Masas

Whole Kitchen, in their Sweet Proposal for January, invites us to make a Scottish classic: Scones

We almost ran out of time with this recipe because — unusual for us — we made it the same day it was published. Luckily, it’s super easy and takes very little time. As usual, the baking time is what stretches the recipe out the most, but hey, the little wait is well worth it. We followed the recipe from www.joyofbaking.com

What do we need?

• 260 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour

• 50 g (¼ cup) sugar

• 1 sachet of Royal baking powder

• a pinch of salt

• 75 g (5 tbsp) very cold butter, cubed

• 1 beaten egg

• 120 ml (½ cup) heavy cream

How do we make it?

• Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F).

• In a bowl, mix the flour with the sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingertips — it should look like crumbs. Set aside.

• In a separate bowl, mix the egg with the cream.

• Combine both mixtures until well integrated, but don’t overwork the dough.

• Roll out lightly until you have a fairly thick dough (about 1.5 cm / ½ inch). (Our first ones came out too thin.) Using a cookie cutter or a glass, cut out circles about 6 cm (2.5 inches) wide.

• Place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and brush with a little milk.

• Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden.

• Take them out of the oven and let them cool on a wire rack.

Tips:

• We forgot to brush the scones with milk and they still turned out delicious, so if you forget too, it’s not the end of the world.

• You can add chocolate chips, nuts, raisins… to the dough. This time we used dried cranberries.

• To eat them, just split them in half and spread on butter and jam, whipped cream, lemon curd or anything else you fancy.

[English version] SCONES* Ingredients: *

• 260 g all-purpose flour

• 50 g granulated white sugar

• *1 sachet baking powder *

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 75 g cold unsalted butter

• 1 large egg

• 120 ml milk, half-and-half, or heavy cream

• *Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. *

• In a large bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, two knives, or with your fingertips. (The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.) In a small measuring cup whisk together the milk or cream and beaten egg. Add this mixture to the flour mixture. Stir just until combined. Do not over mix.

• Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough gently four or five times and then pat into a 1,5cm of thickness. Then, using a 6 cm round cookie cutter, cut the dough into rounds. Place the rounds on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing a few centimetres apart. Brush the tops of the scones with a little cream.(This helps to brown the tops of the scones during baking.)

• *Bake for about 15 -18 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of a scone comes out clean. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. *

Tips:

*- We forgot brushing the scones with milk before baking. The result was wonderful anyway, so in case you forget it too, don’t panic! *

- You can add to the dough chocolate chips, nuts, raisins… We used dried cranberries.

*- You can serve them with butter and jam, marmalade, whipped cream, lemon curd or anything you like. *

Comments

Marivi (2013-01-26 00:39:22):

They look fantastic, and with the filling I’m sure they were even better.

Cristina (2013-01-26 00:55:54):

I really like your version, with cranberries they must be really good ;) and judging by the photos they look delicious!

A kiss!

PIlarHG (2013-01-26 00:59:03):

The same thing happened to me! I ended up making the recipe today too! Lucky it’s a quick one! They turned out great! ;)

Apfelstrudelkuchen (2013-01-26 01:55:06):

Hi!!!

Yeah, it’s true that nothing happens if you don’t brush them, because those scones look absolutely delicious.

A little kiss, Sandra von Cake

Palstelera (2013-01-26 12:48:42):

The truth is they were really tasty, and since I used the leftover cream to whip it up with a bit of sugar, even better. :-)

Palstelera (2013-01-26 12:49:39):

So glad you like them. The cranberries were a last-minute decision and they worked out really well.

Palstelera (2013-01-26 12:50:13):

Yes! Thank goodness they were quick :-)

Palstelera (2013-01-26 12:51:02):

Although now I’ll have to make them again to make them thicker and brushed with milk to see how they turn out :-)

Gri (2013-01-28 11:20:08):

I love your scones… they look fantastic!

