Herbed Bread Ring

Nothing says home like the smell of fresh baked bread. During the summer months when is hot even early in the morning bread baking is not something that's appealing to me, but my boys love home made bread so when they ask for it I feel bad to say no.

The herb ring bread is one of Cass's favorite breads. Needles to say that he eats half of it by himself before is even warm. He doesn't need spreads or anything else on it, he wants to keep the flavor intact. Next on his list of favorites are grissini which probably I'll be making soon. This recipe I found in a cooking book that I love, called "Baking simple to sensational" By Jean Paré.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup.............................. milk

1/2 tsp................................. granulated sugar

2 1/4 tsp.............................. active dry east

3 cups.................................. all purpose flour

3 tbsp.................................. fresh basil finely chopped

3 tbsp.................................. fresh parsley finely chopped

2 tsp.................................... fresh rosemary leaves finely chopped

1 tsp.................................... salt

1 tbsp.................................. olive oil

1/2 cup................................ all purpose flour ( approximately, for knitting the dough)

2 tsp.................................... olive oil ( for brushing)

1/2 tsp................................. coarse sea salt ( to sprinkle )

Combine milk and sugar in a small heavy pan. Heat and stir over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and the milk is very warm. Pour into a small bowl and let stand for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle east over top and let stand another 10 minutes until foamy.

In a large mixing bowl combine the next 5 ingredients ( flour, basil, parsley, rosemary, salt) add olive oil and the yeast mixture to the well ( stir the yeast mixture before adding to the well making sure that the yeast has dissolved). Mix until a soft dough has formed.

Turn onto a lightly floured surfaced.

Kneed for 8 to 10 minutes (adding the second amount of flour one tbsp at the time if needed to prevent from sticking) until smooth and elastic. At this point if you prefer you can use a stand mixer with the hook attachment, I like doing it by hand, but this is a personal preference.

Place the dough into a greased extra large mixing bowl turning once to grease top. Cover with cling wrap and tea towel. Place in a draft free place to rise for 1 hour or until double in bulk.

After 1 hour punch dough down. Turn into a lightly floured surface, divide into 2 equal portions.

Roll each into a 24 inch rope. Lay the ropes side by side, pinch ropes together at one side.

Twist ropes together around each other, pinch together at the opposite end.

Shape twisted rope into a ring, pinch the ends together to seal. Place the ring onto a greased baking sheet or line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Cover with cling wrap and tea towel and let rise for another 45 minutes or until double in size.

Preheat the oven to 425˚F.

Brush the ring with the second amount of olive oil and sprinkle with the coarse sea salt.

Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped.

Let stand on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, remove to wire rack to cool.

Great served with salad or soup.

Enjoy!

Dried Fruits and Walnut Roulade

This is a dessert that comes courtesy of my mom. She always makes this roulade when she comes to visit. She makes 7 or 8 of them and I keep them in the freezer cutting up only as much as we need.

We all love it. The fact that there is no dough, and the fruits and nuts prevail in this dessert or(energy roulade ) like my mom likes to call it makes it the perfect snack or breakfast on the go.

This is best served cold straight from the freezer. My boys call it " just like ice cream". Funny I know. But it tastes, even better.

Of course my mom made 7 roulades this time, and I had to measure everything. My mom cooks and bakes without quantities. And also I figured out the quantities need it for only one roulade. Not everybody has a family as big as mine.

Ingredients.

4 oz....................... dried mixed fruits ( apples, peaches,pears, apricots,prunes, figs) thats the combo that came in my bag, but any combination would work. Find your favorite. Deiced.

2 oz....................... dried cranberries. Deiced.

5 oz....................... dried apricots. Deiced.

6 0z...................... walnuts. Roughly deiced.

2........................... large eggs.

1/2 cup................. granulated sugar.

1/2 cup................ butter ( 1 stick, unsalted)room temperature

1............................ wafer sheet ( 18 1/2 by 11 1/2 inches) they vary in size so if yours are smaller use 2 wafers.

Start by roughly deicing the walnuts.

Deice all the mixes fruits, add the cranberries, deice the apricots. Mix them all in a large mixing bowl. Add the deiced walnuts as well.

In a heavy pot mix the sugar and eggs.

Place on the stove on the lowest heat and cook stirring continuously, until all the sugar is dissolved.

Add the dried fruits and walnuts and cook stirring continuously for about 10 minutes. Remove from the stove and let cool to room temperature.

Place the wafer sheet between damp paper towel, for 3 to 4 minutes. This will help soften the wafer sheet so it can be rolled.

When the fruit mixture has reach room temperature add the stick of butter and mix well. I find that using your hands works best for this particular mixture.

Place the wafer sheet with the smooth side up(that will ensure that the nice side will show when rolled up) on a sheet of tin foil a little larger then the wafer. Spread the dried fruit mixture using s sturdy flat spatula, leaving about 2 inches unfilled along the longest side further away from you.

Roll the wafer jelly roll style, with the help of the tin foil.

Wrap the roulade in the tin foil and place in the freezer for 2 hours.

Cut into 1 inch thick slices. Serve as dessert, snack or breakfast on the go.

Enjoy!

Note. If you use dried pineapple, the fruit mixture will be much sweeter. If you like sweet thats OK. But otherwise I don't recommend it.

Dry Cherry Cream Scones

I love scones, they are great for brunch, or for breakfast with your coffee, or even as a dessert.

Split in two, and filled with a chunky fruit preserve, delicious.

My oldest son Brandon loves the oat ones but Alex and Cass prefer the ones with dry fruit.

Usually I make both kinds at the same time so I make sure that all of them are happy.

So here are the dried cherry scones. If you don't like cherry or prefer other dry fruits feel free to substitute. Dry figs, cranberry, currant, or even dry mango would work great. Or if you are looking for a truly different experience, or a taste to impress, try adding 1/3 cup of diced crystallized ginger to the dry ingredients. So pick your favorite fruit and start baking.

Ingredients.

For the dough:

2 cups............. all-purpose flour

1/4 cup........... granulated sugar

1 tbsp.............. baking powder

1/2 tsp............ salt

2 tsp................ grated lemon zest

6 tbsp.............. cold unsalted butter cut into cubes

1/2 cup............ dried cherry (or any dried fruit)

3/4 cup............ heavy cream ( or double cream)

For the topping

1 tbsp............... demerara sugar ( if not available turbinado or brown sugar would do just fine)

1 tsp................. ground cinnamon

2 tbsp.............. heavy cream ( or whole milk)

Preheat oven to 425˚F. Position rack in the middle of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon mat.

In a large mixing bowl mix together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon zest.

Using a pastry blender or your fingertips work in the cold butter until resembles coarse crumbs the size of small peas.

Stir in the dry fruit, cherries in my case, pour over the cream and mix with a rubber spatula until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and press together gently until the dough clings together into a ball.

Press it into a flat disc of 1/2 inch thick. You can cut the disc into 6 or 8 wedges. I did 8.

Place the scones onto the prepared baking sheet.

To make the topping mix the sugar with the ground cinnamon.

Brush the scones with the 2 tbsp of heavy cream and sprinkle with the topping.

Bake into the preheated oven for 13 to 16 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack. Serve warm with your favorite fruit preserve or on it's on.

I served it with home made raspberry gem.

Enjoy!