Southern Living's Homemade Loaf Bread

This bread is perfect for luscious grilled cheese sandwiches, for dipping in olive oil or pasta sauce or for simply slathering butter and jam on. A tight crumb, thin, crunchy crust and a mild flavor lend to its versatility. Not to mention how easy and fast it is for homemade bread--no long rise times or special equipment (other than a mixer with a dough hook).

Homemade Loaf Bread from Southern Living's 'Our Test Kitchen Secrets'
 1  (1/4 oz) envelope active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1 cup warm water (100-110 deg)
2 to 3 cups bread flour
2 tblsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in bowl of a heavy-duty electric stand mixer; let stand 5 minutes.  Add 2 cups flour, oil, and salt. Beat at low speed, using dough hook attachment, 1 minute. Gradually add additional flour (up to 1 cup) until dough begins to leave the sides of the bowl and pull together, becoming soft and smooth.
2. Increase speed to medium, and beat 5 minutes. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place (85 deg), free from drafts, 30 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
3. Preheat over to 400 deg. Punch dough down, and let stand 10 minutes.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; shape dough into a 12-inch loaf, and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Cut 3 (1/4" deep) slits across top of dough with a sharp paring knife. (The slits release interior steam and prevent the loaf from splitting apart at the sides.) Spritz dough with water just until lightly coated.
5. Bake at 400 deg. for 16 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. 

Sister Schubert's Buttermilk Biscuits

My obsession with biscuits continues. I know, you're probably totally bored by now. I apologize, but I can't say when my preoccupation with biscuits is going to end.

I had heard so much about Sister Schubert's frozen, par-baked biscuits that I had to try them. Of course, they're not sold in stores in California, so when I was home over the holidays I marched myself over to the freezer case at Publix and picked me up a pack.

I really wanted them to be god awful, but they weren't. They were pretty good. Darn it. But will I ever buy them again? Nope.

Because of one evil little word. Trans-fat. Yep, the famous Alabama biscuits made by the little church lady raising money for charity contain the dreaded partially hydrogenated soybean oil.

Here's the quote off the packaging:
"Sister says, "I use no preservatives and only the finest ingredients. You can taste the difference!"

Yeah, right! Another food product trying to come off as wholesome and natural only to find it's a big fat lie. I guess they're hoping that we won't actually read the ingredients or even know what partially hydrogenated soybean oil is. What a shame.

Biscuit FAIL.

This is really embarrassing. I made this recipe 3 times.
Read this recipe, notice anything?
Overt HINT: self-rising flour. 

Mama's Mayonnaise Biscuits from Bon Appetit, Y'all by Virginia Willis

1 tblsp. canola oil, for the tin
2 cups self-rising flour (Southern)
3 tblsp mayonnaise
1 c. whole milk
1 tsp. sugar


Preheat the oven to 350 deg. Brush a 12-cup medium muffin tin with oil.

Combine the flour, mayonnaise, milk and sugar in a bowl. Using a spoon or an ice cream scoop, spoon dough into each muffin cup, filling about half full. Alternatively, drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a greased baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly, then invert the biscuits onto the rack to cool until warm. Serve warm.

In the notes for this recipe, Southern flour (White Lily or Martha White) is recommended. In order to accommodate this recommendation, I would have to order it online, but I thought I'd get all experimental-like and follow the suggestion that Virginia Willis makes for those of us who don't have easy access to Southern flour, which is to use 1 part all-purpose four and 1 part cake flour. However, I decided I'd take it up a notch and use half whole wheat flour and half cake flour. Mistake! I would absolutely not recommend using whole wheat flour for biscuits. Even if the package says it has the qualities of white flour. It really doesn't.

But that's not the half of it. From my very obvious hint that I gave you earlier, the recipe calls for self-rising flour. If you want to sub with all-purpose flour, then you have to add the baking powder and salt yourself. And here's the embarrassing part. I forgot to add the baking powder. Not once, but twice.  I made the first batch and they turned into hardened dough. I thought it was the muffin tin I was using which was stoneware, not tin, and maybe you had to preheat it? So I start over and decide to use a baking sheet instead. Exact. Same. Result. omg. It hits me. You didn't add the baking powder!?#@$!!
Lord, help me.

Still, THE THIRD ATTEMPT looked nothing like the gorgeous photo in the cookbook. And that's because I used part whole wheat flour. The biscuits were edible at least, but tasty? No. Light and flaky, definitely not. I will not be using this recipe again unless I have acquired Southern flour. Maybe I'll buy some at Publix when I'm home over Christmas.

Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

See, I told you, hardened dough.

Liqueurs, Cordials, Digestifs....