A hug Gri http://eltallerdelosviernes.blogspot.com.es/2013/01/hoy-toca-receta-del-cwk.html

mara (2013-01-28 16:49:19):

They turned out so well and look so good with cranberries. I made mine plain because my daughters don’t like them. Here’s my version http://masdulcequesaladopuntocom.blogspot.com.es/2013/01/scones.html

zordor (2013-01-30 05:45:23):

This had a rhyme to it, but honestly I can’t remember what it was right now… :P

guillus (2013-02-27 20:27:45):

Scones! Do we also have to explain how to eat them? :P

guillus (2013-02-27 20:28:47):

Scones! Do we also have to explain how to eat them? :P And with clotted cream they’re even better…

Whole Kitchen in their Savory Challenge for the month of November invites us to prepare an Italian classic: “Ciabatta”. I had been really wanting to make this recipe but I never thought it would turn out well, and… it turned out so well, yes indeed! It even looked like a real ciabatta. The recipe is slow because of the rising times, but it’s simple to make and the result is incredibly good.

What do we need?

(For two loaves)

For the starter:

• 2.5 g fresh yeast

• 150 ml (2/3 cup) water

• 3 tablespoons warm milk

• 1/4 teaspoon honey or granulated sugar

• 150 g (1.25 cups) bread flour

For the dough:

• 2.5 g fresh yeast

• 250 ml (1 cup) water

• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

• 350 g (2.75 cups) bread flour

• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt

How do we make it?

• First, we prepare the starter. Sprinkle the yeast into a large bowl with the water and milk. Let it sit for 5 minutes, then add the honey or sugar and stir to dissolve.

• Add the flour and mix to form a loose dough. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let it ferment for 12 hours or overnight.

• Once the wait is over, we move on to the dough. Sprinkle the yeast into a small bowl with the water. Let it sit for 5 minutes; stir to dissolve. Add the yeast water and the olive oil to the starter and mix well.

• Into the bowl, add the flour with the salt and mix to form a wet, sticky dough. Beat continuously with a wooden spoon for 5 minutes; the dough will turn fluffy and start to pull away from the sides, but it will still be too soft to knead.

• Cover the dough with a kitchen towel. Let it ferment for about 3 hours, until the dough has tripled in size and is full of air bubbles. Generously flour two baking sheets and have extra flour ready to dust your hands.

• Divide the dough in half while it’s still in the bowl. Tip half of the dough onto one of the sheets.

• With your hands well coated in flour, shape it into a rectangular loaf about 30 cm (12 inches) long. Dust the loaf and your hands again with flour. Tidy and thicken it by running your fingers along the sides and gently tucking under the bottom of the dough. Repeat the same with the other half.

• Uncovered, let the loaves rise for about 20 minutes; they will spread out and grow in volume.

• Put them in the oven, preheated to 220°C (430°F), and bake for 30 minutes until the loaves have risen, are golden brown, and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Let cool on a wire rack.

Tips:

• It’s a very sticky dough that you barely have to work with your hands. That’s why, in the final steps, it’s important to keep your hands well covered in flour and not handle the dough too much, since otherwise half of it will end up stuck to you.

• I use the pressed baker’s yeast you can find in cubes in the supermarket in the bakery/pastry section, always refrigerated. I buy a bunch and freeze them, so I always have some on hand whenever I need it. That said, it’s important to keep in mind that frozen yeast loses a bit of its “power”, so you’ll need to add a little more than what the recipe calls for.

• When baking, I put both sheets in at the same time and after 20 minutes I swapped them so that both loaves cooked evenly on both sides.

Comments

Marisa (2012-11-22 12:51:05):

She brought a piece home for me and it’s awesome, delicious, amazing… mmm, I want more!

tía pi (2012-11-22 18:13:13):

It’s a pleasure how well you explain everything and the tips you give. I promise to make it and tell you how it turns out.

Angeles (2012-11-22 22:35:32):

It looks fantastic, just like an authentic Italian ciabatta.

marmota zampona (2012-11-24 19:27:46):

I’m going to give it a try right now.

