Easy Baguettes
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3 cups all-purpose flour
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1.5 cups lukewarm water
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1 tsp active dry yeast
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1 tsp salt
Mix dry ingredients together, then add water. Mix until the dough comes together.
Cover with plastic wrap and leave on the counter for 12-20 hours.
Dough will be wet, sticky, and bubbly. Flour your work surface and hands. Dump the dough out onto the work surface. Divide in half.
With each half: fold the edges all around to form something of a circle, then gently work the circle into a ball. Pat the ball down into a rectangle. Fold the top of the long edge to the middle. Turn 180°. Fold the top edge to the middle. Turn 180°. Fold the top edge to the middle. Turn 180°. Fold the top edge all the way to the bottom. Seal by pressing lightly with the heel of your hand.
Gently roll the center of the dough until it is the width you want, then roll the edges to elongate and match the width of the middle.
Set your two loaves on a floured, parchment-paper lined baking sheet. Cover with a kitchen towel. Put in a warm place for 1-2 hours.
Preheat your oven to 450°. Once preheated, place a deep baking pan with boiling water on the oven’s bottom shelf. Place the baking sheet on the shelf above that. Bake for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, remove the pan of water. Continue baking the bread another 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and set on a rack to cool.
Yorkshire Pudding
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1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole milk
½ cup water
4 large eggs
1 tsp table salt
~¼ c olive oil
Preheat oven to 450*
Put 1 tsp of oil in each cup of a 12-cup muffin tin.
Whisk all ingredients together until nice and bubbly.
Once oven is preheated, put muffin tin in the oven for 2.5 minutes. Pull out and put ~¼ cup of batter in each muffin cup (should be a little over half full). Put immediately back in the oven.
Bake for 10 minutes. Lower temperature to 350* for 18 minutes but don’t take it out and don’t ever open the door. Pull out and put puddings on a wire rack to cool.
Bread Pudding
~ Sarah M. Eden
​​6 slices of slightly stale cinnamon raisin bread
2 tablespoons melted butter
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Break cinnamon bread into small pieces. Drop into an 8-inch square baking pan and spread out evenly. Drizzle melted butter over the bread.
In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla. Pour over bread. Lightly push down the bread to make certain it is covered and soaking up the egg & milk mixture.
Bake for 45 minutes. Top will be springy.
Yields 8–10 servings.
Garlic and Herb Focaccia
Ingredients
1 cups warm water, divided
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 Tbsp kosher salt
3-3.5 cups all-purpose flour
Topping & Pan
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 Tbsp chopped fresh herbs such as basil, thyme, and rosemary
coarse salt
freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Whisk 1/2 cup of water, the sugar, and the yeast together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Cover and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
Add the remaining water, 1/8 cup olive oil, salt, and 1/2 cup flour. Beat on low speed for 20 seconds, then add the remaining flour. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes. If the dough is still sticking to the sides of the bowl, add the last 1/2 cup of flour. Knead for an additional 5 full minutes, either in the mixer or by hand on a lightly floured surface.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 2–3 hours or until double in size.
Grease a 9" cast iron skillet with 1 Tbsp of olive oil.
When the dough is ready, punch it down to release any air bubbles. Pour into the skillet, then stretch and flatten the dough to fit the pan. Wrap the pan with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours, and as much as 24 hours.
Preheat oven to 450°F.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature while the oven preheats.
Whisk the remaining 1 Tbsp of olive oil with the minced garlic. Using your fingers, dimple the dough all over the surface. Brush on the olive oil mixture over the top of the dough. Sprinkle with the chopped herbs, coarse salt, and black pepper.
Bake for 20–23 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Remove from the oven, then remove the bread from the pan and place on a wire rack to cool.
Tartelettes Amandine
Short Pastry
â…“ c confectioners’ sugar
3 ½ tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp plus 2 tsp lightly beaten egg (about ½ egg)
1 tsp water
1 cup all-purpose flour
Almond Filling
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
¼ c sugar
2 tbsp plus 2 tsp lightly beaten egg (about 1 egg)
½ cup almond flour
2 ½ tsp flour
1 tsp rum (or imitation rum flavoring)
1 vanilla bean, slit lengthwise, seeds scraped out
Topping
Apricot glaze
Sliced almonds
Making the pastry:
Whisk the butter in a mixing bowl until soft and creamy. Add the confectioners’ sugar, whisk until smooth. Combine the eggs and salt and whisk into the mixture. Whisk in the flour. As the mixture gets thicker, change to a sturdy spoon and keep mixing. Turn out onto a work surface and knead the mixture until you have a smooth dough.
Shape into a slightly flattened disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours.
Making the almond filling:
Cream the butter and sugar together until soft. Beat in the egg. Fold in the almond flour. Once smooth, stir in the all-purpose flour, run, and vanilla seeds. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Creating the Tartelettes:
Preheat the oven to 350* F. Lightly grease 6 mini tartelette pans.
Roll out the dough until about â…›” thick. Line the tartlette pans with the dough.
Spread the almond cream in the pastry-lined tartlette pans, using enough to fill â…” full. Bake for 30 minutes until the cream starts to turn slightly golden, checking at 25 minutes.
Remove from oven and carefully remove from tartelette pans. Allow to cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, brush with apricot glaze and sprinkle with sliced almonds.
Layton & Caroline’s Twelfth Night Cake
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
¼ cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vinegar
¾ cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 egg whites
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line the bottom of three 6-inch round pans with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a small bowl, whisk together milk, sour cream, and vinegar.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Mix in vanilla extract. Beat in egg whites one at a time. Once the oven is fully preheated, add flour mixture to egg mixture. Mix. Add milk mixture. Mix. Pour into parchment-lined pans and place in the oven.
Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. The top will not necessarily be golden.
Remove pans from oven and allow cakes to cool completely. Turn out cakes from pans.
Using a knife, make a small slice in one cake, large enough for hiding a coin (can be a party favor version or a real coin wrapped in foil for sanitary purposes) or a bean (wrap in foil first if desired to make it easier to find).
Layer one cake on top of the other, with white buttercream in between. Frost outside of stacked cakes with white buttercream. Decorate, as desired, with white sprinkles, nonpareils, cake flowers, etc.
The person to find the coin or bean in their slice of cake on Twelfth Night is crowned monarch for the night and leads the evening’s festivities.
Yields 6–8 servings.