I love me a good biscuit recipe, however I don’t enjoy the “cutting in the butter” part of making them fresh. I love this simplicity of this recipe and honestly the flavor is out of this world!
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Bread
Homemade Pretzel Bread
Pretzel bread has always been one of my favorite breads to eat as I love the sweetness from the dough and the saltiness from the crust. Many years ago a friend had given me a no fail recipe for pretzel bread, when she gave it to me she made me promise to never share the recipe. I always respect someone when they ask me not to share a recipe and have never done so.
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St. Patrick’s Day Meal Suggestions
I was not raised celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and this year I will not be around to make a dinner so I wanted to remind you about this old post of mine for St. Patrick’s day for Irish Soda Bread…I do love the recipe. I am not familiar with other recipes for Irish Soda Bread but my recipe has zest of orange to help sweeten the bread and it does not have yeast.
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Gluten Free Coconut Scones
“Gluten Free” seems to be the trend these days as I know of so many friends that have issues with gluten and needed to change their eating habits to avoid gluten foods altogether.
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Focaccia Bread from “Born and Bread”
It is amazing what social media can do for a business or a friendship in todays day and age. I have a twitter account where I post about my food and photos of restaurants that I have visited. Through my twitter account I met Robert Swift who owns an amazing bakery “Swift Bakery” in Ludlow, England. Believe it or not, I created a friendship all the way from England and I am so humbled and grateful as Robert has been such a kind twitter friend, always checking in with me and of course he favorites my tweets :).
While I have not yet visited Swift Bakery, I can see the passion that Robert has from his posts…every tweet he posts I want to eat…his photos look amazing! When Robert posted that he wrote a book on baking bread, “Born & Bread” (cute title), I knew I had to get a copy and boy was I glad I did. In reading the book I have learned many things about bread, all about glutens, the “water method” and traditional bread making. There are so many recipes in his book that I would love to make and share with my bloggers, so I thought I’d start out with a simple recipe and made focaccia bread. I had most of the ingredients needed for the focaccia recipe except for the “00” flour, I also have a scale at home so I was able to use that to measure the ingredients, in England they use the metric system. I did measure out the ingredients to cups and teaspoons but if you have a scale, I would recommend using that and following his recipe and just know I did my best to convert the recipe.
There is nothing complex about this recipe, all you need is time as Robert allows the dough to rest 3 times, resting the dough allows the gluten to form. For Robert’s recipe I would have needed 5 hours of resting time and because I don’t have that kind of time, I changed the recipe a little to accommodate my schedule, outside of that, I followed the recipe 100%.
I added the water and yeast together
I added the flour and mixed until it was all incorporated, this is a wet starter
I covered it and let it rest for 1 1/2 hours at room temperature
I added the durum flour, salt water and olive oil, I mixed it until the dough was still sticky and pulled away from the sides.
I placed the dough on a floured work bench and kneaded it for about 3-5 minutes. I then placed a little oil in a plastic bag
put the dough inside and placed it in my refrigerator
I removed the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit in the plastic bag for about 20-30 minutes. Then I pressed the dough onto a baking pan that was lightly oiled and stretched the dough out to all the corners, until the surface of the pan was covered, I let it rise for about 30 minutes.
Using my finger tips I pressed down leaving dimples and added some of my favorite toppings.
Baked it in my oven at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes
I have to thank Robert from Swift Bakery for this amazing bread recipe as it came out amazing! While I may not have had all the proper ingredients or time, I made it work and so can you!!!! I tried to measure out the ingredients to cups and teaspoons but if you have a scale, I would encourage you to use the scale and follow the recipe as was written for ingredients.
Robert, I hope you do not mind that I changed the method of how to make this focaccia bread. It was delicious Robert and I thank you for sharing your recipe with the world, much success to you and your family!!!!
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Thank you for visiting my site and I hope you enjoy this recipe. I do love comments so please feel free to leave me your comment or suggestion. If you would like to be kept up to date with all my new recipes, I only post twice a week, please subscribe in the box listed on the top of the page “Subscribe Via Email”. You will be emailed with a link to confirm you are interested in the subscription so be sure to click on that link too.
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Thank you again ~ Patty Limatola-Tanenbaum
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Ingredients
- 200g (3/4 cup) "00" Flour, I used all purpose
- 150ml (2/3 cup) water, tepid
- 1.5g 3(3/4 teaspoon) Yeast
- 100g (3/4 cup) Durum Semolina Flour
- 5g (1/8 teaspoon) Sea Salt
- 20ml (1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) Water
- 15ml (1 tablespoon) Olive Oil plus more
- Sun Dried Tomatoes
- Tomatoes
- Rosemary
- Onions
- Oil and Salt Flakes
Directions
- Combine the flour, water and yeast in a large bowl, mix well. This is a very wet mix, cover and let it rise for 1 1/2 hours.