I think this is hands-down one of the best culinary discoveries I’ve made in my life. As unbelievable as it sounds, the flavor is really close to the store-bought ones — the dough is super fluffy, it doesn’t feel greasy like some bakery doughnuts, and the chocolate glaze is simply magnificent. The only problem is that they’re highly addictive… I’m warning you: once you try them, you’ll want to make them again and again. But hey, I think it’s worth it.

What do we need?

• 300 g (2.5 cups) bread flour

• 200 g (1.5 cups) all-purpose flour

• 80 g (1/3 cup + 1 tbsp) sugar

• 5 g (1 tsp) salt

• 20 g (3 tbsp) powdered milk

• 2 packets of active dry yeast

• 230 g (1 cup) warm water

• 1 medium egg

• 40 g (3 tbsp) shortening or margarine (we use Crisco, which is an odorless and tasteless vegetable fat)

• 2 teaspoons orange extract

For the sugar glaze:

• 200 g (1.75 cups) confectioners’ sugar

• 1 teaspoon butter

• A splash of lemon juice

• Water

For the chocolate glaze:

• 200 g (1.75 cups) confectioners’ sugar

• 1 teaspoon butter

• 150 g (5.3 oz) baking chocolate

• Water

How do we make them?

• Mix the dry ingredients well: flours, sugar, salt, powdered milk and yeast.

• Add the water — neither hot nor too cold, at room temperature — along with the beaten egg and the orange extract. Remember: if the water is hot it will “kill the yeast,” and if it’s too cold the dough will take longer to rise. Knead for about 8 minutes.

• Add the fat and keep kneading until the dough no longer sticks to your hands. You might need to add more flour, but you won’t know until the shortening is fully incorporated. The resulting texture should be smooth and elastic.

• Form a ball and let it rest for about 45 minutes. It’s fine to let it go longer.

• After that time, knead it a bit and roll it out to about 1 cm (3/8 inch) thick. If you have a doughnut cutter, perfect. If not, use a round cutter (or a glass) to make the circles, and a smaller one for the inner circle. For the center hole, we just made it with our finger and stretched it a little (the dough is very elastic, so any irregularity won’t show).

• Let them rest on a tray lined with parchment paper for at least 1 hour so they can rise again.

• Fry in sunflower oil (if you use olive oil it’ll give them too much flavor). The oil shouldn’t be too hot or they’ll burn right away. As soon as you drop them in the pan they’ll start puffing up. Leave them for a few seconds and flip them so they brown on the other side.

• Take them out and drain on paper towels, and while they’re still warm, dip them in the sugar glaze. If you’re using the chocolate glaze, they don’t need to be warm.

• To make the sugar glaze, melt the butter a bit in the microwave and mix it well with the confectioners’ sugar and a splash of lemon. Add a few tablespoons of water until you get a light, whitish slurry.

• For the chocolate glaze, mix the confectioners’ sugar with a few tablespoons of water (again, you want a light slurry). Melt the chocolate with the butter in the microwave and once melted, add it to the sugar-and-water mixture. If it’s too thick, add a bit more water. If on the other hand it’s too runny, let it cool down.

• To coat the doughnuts in the sugar glaze, dip them into the bowl so the glaze sticks all over. For the chocolate glaze, only dip one side.

Tips:

• It looks complicated but it isn’t. You just need time, because respecting the dough’s rising times is really important.

• It’s important that the yeast is bread yeast (not baking powder) and that the milk is powdered — otherwise your dry ingredient ratios will change and you won’t get the same result.

• When frying the doughnuts, do them one at a time, or if you have a large pan, 2 or 3 at most. Otherwise you risk burning them.

Whole Kitchen in their Savory Proposal for the month of September invites us to make an Italian classic: “Stuffed Pasta.” With this recipe we kick off a new adventure on this amazing food blog, where every month we’re challenged to make a savory dish and a sweet one. We love the idea — it’s original and pretty useful, since it pushes you to make dishes you might not normally tackle, and it also lets you check out what the other participants come up with.

