brunch
Irish Soda Bread Scones
With St. Patrick's Day right around the corner, I'm thinking about making Irish Soda Bread. I found this recipe for Irish Soda Bread Scones which merge Irish Soda Bread and scones – two of my favorite things. Try serving these warm with a cup of tea or coffee!
Ingredients
- 3 cups plain flour
- 1 cup of buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter cut into small pieces
- 1 cup raisins
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
- In bowl of electric mixer or a large mixing bowl, blend the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
- Add the butter to the dry ingredients and mix for 2 minutes. The butter should be in tiny lumps distributed pretty evenly through the entire flour mixture when you're done.
- Add raisins and mix about 1 minute.
- Add buttermilk and continue mixing about 1 minute. If you are not using an electric mixer, knead the dough on a floured board for a minute or so. Make sure to put a bit of flour on your hands to keep the dough from sticking to them.
- Drop a large spoonful of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Challah Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 pkgs. active dry yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp.)
- 1 large whole egg, lightly beaten
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup + 1-1/2 tsp. sugar
- 4 to 5 cups bread flour
- 2 tsp. salt
- flour for dusting worktop
- oil or spray for greasing bowl
- 1 egg beaten with 1 tsp. water for egg wash
- coarse cornmeal for dusting baking pan
- poppy or sesame seeds for topping
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350º. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water in a large bowl. Add the egg, egg yolks, oil, sugar, 4 cups flour and salt. Mix well until the the dough comes away from the side of the bowl.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead well, adding additional flour 1/4 cup at a time, until it is firm and smooth. This is a firm dough, so keep adding flour a little at a time while kneading, until it is smooth and elastic – about 10-15 minutes. You may need a little more than 5 cups.
- Transfer the dough to a large, oiled bowl, turn dough so that the entire surface is coated, cover, and let rise in a warm, draft-free place, until it has tripled in volume. Test by poking your finger into the dough. If the indentation stays, your dough is fully proofed.Turn the dough back out onto your work surface, punch it down, and divide it in half. Cover with a towel and let rest for 15 minutes. In the meantime, prepare a large baking sheet by sprinkling it liberally with cornmeal.
- With your hands, roll each dough half into a long, fat snake, slightly larger at one end and tapering to a smaller end. With the larger end at the center, start coiling the rest of the “snake” around it. When you reach the end, tuck it underneath the coil, pressing it into the bottom of the bread.
- Place each coil onto the prepared baking sheet, and brush with the egg wash. Put the baking sheet back in your warm, draft-free spot, and allow the breads to rise again, until doubled (about an hour). Brush the fully risen breads with the egg wash again, and sprinkle on the seeds, if using.
- Bake for about 35 minutes. After the first 10 minutes, cover them with a “tent” of parchment paper or torn-open brown paper bag. This will prevent them from browning too quickly. Breads should be a nice dark mahogany brown, and the bottoms should be well-browned. They should sound hollow when the bottoms are thumped and there shouldn’t be any “give” when you press on the top. Remove from the pan and cool on a rack.
- When thoroughly cooled, you can place the breads in a plastic freezer bag to store or freeze for future use.
*Note: You can use a KitchenAid stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. If you do: After mixing the ingredients and adding sufficient flour to get the dough to form a ball around the dough hook, run the mixer at low speed, “kneading” the dough for 15 minutes. Keep an eye on it during this time, since as a firm dough, your mixer may want to take a wander.
Cinnamon Rolls
Cinnamon Rolls are delicious! … especially when they are hot from the oven. This recipe for cinnamon rolls is made with frozen pizza dough which will save you lots of time. Frozen pizza dough is easy to find and easy to work with. You can alter this recipe by adding nuts or raisins.
Ingredients
- 1 package frozen pizza dough
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon netmeg, optional
- 4 – 6 Tablespoons softened butter
- chopped pecans or other nuts, optional
Glaze Recipe
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tablespoon milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
- Take a frozen pizza ball out of the freezer and into the refrigerator 24 hours before you plan to cook.
- Two hours before you plan to make these cinnamon rolls, take the dough out of the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature. This will allow the yeast in the dough enough time to re-activate and rise a bit.
- When dough has risen a bit, roll the pizza dough out on a floured surface into a rectangle. You can start by patting it down to about 1-inch thickness, and then using a rolling pin to work it into a rectangle (you want it about 1/4-1/3 of an inch thick).
- Cover the top side of the dough with softened .
- Sprinkle brown sugar, lots of cinnamon and some nutmeg over the butter. (You can add pecans or other nuts here if you like.)
- Now, roll the dough up from one of the short sides of the rectangle to the other to form a log. You'll want it tight but not too tight – you don't want your rolls to fall apart.
- Cut about 3/4 to 1 inch round off of the log. They should look like cinnamon rolls with spiral.
- Place the rolls in a greased muffin pan and cook at 375 degrees until they brown (approximately 30 minutes. Watch them carefully.)
- As soon as they come out, glaze them using a simple powdered sugar glaze ( you'll want it to be slightly thick.)
- Let cool just a bit, put them on a plate and serve.