Bread

FRIDAY FISH: Whole Wheat Smoked Salmon + Cheese Scones

/ More Time at the Table / Leave a comment
Sunrise at our house

Jump to Recipe

My friend Thomas, who attends a weekly Wednesday class with me, often asks, “Any scones today, Alyce?” Once in a while, given an early morning with extra time, I’ll throw together some blueberry or peach or strawberry and chocolate chip scones (or some muffins) and bake them off, bringing them along in a basket with butter for the class to enjoy with our coffee. But that’s not every week and maybe not even every month. For Thomas, however, hope springs eternal. I thought of him today as I worked on a new savory scone for this week’s FRIDAY FISH — I know, a bread for FRIDAY FISH!! — and wondered what he’d think of a not-sweet, craggy whole wheat scone featuring smoked salmon, two cheeses, and some finely chopped brightly-colored veggies. I’m guessing he’d go right ahead and eat a couple anyway but might be a little surprised to not find berries or even currants in his scones. While you might be surprised, too, I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy them, especially alongside a bowl of tomato or asparagus soup, a crisp salad, a brunchy egg dish, or even spread with a bit of goat or cream cheese with a glass of sparkling wine at appetizer time. Everyone loves homemade bread but not everyone has the hours it takes to make it. Scones, a for real “quick bread” can be tossed together, baked, and in your tummy in about 45 minutes.

Continue reading →

Cranberry-White Chocolate Chip Scones

/ More Time at the Table / Leave a comment
Here’s what you’ll want with your coffee Christmas morning!

…dedicated to the memory of my friend, longtime neighbor, and excellent baker, Jan Keder (1930-2024)

Jump to Recipe

I got up one day last week to go to a class I attend weekly and thought, “I’ll just make some festive scones of some sort for our last December meeting.” What did I have? I had cranberries and white chocolate chips. So that’s what I made: Cranberry- White Chocolate Chip Scones. When I arrived at class and set them out, my classmate and good friend, Teresa Latimer, asked if these were from a King Arthur Scone mix. Ah, nope. Just straight out of my kitchen. I was, however, interested enough to later get on the computer and look at the mixes (turns out there are several good looking ones) — but there was only Cranberry-Orange from them so I’m good. Didn’t want to be copying KA or anything. I really admire them but…phew!

Continue reading →

Blueberry-Peach Muffins with Ginger + Alyce’s Tips for Baking Your Best Muffins

/ More Time at the Table / Leave a comment
I added a little extra fruit right on top just before baking this batch. Pretty-AND we know it’s blueberries and peaches!
Jump to Recipe

Strawberry-Blueberry Scones: this recipe, just using half strawberries

If I haven’t a clue what’s for breakfast but know my husband and best sous Dave would like something fresh, warm, and sweet when he comes home from the morning dog walk, I will usually throw together a mess of muffins. Occasionally there are scones or biscuits or a coffee cake instead, depending on my mood and what else might be on the menu. I can gather the ingredients for muffins, however, without much thought; get them into the oven; and have them piping hot on the rack–or nearly so– when he comes through the front door exactly 30 minutes after he leaves. But before I stir them up and bake them, I’ve got to check what’s available in the fruit, nut, or even occasionally chocolate department. When I’m muffin dreaming, as long as I have a cup of fruit or a bit more, there will soon be muffins no matter what. And if there isn’t enough fruit, I’ll probably make them anyway, perhaps adding nuts, coconut, or dried fruit. And if there are none of those things at all, there’s simply nothing wrong with the plain muffin I’d bake –or even a corn one. Especially served with butter and jam. A baker will bake, you see. Breakfast will be had.

I do nearly always have fresh blueberries and, if not, there’s a bag of frozen ones in the freezer waiting my measuring cup. (When they’re the best and the cheapest and come from the Pacific Northwest, I freeze a bunch.) The other day, I had Palisades peaches (known to the rest of the country as “Colorado peaches”) over-ripening in my south window and not too awfully many blueberries. There was, I thought, just enough fruit for 12 muffins if I combined the two. And what if I stirred in a little fresh ginger for spicy interest? Turned out to be a perfect match made right here on the mesa in Colorado Springs.

Continue reading →

100% Whole Wheat Bread

/ More Time at the Table / Leave a comment
The bread that convinced me to bake more bread at home.

Alyce’s (aka Betty Crocker’s) cinnamon rolls.