What do we need?

(Serves 4)

• For the dough:

•   300 g (2.5 cups) flour
  

•   1 egg and 1 egg white
  

•   2 tbsp olive oil
  

•   1/2 tsp salt
  

•   1 tsp vinegar
  

• For the filling:

•   2 small onions, finely chopped
  

•   1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
  

•   300 g (10.5 oz) mushrooms
  

•   2 tbsp parsley
  

•   Salt
  

•   40 g (1.5 oz) aged cheese
  

• For the sauce:

•   200 ml (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp) heavy cream
  

•   4 slices of bacon (thick-cut)
  

•   Salt and pepper
  

How do we do it?

• Put the flour in a bowl, make a well in the center, and add the egg, the egg white, the salt, the oil, and the vinegar.

• Knead until you get an elastic dough, adding a splash of water if needed.

• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for at least an hour.

• Heat a little oil in a large pan, add the onions, garlic, and mushrooms. Cook gently over low heat until all the liquid has evaporated.

• Stir in the parsley and season. Add the finely chopped aged cheese and mix well (with the heat off). Let it cool.

• Once the dough has rested, divide it in two and roll out one half with a rolling pin until very thin. Ideally you’d use a pasta machine, but not everyone has one at home, so a rolling pin will do the trick.

• Place small mounds of filling on the pasta sheet, leaving space between them.

• Roll out the second half of the dough very thin and lay it over the first one. With your hands, press around the mounds to shape the ravioli.

• Finally, cut out the ravioli with a round cutter (like a pizza cutter) with fluted edges. Set the ravioli aside while you prepare the sauce.

• If instead of ravioli you’d rather make tortellini, roll out the dough very thin, fill it, and fold as shown in this [video](

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).

• For the sauce, use the leftover filling. Sauté the bacon cut into small cubes, add the leftover filling and the cream, and bring to a boil. Simmer for a few minutes and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

• Cook the pasta, drain it, add the sauce, and… buon appetito!

Tips:

• The dough has to be very thin. If you’re using a rolling pin, that means once you think it’s thin enough, roll it out at least three more times. I also recommend making your ravioli or tortellini small, since they’ll grow when cooked.
• If you don’t have a pasta cutter, you can use a regular knife, but make sure to seal the edges well afterward or you’ll lose the filling during cooking. You can seal them with your fingers, a fork, or the edge of a serrated knife.
• Our pasta took quite a while to cook (15 minutes) because the pieces were too big and chunky.

We were putting together a surprise afternoon snack where we wanted everything to be absolutely homemade, so we couldn’t even allow ourselves to buy the bread. One of the things we wanted to make was little savory sandwiches and, once again, we turned to the La Receta de la Felicidad blog to follow their steps and make some great milk bread buns. Honestly, we thought it would be pretty complicated, but how wrong we were…

What do we need?

(16 buns)

•   500 g (about 4 cups) bread flour
  

•   25 g (about 1 oz) fresh yeast (or two sachets of dry baker's yeast)
  

•   250 ml (1 cup) milk
  

•   70 g (about 5 tbsp) butter, softened (i.e. nice and soft)
  

•   40 g (about 3 tbsp) sugar
  

•   1 egg
  

•   2 tablespoons of honey
  

•   A pinch of salt
  

How do we do it?

• Mix the flour and yeast in a large bowl and add the egg and milk.

• Add the sugar, honey and salt, and mix well using a spoon or fork.

• Add the butter, and knead for 10-15 minutes, until you get a soft, pliable, slightly shiny dough.

• Form the dough into a ball by turning it and folding it inwards, and let it rest in a lightly floured bowl, covered with a cloth, for about two hours so it doubles in volume.

• Take the dough out of the bowl and lightly press it down with your fingers to ‘deflate’ it.