- Place the remaining ingredients in the bowl and mix until all the ingredients are incorporated. Place some flour on a table and empty the dough on the flour and knead until a "gluten window" is visible.
- Place dough in lightly oiled zip lock 1 gallon bag, press any air out of bag and seal. Place in fridge overnight.
- The next day, let the dough (still in the bag) sit out for 20 minutes. Lightly oil a baking sheet pan with olive oil. Press dough onto surface stretching a little more in each direction until surface of pan is covered. Cover with plastic wrap and put in warm spot for 2nd rise 30-40 minutes.
- Lightly oil the surface and sprinkle toppings of choice.
- Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15-18 minutes. Enjoy!
Irish Soda Bread…perfect for Saint (St.) Patrick’s Day
I’m reposting this one as it’s a great recipe for St. Patricks Day…
Saint (St.) Patrick’s Day was never a big holiday in my Italian household but it was always a great day for me because of my mom. My mom had always made St. Patrick’s Day special for me because I was her only child without an Italian name. To make me feel special, my mom would always buy me a little something or do something special on St. Patrick’s day to make up for it so while it was not about the food and what was being made it was about how she made me feel important.
I don’t tend to do a lot of Irish cooking, although I can cook just about anything, I just don’t tend to gravitate to Irish food, even for the holiday. I decided that I would revisit an old recipe I had for Irish soda bread and so I found this on from my collection.
I’m unsure of more traditional recipes or if this is the traditional recipe but I will tell you that I love this recipe, maybe it’s the orange zest which brings in the Italian feeling or the currants that make it a little sweet but not overly sweet, or maybe it’s just such a simple recipe that I love that I can whip it up and serve it to impress my friends…nonetheless, it’s a great recipe to try at least once in your life as it’s a no fail recipe for bread that doesn’t use yeast.
I didn’t have buttermilk at home so I made my own, you have to use 1% or higher for your milk and for every cup you add 1 tablespoon lemon or distilled vinegar, I did almost 2 tablespoons, here is my before
then after 5 minutes with the vinegar it looks like this, kind of gross but it works
you add your flour, sugar and baking soda in a bowl
cut up your butter into cubes
add it to your flour
mix until you have small bits and pieces of the buter
to your milk add the orange zest and lightly beaten egg
add your milk to your flour and mix well
add your currants and mix well
dump your mixture onto a floured counter, here is the before
knead for about 3 minutes…here is your after
place on a prepared baking sheet with parchment paper and cut a “cross” with a knife
baked for 45-55 minutes or until done
Let it cool slightly before cutting
I couldn’t wait to cut into this bread and I’m glad I couldn’t it was amazing! I’d say give it a try as it’s not a difficult recipe and it’s always impressive to make your own bread. I would not substitute the currants or orange zest.
Thank you for visiting my site and I hope you enjoy this recipe. I do love comments so please feel free to leave me your comment or suggestion. If you would like to be kept up to date with all my new recipes, I only post twice a week, please subscribe in the box listed on the top of the page “Subscribe Via Email”. You will be emailed with a link to confirm you are interested in the subscription so be sure to click on that link too.
Thank you again ~ Patty Limatola-Tanenbaum
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Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch dice
- 1 3/4 cups cold buttermilk, shaken
- 1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
- 1 cup dried currants
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the butter is mixed into the flour.
- With a fork, lightly beat the buttermilk, egg, and orange zest together in a measuring cup. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture. Add the currants and mix into the dough. It will be very wet.
- Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and knead it a few times into a round loaf. Place the loaf on the prepared sheet pan and lightly cut an X into the top of the bread with a serrated knife. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. When you tap the loaf, it will have a hollow sound.
- Cool on a baking rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Amazing Lemon, Blueberry and Walnut Cake (bread)
OMG…I think I died and went to heaven with this recipe…This recipe for lemon blueberry came from my friend Patricia!
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Bran Muffins with Almonds
I know it doesn’t sound so exciting…”bran muffins”, right? Why would Patty be doing a post on bran muffins? Here is my answer, I think bran muffins have the short end of the stick, while most people associate bran with having benefits for your digestive system, I simply think bran muffins taste really good and there is something about eating and enjoying a good bran muffin that satisfies my sweet tooth.
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Pull Apart Garlic Bread Recipe
So silly me decided to create a new recipe for pull apart garlic bread and I did it live on youtube what was I thinking??? If only you saw my outtakes it was quite funny from the video on garlic bread. And let me tell you, I think I’m going to do even more of my recipes that way, I figure why not challenge myself even more.
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Best and Easiest Homemade English Muffins
Have you ever tried making homemade english muffins? Until today, it never dawned on me to try them but I am so happy I did as they are so easy to make and tastes so much better than store bought!
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