I almost forgot about them. They were the serene occupants of my kitchen counter, waiting patiently for their time to be up, letting the alcohol extrude all their fabulous fruit sugars. There was Super Sweet Strawberry, In Every Way Fall Fruit & Nut, Too Tart Olallieberry, Oh That's Not Good Pluot and Lime, and the Queen herself, A Hint of Spice Cherry Nectar, who was the oldest and the wisest.

Making liqueurs is so easy and so satisfying that for awhile there I was quite the addict. There is something so delightful about putting fruit in a jar with sugar, spices and alcohol, forgetting about it for awhile and then voila! You have this fragrant and potent cordial that will last indefinitely, that gets you tipsy with one sip, and can be the base for an array of cocktails.

As you can tell from the names of the liqueurs above, some were more successful than others. The Pluot (a cross between a plum and an apricot) was an experiment gone bad. I used what was handy, which was pluots, lime and vanilla. I know they sound like they would go well together, but take my word for it, they don't. I was disappointed that the Olallieberry didn't work out because the berries were a gift from local farmer, Alex Weiser. And because, well, they're olallieberries. It's not a berry that you hear about every day. An olallieberry is a cross between the loganberry and the youngberry, each of which is itself a cross between blackberry and another berry (raspberry and dewberry, respectively). Did you get that?

However, the Cherry turned out very well according to Jonathan (my roommate and best friend who has become a liqueur/cordial fan despite his general lack of interest in alcohol with the exception of wine). I had also bottled some up for my Thanksgiving host family (the ever-spicy Hamaoui's) for them to sample. It got rave reviews. Here's the recipe from an amazing book called "Preserving" that no one ever refers to, but really should. It's a part of the Time-Life Good Cook Series edited by Richard Olney.

Cerises á l'Eau de Vie or Cherry Nectar, adapted from Preserving.

2 lbs cherries, I believe I used Rainier cherries when they were in season. I have heard you can use whole frozen cherries, if you don't want to wait til cherry season in spring. But I would say wait til you get them fresh.
1 L brandy
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup sugar

Put the cherries in jars with cloves and cinnamon. Melt the sugar over low heat, and cook until this syrup reaches the hard-ball stage, 250 deg F on a candy thermometer. Cool the syrup slightly, then stir in the brandy. Mix well and let cool completely. Pour the syrup over the cherries. Seal the jars.

I shook the jars daily for a few maybe the first three months. Total sit time is 6 months. You can let this steep for much longer, if you prefer. When infusion is complete, strain the fruit from the alcohol. You can eat these brandy-drenched cherries, which are magnificent with vanilla ice cream.

Real Cajun's German Chocolate Cake

My method for buying cookbooks goes something like this: First I check them out at the library. Then if there at 12 or 15 pages I've marked with those page keeper sticky things, then I know I should buy the cookbook. That's what happened with Real Cajun: Rustic Home Cooking from Donald Link's Louisiana.

And the first recipe I had to try was the German Chocolate Cake. The photos totally sold me. Sugary, oozy frosting dripping all over luscious layers of dark, dark chocolate cake. I couldn't imagine how this cake couldn't be anything but decadent and mouth-watering.

But I warn you, this cake is a project, not only in terms of making the cake, but for the sheer amount of ingredients. 17 eggs! 4-1/2 sticks of butter! 3 cups of condensed milk! I guess a lot of people would say this is a special occasion kind of cake, but as a friend of mine said, 'Every day is a special occasion in Brooke's kitchen". Seriously, why wait for a special occasion? Why doesn't an ordinary day deserve a great cake? The answer is, it absolutely does. So maybe this isn't a cake you make spur of the moment on a weeknight, but on a thoughtfully planned Saturday or Sunday. Ooh how about on Saturday and then you can serve it for Sunday lunch or dinner? Just make sure each guest has easy access to at least 2 glasses of milk because they're going to need it!

I also have to say that I will be making just the cake from the recipe and leaving off the frosting, the German bit. This cake reminds me so much of my Nana's chocolate cake. Unfortunately, like so many of her amazing dishes, she didn't leave behind the recipe. I can't remember the last time I had a slice of her cake but it's impossible for me to ever forget it. I have searched for years for a recipe that comes even close to the feel and flavor of hers. We knew it had to be butter that made it good, but how much? Also this cake is just as dark as hers. I used the pricey Valrhona cocoa powder for this cake. Look at the photos, you'll see what amazing color this cocoa has. Really unbelievable stuff. However, I recommend the Ghirardelli brand for cocoa if you don't feel like a splurge.

The Great Biscuit Experiment 04: The Winner! Angel Biscuits!

