Beth: Feta & Chives Cornbread Recipe

As the days shorten and temperatures take a nightly dive, my food cravings begin to turn towards fall's hearty soup and stew offerings. It's not that I am done with summer — there are still lots of tomatoes on the counter and the herb garden is bursting with late summer goodness – it's more that I feel the need to diversify a bit. Hedge my bets against the day the sun doesn't shine so brightly.

Maybe it goes with the simmering pot of blueberry habenero chutney, another sure sign of fall, or perhaps it's just absence making the heart grow fonder, but the other night I found myself pulling a container of someoneElse's chili out of the freezer.

A brief digression may be called for here. Around our place, there are several levels of heat in food: warm, hot, hot, hot, and GeorgeHot. The latter refers not to George Clooney but rather is named for a friend who likes really hot stuff – a high point of one of George's recent vacations was discovering a tourist shop in a small Washington town with a shelf full of one of his favorite hot sauces from New Zealand...on sale. someoneElse has been working on making something so hot that George is satisfied. Said satisfaction may involve post-tasting skin grafts on his tongue. I, unfortunately, get sideswiped by incorrectly labeled things on occasion. This chili said hot, I swear.

Where was I? Oh yes, chili... freezer.

The plan was simple: chili, salad, bread. A quick and easy dinner that could expand to include the friend who called from the road and was invited to join us. I was a happy mage.

Except that the month of the broken oven (now over, thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster!) left me with darned little in the way of bread in the house. Nothing, actually.

Checking the clock, I realized that all I had time for was some sort of quick bread. Chili...quick bread...it must be cornbread!

As the only part of the meal I could claim to have worked on, though, the cornbread had to be special. A peek in the refrigerator uncovered feta cheese. I can work with that.

Google "quick bread" + feta and I see this sentence: "Cornbread is a quick bread." Thinking, "Ah, cornbread, with a reference to feta somewhere - that must be a sign" I clicked on the link.

Kevin's Cheese Bread. Um, err, is that my site?

Is that a sign?

If so, it was off by one post, because I didn't have sour cream, which looks essential to the cheese bread recipe. What ended up catching my eye was Susan's Savory Cheese and Scallion scones, for which I didn't have cream cheese.

(Am I the only person who gets this phone call: "Hi, do you happen to have two and a half pounds of cream cheese in the refrigerator?" Seriously, that was an actual call from yesterday. It's sad that I didn't because there was cheesecake involved and I am sure I could have claimed a slice. note to self: stock up on cream cheese)

Taking my inspiration from Susan's scones and applying it to my original idea of cornbread, I came up with feta and chive cornbread (because I didn't have scallions either). Baked in a preheated cast iron skillet, this came together in minutes and was ready to eat in under an hour. Which is about how long it takes to heat chili, make a salad and clean enough of the dining room that you can eat at the table.

Oh yes, the chili. The hot+ chili. I mean the georgeHot chili. It's enough to make a mage glad there was a lot of cornbread.

kitchenMage's Feta Chive Cornbread

Ingredient wolume US wolume metric weight US weight metricFlour 1 1/2 cups 355 ml 6 3/4 oz 190 gr
Cornmeal 1 1/3 cup 295 ml 6 3/4 oz 190 gr
Salt 1 1/2 tsp 8 ml 1/4 oz 7 gr
Sugar 2 tsp 10 ml ~1/2 oz 14 gr
Baking soda 3/4 tsp 4 ml 1/8 oz 3-4 gr
Baking powder 2 1/2 tsp 13 ml 3/8 oz 11 gr
Feta cheese crumbled 1/2 cup 20 ml 3 oz 85 gr
Chives fresh, chopped 1/4 cup 60 ml 1/2 oz 14 gr
Eggs 3
Buttermilk 1 1/2 cup 355 ml 12 oz 335 gr
Butter 1/3 cup 80 ml 2 5/8 oz 75 gr

Preheat oven to 425F (220C).

