Saturday, February 26, 2011
Weekly Recipes: February 26
English Muffins
So, I found this recipe online, changed it a bunch and made it a lot of different times and ways and here is what I've finally come up with and like the best.
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups spelt flour
2 teaspoons yeast
1/4 cup softened butter + more for pan
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
cornmeal or semolina
Mix together water, milk, honey and salt. Add 2 cups flour and yeast. Mix until you have a loose batter. Cover and let rise for about an hour. Add butter and remaining flour. Mix well and let rise again for about an hour. Sprinkle in baking soda and mix well.
Heat a skillet or griddle over medium heat. Roll dough out on a surface sprinkled with cornmeal or semolina until dough is about 1/2 an inch thick. Cut out with a biscuit cutter or glass to make circles. Melt butter in pan and fry until muffins and browned and puffy. Turn once and cook on the other side. Repeat until all muffins are cooked.
Eat hot or cool and eat. Split with a fork and spread with something delicious.
Blackberry Cobbler
We're not in blackberry season yet (and out here, there isn't the abundance of blackberries we had west of the Cascades), but if you have some in the freezer, you can still make this. You don't even have to thaw the berries.
12 cups blackberries
3/4 - 1 cup sugar (depending on how sweet your blackberries are - unless we froze them ourselves, I use the one cup when using frozen)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon cinnamon (if you can get your hands on Ceylon cinnamon, use that)
3 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup buttermilk
vanilla sugar to sprinkle over top
Use a huge pan. I use an 11 X 15 inch pan. I mix the berries, sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon all in the pan, there is no need for another bowl.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F while you make the biscuit cobblestones for the top.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Rub butter pieces into flour until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal with pea to lima bean sized bits of butter coated in flour dispersed throughout. Stir in buttermilk and knead slightly to form a cohesive dough. Pat out on a floured surface to about 1/2 an inch thick. Use a biscuit cutter or a glass to cut the dough into cobbles, reshaping dough as necessary, but handling as little as possible. Layer the cobbles over the blackberries and sprinkle with vanilla sugar.
Bake for 30 - 35 minutes, or until cobbles are browned and risen and the blackberries are bubbly. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or chantilly cream.
So, I found this recipe online, changed it a bunch and made it a lot of different times and ways and here is what I've finally come up with and like the best.
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups spelt flour
2 teaspoons yeast
1/4 cup softened butter + more for pan
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
cornmeal or semolina
Mix together water, milk, honey and salt. Add 2 cups flour and yeast. Mix until you have a loose batter. Cover and let rise for about an hour. Add butter and remaining flour. Mix well and let rise again for about an hour. Sprinkle in baking soda and mix well.
Heat a skillet or griddle over medium heat. Roll dough out on a surface sprinkled with cornmeal or semolina until dough is about 1/2 an inch thick. Cut out with a biscuit cutter or glass to make circles. Melt butter in pan and fry until muffins and browned and puffy. Turn once and cook on the other side. Repeat until all muffins are cooked.
Eat hot or cool and eat. Split with a fork and spread with something delicious.
Blackberry Cobbler
We're not in blackberry season yet (and out here, there isn't the abundance of blackberries we had west of the Cascades), but if you have some in the freezer, you can still make this. You don't even have to thaw the berries.
12 cups blackberries
3/4 - 1 cup sugar (depending on how sweet your blackberries are - unless we froze them ourselves, I use the one cup when using frozen)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon cinnamon (if you can get your hands on Ceylon cinnamon, use that)
3 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup buttermilk
vanilla sugar to sprinkle over top
Use a huge pan. I use an 11 X 15 inch pan. I mix the berries, sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon all in the pan, there is no need for another bowl.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F while you make the biscuit cobblestones for the top.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Rub butter pieces into flour until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal with pea to lima bean sized bits of butter coated in flour dispersed throughout. Stir in buttermilk and knead slightly to form a cohesive dough. Pat out on a floured surface to about 1/2 an inch thick. Use a biscuit cutter or a glass to cut the dough into cobbles, reshaping dough as necessary, but handling as little as possible. Layer the cobbles over the blackberries and sprinkle with vanilla sugar.
Bake for 30 - 35 minutes, or until cobbles are browned and risen and the blackberries are bubbly. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or chantilly cream.
Labels: Homemaking, Recipes, Tales from the Kitchen
