chopped basil. Set aside.
  4. Pour the buttermilk into the measuring cup.  Add the olive oil and egg.  Whisk together until well blended.
  5. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the well and stir gently with a spatula.
  6. Gently fold in the feta cheese mixture until evenly distributed in the batter.
  7. Using an ice cream scoop or 2 soup spoons divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
  8. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until the tops feel firm and a skewer inserted into the centers comes out clean.  Transfer the muffin tin to a rack and let cool for 5 minutes.
  9. Enjoy!  You can store the muffins in a plastic bag for up to 2 days.  Reheat wrapped in foil in a 325F oven for 8 minutes or so.
  10. Yes, these muffins do freeze well. They may be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and placed in a resealable plastic bag in the freezer for up to 1 month.  Thaw, still wrapped for 30 minutes before reheating.
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Wild Rice, Cranberry and Pecan Bread

under: Bread

As soon as I saw this recipe I knew that I had to make it.  It has three ingredients that I love, it was cold and rainy in San Francisco and I had just enough wild rice and pecans in my pantry to make it.  This recipe is perfect for the Holidays and everyday in between. It is  slightly heavy, chewy from the wild rice, nutty and rich from the pecans and slightly sweetish from the dried cranberries (you could substitute dried cherries or raspberries) nuanced gently with honey and some whole wheat flour.  The whole thing just shouts ‘Yum!’.  And you know, there are some days that are just bread baking days.  The days that you want to spend next to the stove mixing and kneading –pouring your heart and energy into want you are making.

Here is the recipe—I tweaked in gently.  Although this calls for 2 9-inch loaves, I made one smallish 9 inch and 2 mini loaves to give away.

Wild Rice, Cranberry and Pecan Bread

Adapted from Beatrice Ojakangas ‘The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever’

1 cup of wild rice

1 ½ cups pecans

2 cups warm water

1 pkg active dry yeast, 2 ½ teaspoons

¼ cup honey

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons salt

4 cups bread flour (I used all purpose, and it worked out just fine. )

1 cup dried cranberries, cherries or raspberries

  1. In a large pot, cover the wild rice with water and bring to a boil.  Cook over moderate heat until tender.  This is really important.  You don’t want hard, jaw breaking bits of undercooked wild rice floating through the loaf.  My wild rice was old and took over an hour to cook.  I kept adding water to cover when it started to dry out.  When the rice is tender, drain and set aside.
  2. Toast the pecans in a 350F oven until they are fragrant.  Set aside and when they are cool, coarsely chop.
  3. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle, mix the warm water with the yeast and honey until the honey is dissolved.  Let stand for 5 minutes, until bubbly.  In a small bowl, mix the whole wheat flour with the salt: add to the mixer and beat until a smooth dough forms.   Mix in 2 cups of the bread flour until smooth.  Add the wild rice, pecans and cranberries and mix until incorporated. Switch to the dough hook.  Add the remaining 2 cups of bread flour and mix at medium speed until a soft, springy dough forms, about 10 minutes.  Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place until doubled in volume, about an hour. (At this point I punched the dough down and put it in the fridge to coo k the following day and it worked out perfectly.)
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  4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled surface and divide it into either 2 large loaves or 2 minis and 1 large. Place each loaf in the appropriate loaf pan. Cover and let stand until doubled in volume, about 45 minutes.
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  5. Preheat the oven to 375F.  Bake the larger loaves for about 35 minutes, until a wooden skewer inserted in the center of each loaf comes out clean.  The smaller loaves cook in about 25 minutes. Let the loaves stand until cooled slightly, about 30 minutes.

The recipe also says that the bread can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 1 month.

Good Luck and Happy Baking!

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