• Cut the dough into 16 portions, and shape them into buns.

• To do this, we have two methods. The first one is to take each piece of dough and roll it on itself, as if the bun were swallowing itself up. (Since my explanation leaves a lot to be desired, you can watch it in this video). The second method is to roll out each piece of dough into a rectangular shape. On one of the ends, make three or four cuts with a sharp knife to create some fringes. Finally, roll up the dough starting from the side opposite the fringes, so that when you finish, the fringes end up on the outside and give that distinctive look of milk buns.

• Brush the buns with a little milk, let them rest on a baking tray lined with parchment paper for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F).

• Bake the buns for 10-12 minutes, and let them cool to room temperature on a wire rack.

Tips:

• If you let the dough rest longer, nothing happens except that it might grow out of control (like what happened to us, when we discovered a mutant dough trying to escape from the bowl).
• To shape the buns, we used the two methods we found at La Receta de la Felicidad, since we made two batches of dough and one of them (despite following the same steps) came out stickier, so the first method was easier for us.
• The flavor in my opinion isn’t exactly the same as store-bought milk buns, but they are delicious, very fluffy, and you can fill them with both sweet and savory fillings.

*[English version] MILK BREAD BUNS ** *Ingredients:

- 500 g strong bread flour - 25 g fresh yeast (or two sachets dry yeast) - 250 ml milk - 70 g butter, room temperature - 40 g sugar - 1 egg - 2 tbs honey - A pinch of salt

• Combine flour and yeast in a bowl. Add the egg, honey, milk, sugar and salt and mix well.

• Add butter and use a large spoon or fork to mix everything together.

• Take the dough out of the bowl and knead. You will feel the dough become elastic after kneading for about 5 minutes. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes more or until the dough is soft, pliable, smooth and slightly shiny-

• Put the dough into a lightly floured bowl and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise in a warm place until its size doubles (aprox. two hours)

• Take the dough out of the bowl, deflate it by touching lightly.

• Cut the dough into 16 pieces, and roll each of them into an oval shape. Or alternatively, roll out each piece of dough forming a rectangle 1 cm thick. Cut 1/3 the length of the rectangle into 4/5 strips of equal width and roll up the dough similar to a Swiss roll.

• Preheat oven to 180ºC and let the milk buns rest for 20 minutes.

• Glaze the buns with some milk, and bake them for 10-12 minutes. Let them cool on a wire rack

• Tips:**- Nothing wrong if you leave the dough more time covered with a cloth, it will just rise even more! * - We made the bun shape following the two different methods. For sticky doughs is easier the first method (just forming the oval shape). *- You won’t achieve exactly the same flavor than the milk buns of the supermarket but it is absolutely delicious, spongy and can be filled with sweet or savory ingredients. *

Comments

marmota zampona (2012-09-12 08:16:25):

we’ll make them. thanks

On one of my regular visits to the La Receta de la Felicidad blog, I came across this recipe for express cookies. In my case they weren’t quite so express since I decided to make the shortcrust pastry myself instead of buying it. In any case, the idea of the woven cookies is striking for how simple it is and how pretty they look, so you have no excuse not to try them.

What do we need?

•   1 sheet of shortcrust pastry*
  

•   1 tablespoon of butter
  

•   Sugar and cinnamon
  

*If instead of buying it you’d rather make the shortcrust pastry yourselves, you’ll also need:

•   200 g (1.5 cups) of flour
  

•   100 g (7 tbsp) of cold butter
  

•   1 egg
  

•   A pinch of salt
  

•   A pinch of sugar
  

How do we make it?

Shortcrust pastry:

• Put all the ingredients in a bowl. The butter has to be very cold and cut into small pieces.

• Start kneading with your hands until you have a smooth dough, shape it into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. Let it rest in the fridge for an hour.

• Once the waiting time is up, roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it’s quite thin (about 5 mm / 1/4 inch). You can do this with the help of a couple of sheets of baking paper or even plastic wrap.