*Method:
Yeast, freezing, lard and butter

Oh Lord, this biscuit is exactly what I was looking for. It does take more time to execute, but is it ever worth it! A little crunch on the outside gives way to a moist and tender interior. Light, fluffy, buttery, great for re-heating, you can add more butter or leave it as it is, you can use jam or nutella or cinnamon sugar. Whatever you like!
I found this recipe all over the web and the variety of amounts for the ingredients was all over the place, especially when it came to the amount of fat. I finally decided to go with King Arthur's version of the recipe because they provided a great step by step photo guide. They also suggested freezing the biscuits after they've had a chance to rise to let the butter and lard chill up again for extra rise. I was a little worried about putting frozen biscuits in the hot oven, but it worked like a charm.

Although, I'm fairly certain I won't find a better biscuit recipe, I am going to try another using a Southern flour to see if the softer wheat and lower gluten content does indeed live up to the biscuit-hype.

Angel Biscuits or Bride Biscuits adapted from the King Arthur website.

1/2 cup (4 ounces) lukewarm water
1 teaspoon instant yeast
2 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 tablespoons (7/8 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup (1 5/8 ounces) lard
1/4 cup (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) cold unsalted butter
1/2 cup (4 ounces) buttermilk (room temp, well-shaken)

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the warm water, yeast and 1/4 cup of the flour. Set the mixture aside for 30 minutes. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, the sugar, salt, and baking powder. Cut in the shortening and the butter, mixing until everything's rough and crumbly. Add the milk to the yeast mixture, and pour this all at once into the dry ingredients. Fold together gently until the mixture leaves the sides of the bowl and becomes cohesive. Sprinkle with an additional tablespoon of water only if necessary to make the dough hold together.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Pat it gently into an 8 x 10-inch rectangle; it'll be about 3/4-inch thick. Cut the dough into fifteen 2-inch round biscuits. Gather, re-roll and cut the scraps, if desired; the resulting biscuits will probably be a bit tougher. Place the biscuits on an ungreased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover them lightly, and allow them to rise for 1 hour, or until they've increased in size by about a third. (The biscuits may be refrigerated for several hours or overnight at this point, or frozen for later use.)

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Uncover the biscuits, and place the pan in the top third of the oven. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. The biscuits are done when golden brown on the top and bottom. Yield: about fifteen 2-inch biscuits.

The Great Biscuit Experiment 03: Using Lard, Cake Flour & the Fold-Over Method

Well, folks. I'm happy with the results of this experiment. How pretty are these? They're itty bitty biscuits, about 1 1/2" in diameter. I used the lard I made last week and I have to say, that was very, very satisfying. You don't get a pork taste at all. All you get is a lovely, layered rise! The only thing I'd change about these is the amount of sugar. They were a tad too sweet for even me, the Sweet Tooth Queen.
I think the fold-over method (patting the dough out and then folding the dough onto itself several times) is interesting, but I don't think it's necessary. I got about the same amount of rise in my first buttermilk recipe that simply called for rolling out the dough. Also, I could not perceive any difference between using Cake flour and All-Purpose flour, so save your money, and just use what you have. It would be interesting to see if there is any difference when using King Arthur Flour (widely available out here on the West Coast) and White Lily Flour, the traditional "Southern" flour. I would certainly do this experiment, but White Lily is not what it used to be after Smuckers bought them out, or so I hear.


The Lee Brothers, the authors of this recipe, give additional recipe tips for making Lemon, Herbed, and Vanilla Buttermilk Biscuits. They all sound so good! I think I'll have to do the Vanilla ones. 

Lee Bros. Bird-head Buttermilk Biscuits

- makes about sixteen 2-inch round biscuits -

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour or 2 cups sifted bleached all-purpose flour, plus more for your work surface and hands *I used King Arthur unbleached cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar *I would use less sugar next time, maybe half.

1 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into several pieces

2 tablespoons cold lard or vegetable shortening, cut into several pieces

3/4 cup cold whole or lowfat buttermilk (preferably whole)

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients thoroughly with a fork. Transfer to a food processor fitted with the chopping blade. Add the butter and lard and pulse the mixture in 2-second increments until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few pea-sized pieces, about 5 pulses. (If you don't have a food processor, cut the fats into the dry ingredients in a bowl by mashing with a fork, a whisk, or a pastry blender; it will take about 3 minutes.)

3. Transfer the mixture back to the bowl, pour the buttermilk over it, and mix with the fork for about 1 minute, until the dough just comes together. Turn the dough out onto a floured board, knead with floured fingers once or twice, and pat it into a rectangle about 6 x 10 inches and 1 inch thick.

4. Fold the rightmost third of the rectangle over the center third and fold the left third on top. Turn the dough a quarter turn, pat it into a 6-x-10-inch rectangle, and fold it upon itself in thirds again. Repeat one more time, then pat the dough into a 6-x-10-inch rectangle about 1 inch thick.

5. Using a floured 2-inch biscuit cutter (or an upside-down shot glass), cut the biscuits from the dough and place them about I'll inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the tops just begin to brown.

6. Serve the biscuits warm, with butter or eggs and bacon.