I am the occasional yeast bread baker. You can look through my nearly 16 years of food blogging and while you’ll find beaucoup quick breads and muffins, biscuits, and other such deliciousness, yeast breads will not be terribly forthcoming. (Maybe my cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls are here somewhere? That would make my kids happy. My pizza is for sure on the blog.) It’s not that I don’t make yeast bread; I do. I just don’t do it every week and hence am not an expert in any way. I’ll admit I lived in Europe for a couple of years and became very used to incredible bread bakers nearly every block or two. (Why bake?) I’m also the sort of embarrassing yeast bread baker who still sometimes likes a bread machine for fun, easy bread. Truth in blogging here: I have the Cadillac of bread machines, a Zojirushi and — unlike many out there –adore it for more than just mixing dough–which is what a lot of good bread bakers use it for. I have gone through one bread machine (an Oster) and had to replace it. That’s an unusual claim to fame in today’s baking world. I also own a bread machine book by bread guru, the late, great Beth Hensperger. See: experts can like bread machines, too! (Today’s bread is, in fact, based on one of Beth’s recipes –not for the bread machine– adapted by KRISTEN BROWNING-BLAS in the Denver Post in 2014. I changed the recipe to suit my on-hand ingredients. Beth’s recipe called for both dry milk and buttermilk– neither of which I keep in the kitchen all the time. I do, however, always have plain Greek yogurt, which worked perfectly. Fun aside: my first copy of this recipe left out the yeast. I was an hour into making the bread when I realized it. I added it to the hour-old sponge and, while it took a while longer to double, double, toil, and trouble, it worked! Bread is forgiving. When I looked up the recipe a second time, the yeast was back in the ingredient deck. Hm….)

On a really special day, I’ll rev up both my slow cooker and bread machine and sit in my chair with a sleazy novel and an afghan til 5:30 when it’s time to uncork the wine and enjoy the fruits of my …non-labor. This is stretching the truth but not by much. Oh, how I love small appliances.

Continue reading →

KIDS BAKE THANKSGIVING: Ginger Cranberry-Blueberry Muffins

/ More Time at the Table / Leave a comment

Ginger and cranberry? You betcha!

Need other Thanksgiving dishes? Click on THANKSGIVING in the word cloud or click on/type into the search box individual words like TURKEY, BROCCOLI, PIE, SOUPS AND STEWS, PUMPKIN, etc.

Jump to Recipe

Thanksgiving breakfast gets short shrift in our world but it doesn’t mean it should. I mean, people are hungry on Thanksgiving morning, aren’t they? Or is it just a sad human bean thing to hold on for hours on holidays with nothing but coffee sloshing around in our tummies until mid-afternoon feasting? Surely we don’t need huge egg and cheese casseroles or piles of pumpkin pancakes with butter, syrup, and pork sausages (or maybe we do), but a small something like a perfectly perfecto muffin would, I think, go over a treat. Ginger Cranberry-Blueberry Muffins, based on my best blueberry muffin, can be prepped the night before by kids (or adults) — see below MUFFIN TIPS — and quickly baked long before it’s time to slide the pies, rolls, and your sweet turkey bird into the hot oven. If you’re the planning sort, they could be baked and frozen this weekend and taken out to thaw on the counter next to the big butter dish and a pile of cute napkins on Wednesday night. A little Greek yogurt with a honey drizzle would round out such a simple meal and, I think, keep you from dreaded coffee tummy. I mean, who wants that?

Just in case you want choices, I’ll include a few other muffins for you.

Continue reading →

Cornmeal Plum Scones with Almonds

/ More Time at the Table / Leave a comment
Scones do not keep well. Best the morning they’re made, it’s better to make/eat them at home.
Jump to Recipe

Here in the U.S.–as opposed to the UK and Ireland where scones are a little more demure– we happily load scone dough with big chocolate chunks, any sort of fruit on hand, coconut, nuts, citrus, and often a little more sugar just because. Icing or at least a drizzle–vanilla, lemon, orange, maple, dark chocolate with salt– is not out of the question on top! And we STILL could gild that lily with a little more butter. What?? We seem to always go big or go home on this side of the Atlantic. I’ve made them every which way over time, though not yet with icing, (scroll down to IF YOU LIKED THIS… to see other More Time scones ), and being an American of Scots descent, I like to consider my options. With a big box of ripe Italian plums resting in my fridge, I opted to 1. freeze most of them for later–hello, Thanksgiving desserts and 2. make some decadent, American-style scones. Had I heard of or made plum scones before? No, but that wouldn’t stop me, would it? I just might be more American than Scots.