Cookies:

• Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F).

• With the dough rolled out, cut strips of 1 cm (about 1/2 inch) with a sharp knife.

• Now we weave the dough. To do this, place half of the strips together in a vertical position. Then place the other strips one by one horizontally, passing them through the vertical strips alternating over and under (since a picture is worth a thousand words, take a look at the photo).

• With a round cookie cutter (or any shape you like), cut out the cookies from the freshly woven dough.

• Brush them with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon (don’t be shy with the amount, since shortcrust pastry isn’t sweet).

• Place the cookies on a tray lined with baking paper and bake them for 10 minutes.

Tips:

• You can add any spice or flavoring you like. In my case I used a powdered sugar flavored with cinnamon and apple.
• So they don’t lose their shape too much, the shortcrust pastry has to be very cold and you should handle it as little as possible (in this case, it’s easier with store-bought shortcrust pastry).
• If you make them a bit bigger than a coffee cup, you can serve them in the original way that @SandeeA does.

Did you know that croissant in French means crescent moon? Literally, it means ‘waxing,’ which is the phase of the moon we commonly call a crescent. Well, with that same shape but a completely different dough and a savory filling, we present this easy dish. We rescued the recipe from a Thermomix Christmas magazine and thought it would be a great idea to offer as an afternoon snack at home or to pack along on a trip and enjoy during a roadside stop. For those of you who are wary of complicated gadgets and kitchen robots, don’t worry — we made these with our own little hands and they turned out wonderfully.

What do we need?

•   400-500 g (3.25-4 cups) pastry flour
  

•   250 g (1 cup) quark cheese
  

•   250 g (1 cup / 2 sticks) cold butter
  

•   1/2 teaspoon salt
  

•   1 packet baking powder
  

•   1 beaten egg (for glazing)
  

For the filling:

•   100 g (3.5 oz) cooked ham
  

•   200 g (7 oz) Emmental cheese
  

•   2 tomatoes
  

•   Dried oregano
  

How do we make it?

• Cut the butter into small pieces and mix with the rest of the ingredients. Start by stirring with a fork and then finish kneading with your hands.

• Form the dough into a ball, wrap it in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F).

• Divide the dough in two and roll out each piece with a rolling pin into a thin circle (about 3 mm / 1/8 inch).

• Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut 8 triangular portions (just like a pizza).

• Place a bit of cooked ham and cheese on each portion and roll them up starting from the wide end and finishing at the tip to give them that croissant shape.

• Slice the mozzarella and tomato into rounds and then cut those in half. Use them to fill the portions from the second circle of dough, adding a bit of oregano. Roll them up the same way.

• Place all the croissants on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and brush them with beaten egg.

• Bake for about 20 minutes.

Tips:

• You can vary the filling however you like. In fact, the original recipe was just ham and cheese, and we introduced the tomato-mozzarella variety and liked it even more.
• The dough isn’t particularly salty, so why not try a sweet filling?

[English version] FILLED CROISSANTS **Ingredients:-400-500 g flour

• 250 g quark cheese

• 250 g butter

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 package baking powder

• 1 egg

• Dice the butter and mix with the rest of ingredients. First stir well by using a fork and then use your hands.

• Make a ball with the dough, wrap it in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 min.

• Preheat oven at 180ºC

• Divide the dough into two pieces and roll out to two thin circles (3 mm).

• Cut each circle into 8 portions (like pizza slices).

• Put some york ham and cheese over each slice and roll it from the biggest side to the narrowest to create the croissant shape.

• Slice mozzarella and tomato and then cut into halves. Use them and oregano to fill the second circle of dough. Roll it in the same way.

• Place the croissants on a baking tray covered by baking paper. Glaze croissants with egg.

• Bake for 20 min approximately.

  Tips:- You can vary the filling. The original recipe was done with ham and cheese and we decided to create the mozarella-tomato flavour and we liked it even more! - The dough itself is not really salty. So why not a sweet filling?