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Enjoy my latest post below.

Old Country Basic Bread

Bread is a staple in every culture, without it a meal just doesn’t feel complete.

With the many grains and flours available on the market today we’re able to bake hundreds of varieties of this ever popular food.

There’s no sweeter or more comforting fragrance that comes from a loaf of bread baking in the oven.

In the 1950’s when floods of Italian immigrants came to Canada, one of the first things they missed from back home was their traditional hearty breads.

My mother often tells of the bitter disappointment she and other immigrants experienced when they arrived to this new land of opportunity. The only bread available in Canada at that time was loaves of soft white sliced bread.

Among the other challenges they faced, this was one of the hardest. It made them yearn for the familiar tastes of the country they left behind.

Did I say they came to a new land of opportunity?

In a short time they began baking their own bread which helped make the transition less painful.

I guess the rest is history. The number the Italian bakeries that exist in this country today confirms the fact that fresh baked bread and confections are sought not only by Italians but many other cultures as well.

My childhood memories include coming home from school and opening the door to an unforgettable aroma. This is an experience that I have shared with my own family many times. In keeping with tradition, I made this bread in one of the same shapes my mother use to make for us.

Old Country Basic Bread

4 ½ to 5 cups bread flour
2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
Cornmeal (for sprinkling on baking sheet)

1. Dissolve the sugar into the warm water, add yeast and stir. Set aside until yeast rises to the top and foams.
2. Into a large bowl, measure 3 cups of the flour, mix in the salt then add the yeast mixture.
3. With a wooden spoon stir until well mixed.
4. Gradually add the rest of the flour and keep stirring until it forms a soft dough that is no longer sticky. This usually happens after the total of 4 ½ cups of flour have been added but depends on the moisture content of the flour.
5. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead 6 to 8 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic.
6. Form into a ball and place into a clean bowl, rub some vegetable oil over the surface of the dough and place a clean tea towel over top.
7. In a warm place away from drafts, allow dough to rise 1 ½ to 2 hours or until doubled in volume.
8. Turn dough out on to a floured surface and knead about 1 minute until smooth.
9. Shape dough and place on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal.
10. Cover with clean tea towel and let rise again in a warm place for 30 to 40 minutes or until doubled in volume.
11. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. and bake for 20 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 375 degrees F. and bake approximately 30 minutes more or until bread is a deep golden colour. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire rack.
12. To shape dough as in picture above, after the first rising, knead dough 1 minute then form into a ball.
13. With rolling pin roll ball of dough to about 1 ½ inch thickness in an oval shape.
14. Starting at short end, roll dough (it will not be uniform since you are rolling an oval shape.) Place roll on prepared baking sheet open end on the bottom and shape into a crescent. With scissors snip outer edge of crescent 4 to 5 times. Allow second rising and bake as above.

Notes, Tips and Suggestions

• All purpose flour works well in this recipe but bread flour definitely yields superior results.
• Try substituting equal amounts of whole wheat or semolina for the white flour.
• Before placing bread into preheated oven for baking, place an empty pan on the lower rack of the oven and fill with boiling water. (use a pan that is at least 2 inches deep and fill ¾ full.) This will create moisture that allows bread to rise again before forming a crust. This also produces a thicker crust.
• Before shaping the loaves, divide dough in half and make two smaller loaves. This way you can give one loaf away for someone else to enjoy!
• You’ll definitely need a dish that goes well with the heartiness of this loaf. The next post may help you out.

Recipe for Smiles: Cookies on a Stick

Biscotti have an air of European sophistication; and I do believe they have their place in the grand scheme of life’s little pleasures.

But basic chewy oatmeal cookies will always come in first place with kids, (and most adults I might add), especially if embellished with some candy covered chocolate and a wooden popsicle stick!

For some reason, the wooden stick manages to take this simple cookie into a new dimension.

I’ve simply lost count of the beautiful smiles I’ve had the pleasure of seeing over the many years that I have baked them. These cookies have literally celebrated decades of children’s birthdays.

I also remember baking these favourites for my kids’ school bake sales. The funny thing is, they would sell out before they even got to the sale table. The school staff would buy them all for their own kids.

Personally, I think these oatmeal cookies deserve a place in the category of comfort food! I guarantee smiles will always follow.

Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup all purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup shortening

½ cup packed brown sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

½ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup rolled oats (quick cooking – this is important!)

1 cup M&M’s or other candy coated chocolate (optional)

1. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl beat together shortening, sugars, vanilla and egg until well blended.
3. Stir in dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Then stir in rolled oats.
4. Roll into balls, place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 375 degrees F.
5. For cookies on a stick, make 10 to 12 balls and space well apart on cookie sheet.
6. Insert a wooden stick about ¾ of the way into each ball and flatten with fingers to about 2 ½ inches in diameter.
7. Cover tops of cookie dough with candy, placing as many as will fit touching each other. As cookie dough spreads the candy will space itself out.
8. Bake between 12 to 15 minutes or until golden. Cool on cookie sheets for 4 to 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.
9. For regular oatmeal cookies, make 20 balls place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet, no need to flatten and bake between 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on rack.

Notes Tips and Suggestions

• To prevent cookies from over browning on bottom, place a sheet of aluminium foil on lower rack of oven before baking.
• This recipe can easily become Chocolate Chip Oatmeal or Raisin Oatmeal by adding 1 cup of your choice right after you add the oatmeal.
• Once again parchment paper is a time saver.
• These cookies freeze very well, just don’t tell anyone exactly where in the freezer you’ve placed them. They tell me they’re just as good when eaten frozen.