Continue reading →

Peaches and Sour Cream Corn Muffins

/ More Time at the Table / 2 Comments

What makes you feel rich? Ok, well, money would work for us all; I know. But for each of us there’s a little something or a big something (maybe more than one) that creates enough comfort in our heart to make us sigh and feel as though we need nothing more at all. Could be that once in a blue moon moment when all the wash is done and folded or perhaps after the fall garden cleanup is completed and the tulip bulbs are planted. A night after a long work project ends successfully. Close friends coming to stay for a few days. The day your afghan (or toychest) is finished, washed, and mailed. A night alone with your favorite movie of all time. (Mine is: “It Happened One Night.” That or “Michael.”) A lunchtime when the whole family is together. Might also be a full freezer. Walking a 5K; you’ll note that doesn’t say run. A case of canned tomatoes stored away for winter spaghetti sauce. For me, it’s also when there’s a slow cooker full of lusciousness bubbling all day long, promising an all-you-can-eat dinner and giving me a free day. (Hello, sleazy novel!) I feel even richer if I’ve time to bake a little something to go alongside that happy pot of goodness. A bread, simple or not, made especially to go with one particular meal. That’s really rich. This week’s jalapeño-studded peach cornmeal muffins are just such a bread. Even more so as they’re not your typical muffin. With their sweet-savory profile, they’re kind of on the special side despite their easy preparation and basically simple nature. If you’re on your toes, they’re made and baked and on the table in under 45 minutes, including preheating the oven — a must for big, round-domed muffins.

Continue reading →

Rhubarb-Banana Olive Oil Bread

/ More Time at the Table / 2 Comments

A lighter fruit-filled treat for car trips, beach picnics, or early morning coffee.
Jump to Recipe

My friend Pam is a multi-talented woman. She enjoys a stunning alto solo voice; cooks like a fiend; entertains largely and comfortably; cultivates a wry wit; is an avid reader; makes a devoted wife, mom, church member, and friend; plays a mean piano, and –the thing I might most envy– is the epitome of organization. What most people don’t know about Miss Pam is she’s also a fine gardener who loves and generously shares the bounty of her craft. While summers here in the front range are late and short with cool nights, she still manages to get a crop or two in each year despite two black Labrador retrievers romping all over her big backyard. Best sous and husband Dave and I are often the recipients of her largesse when the weather warms and the other day Pam’s husband Lee drove over for a visit toting some of her rhubarb along as a gift to us. As rhubarb keeps pretty darned well in the fridge, I didn’t worry about using it quickly. Needing a snack on the not-too-sweet side yesterday, though, I soon heard that rhubarb calling my name, whispering, “bake, bake, bake…” and pulled it out to see just exactly how much she’d sent. To be on the safe side, I chopped it up and measured it to find I easily had a cup plus. Not enough for a pie or a cobbler, there was plenty for a simple cake or quick bread if I included another fruit in the mix. With a side-eyed sniff at the counter, it was apparent the partner needed to be bananas. Then again, I’d never heard of rhubarb and bananas. You? Turns out: It’s a match made in heaven.

Continue reading →

Strawberry-Chocolate Chip Scones with Almonds For Mother’s Day

/ More Time at the Table / Leave a comment
Use mini chocolate chips so the chocolate doesn’t overwhelm the almond and strawberry flavors.
Jump to Recipe

Since the coronation of King Charles and the American Mother’s Day fall just over a week from one another, I couldn’t help but think of making scones in honor of both events. (Of course I watched the whole coronation…well, at least from the time I awoke. Enchanting it was – especially the choir.) There’s nothing like a basket of gorgeous scones to set off a festive brunch or holiday tea and they’re both easy to make (I promise!) and very fast, particularly if you use a food processor. The only big decision will be….What kind of scones will you make? Scroll down for ideas or if you’re quite serious, you can order the wondrous Scots baker and fiction writer, Sue Lawrence’s fine book, SCOTTISH BAKING for the real deal scoop. I had a basket of lovely fresh strawberries on hand and a small jar of toasted almonds leftover from a salad, so there was little question about what I’d do. I adore strawberries with chocolate, so I thought I’d toss in just a few mini chocolate chips to gild that lily and quite soon, Strawberry-Chocolate Chip Scones with Almonds were born. And, if I do say say so myself, they’re fabulous. I want them again.

Continue reading →

Granola-Whole Wheat Banana Bread

/ More Time at the Table / Leave a comment
Have time? For extra goodness, make a day ahead and let rest overnight before cutting and enjoying.
Visiting Wile E. Coyote.

Totally a winter person, I’m never happier than when I get up early to find the world frozen solid with snowflakes dancing down in the glorious mist. Once the coffee is made, I cast my eyes around the kitchen to see what’s available to bake for breakfast. Who doesn’t want to turn the oven on when the windchill is below zero? This morning, I saw I had way over two hours before it was time to leave for worship (if we made it – the roads were looking slick) and quickly zeroed in on a bunch of blackening bananas. Banana Bread it was, but it needed to be banana bread with a healthy twist. Yes, I’m on a roll. Bad pun there.

Continue reading →