Mocha Chocolate Chunk Biscotti

Biscotti are well known delicious Italian cookies... or are they? I mean they are delicious, there’s no question about that. But being Italian my entire life, you would think that I would have realized sooner rather than later that the word “ biscotti” simply translates as “twice baked.”

As most children of Italian immigrants will agree, their parents called anything that you or I would call a cookie, biscotti. You can see how this may have caused some confusion.

For my entire life I thought I was enjoying biscotti when in fact they were mere cookies!

Finding good biscotti recipes has presented other challenges. I’ve tried any recipe that I could get my hands on.

Grandmothers, aunts and friends were among those who were kind enough to part with their authentic biscotti recipes.

Much to my disappointment I ended up with piles of tasteless little bricks!

This may have had something to do with their lack of standard measuring utensils or the fact that the recipes were never provided in written form. They were usually recited by memory and we can all appreciate the margin for error that existed with this method.

I had basically given up on the hope of finding a really good recipe. However, it’s hard to believe that I’ve recently managed to find three recipes that make amazing Triple Chocolate Orange, Lemon Pistachio and Mocha Chocolate Chunk Biscotti. I’ll share one of the recipes with you on this post although it was hard to choose which one!

Cookies and biscotti, I love them both, but I think it’s the “twice baked” that makes biscotti “twice as good!”

Mocha Chocolate Chunk Biscotti

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons instant coffee

2 cups all purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

4 squares semi sweet chocolate coarsely chopped

1. In a small bowl beat eggs and instant coffee until well blended.
2. Sift together flour and baking powder and set aside.
3. In a large bowl beat butter and sugar until well blended.
4. Add egg mixture and with beater mix well.
5. Gradually add flour mixture blending well after each addition.
6. Stir in chocolate.
7. Place dough on lightly floured surface; divide in half and roll each piece into a 14 inch log.
8. Place on greased baking sheet at least 2 inches apart.
9. Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned then remove from sheet onto cutting board, cool 10 minutes.
10. Using a serrated knife cut into ¾ inch slices.
11. Stand slices upright on baking sheet and bake an additional 10 minutes or until dry and crisp.
12. Cool completely on cooling racks then store in a tightly covered container at room temperature. Yield 3 dozen biscotti.

Notes, Tips and Suggestions

• To avoid bottoms of biscotti from over browning place a sheet of aluminum foil on the lower oven rack at the start of baking.·
• Omit chocolate chunks and after baking dip the biscotti halfway into melted semi sweet chocolate.
• Using parchment paper instead of greasing pan makes cleaning up easier.
• Recipe states that it yields 3 dozen biscotti but if you cut them diagonally it will yield between 2 to 2 ½ dozen. Personally, I think longer diagonally cut biscotti make a better presentation.
• If by any chance you manage to have any leftovers, these biscotti freeze very well.
• Even the “unbaked’ dough of this “twice baked” treat is hard to resist!

Apple Muffins

Sometime during our teen years my sister Mary and I began collecting recipes. Most of them came from either magazines or booklets that were handed out in our Home Economics class. I believe these days it’s called Family Studies or something similar. Back then, she was the family baker and I must admit used to turn out a great apple pie! Her recipe for apple muffins was also a real winner as I recall.

I honestly can’t tell you if it was the recipe that was so amazing or just the fact that they were the first good muffins we ever tasted.

Unfortunately, and without revealing any names, all of our recipes were (accidentally?) thrown out. Our recipe collection would have perhaps survived if it hadn’t been filed in an old shoe box in the crawl space under the basement stairs. Fortunately, our filing system has become much more sophisticated since then.

Would you believe we still pine for that recipe every time the subject comes up between us?

Over the years I have tried to find a recipe that will satisfy the memory that remains impressed on my mind. After trying many apple muffin recipes, I’ve managed to narrow it down to three very good ones.

The recipe that follows is one of the three that comes close to this warm memory. However, the quest is definitely not over!

Apple Muffins

1 cup all purpose flour

¾ cups brown sugar

¾ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¾ teaspoons salt

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon milk

1 egg

1 ½ cups chopped peeled apple

1. In a medium size bowl sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
2. Peel, core and chop 3 to 4 medium size apples, enough to make 1 ½ cups. (1/2 inch dice)
3. Place sugar, oil, milk and egg into blender and blend well.
4. Add the chopped apple to the blender and pulse 2 to 3 times only.
5. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add the wet mixture and stir together only until combined. Do not over mix.
6. Fill 8 paper lined muffin cups with batter and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Remove from pan and cool on rack.

Notes, Tips and Suggestions

• Most muffin recipes will instruct you not to over mix. It can’t be stressed enough, over mixing makes for tough muffins.
• When a recipe states that it yields 12 muffins, I usually make 8 to 9. Personally, I like muffins that have large crisp tops. Undersized muffins aren’t as appealing or inviting.
• Fill all remaining muffin wells with water to prevent the muffin pan from burning.
• Dressing up the tops of muffins adds interesting texture and makes them more appealing to the eye. A good topping for these apple muffins is an apple crisp mixture.
• I happened to have some in the fridge one day and placed a tablespoon of the mixture on top of each muffin before baking. Yum! The rolled oat, butter, flour and brown sugar mixture complimented the apple muffins perfectly. It has now become part of the recipe.
• It’s interesting to note that each of the three apple muffin recipes I make use a different variety of apple. This recipe works well with MacIntosh apples. Perhaps in future posts the Granny Smith and Golden Delicious will make their debut!