If you are making this cornbread in a cast iron skillet or similar heavy dish, and I do recommend it, place it in the oven while it preheats. Otherwise, grease a 10" round pan and set aside.

Place flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, baking powder and baking soda in bowl and stir to combine. Add crumbled feta cheese and chopped chives and toss gently to coat.

Beat eggs lightly and combine with buttermilk. (If you don't have buttermilk, put 2 tsp of white vinegar in a measuring cup, add milk to the 1 1/2 cup mark and let sit in a warm place for 5-10 minutes before using.)

If you are not using a preheated baking pan, melt the butter, let cool a bit and add to liquid ingredients.

Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture and mix gently until just combined.

If you are using a preheated pan, cut the butter into several pieces and toss them into the hot pan just before adding the batter. Otherwise, just add batter to pan and place in preheated oven.

Bake at 450° for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. Turn out onto rack to cool for a few minutes before serving.

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Susan: Quick Breads -- Beer Bread

When it comes to minimum input and maximum output in the kitchen, beer bread is about as good as it gets. Five minutes of work reward you with a heavenly aroma wafting through the house and a warm, crusty loaf in under an hour. I once made beer bread for a cooking class called Cozy Breads & Soups, and even after watching me make it, several people could still hardly believe how easy it was to put together — and how good it tasted.

I'm not sure where most people taste beer bread for the first time, but I do know that there are plenty of folks looking to make their own. I wrote about beer bread on Farmgirl Fare back in November of 2005, and to this day that article gets more search hits than any other post on my blog.

Beer bread is delicious warm or at room temperature and goes well with just about anything. You can even use it to make sandwiches. A thick slice of leftover beer bread popped in the toaster and slathered with butter is a wonderful thing. It also freezes beautifully. (If you don't intend to serve your beer bread right away, keep in mind that the flavor of any herbs you add may intensify over time.)

There are endless flavor variations of beer bread possible; simply add whatever you desire to the basic dry mix. It's fun to experiment with different beers and ales, too. A darker beer will give you a deeper flavor. You can even make it with non-alcoholic beer. Since we've been brewing our own Irish pale ale for years, I never buy beer anymore, but fellow food blogger Nic at Baking Bites recently made an apricot beer bread using an apricot ale that I think just might get me to make an exception.

There are so few ingredients in beer bread that it's difficult to believe anyone would have the nerve to sell Beer Bread Mix. And yet I've seen packages of it selling for upwards of eight dollars. A batch of your own signature homemade beer bread mix makes a great gift. Just tuck a zipper bag of the dry mix into a colorful tin (or even a brown paper bag tied with a festive ribbon) and voila! — a charming, scrumptious gift suitable for practically any occasion. Include baking instructions written or printed out on a simple card. If the recipient is a dear friend, you might even consider sharing the recipe for the mix.

I've made all sorts of beer breads in the past, including a whole wheat version, but I wanted to try something different for A Year In Bread. My creativity was sparked when a Farmgirl Fare reader e-mailed me a few weeks ago saying their first batch of beer bread was in the oven and that they had a few questions, including whether I'd ever made beer bread with rye flour. I hadn't, but that got me thinking about the sourdough onion rye bread I make — all too infrequently for some people.

I decided I would cook some chopped onion and caraway seeds in olive oil as I do for the sourdough onion rye, and then substitute some rye flour for the all-purpose flour. It wasn't until I had the loaf in the oven and was halfway done cleaning up the kitchen that I realized I'd forgotten to actually add any rye flour to the batter.

The nice thing about screwing up beer bread is that it doesn't take long to whip up another batch. The un-rye loaf actually turned out quite tasty, and it was definitely the better looking of the two. It didn't really taste like it was missing a main ingredient until I bit into a slice from the second loaf and said, "Ah ha. Now that tastes like rye bread!" They aren't quite as good as a crusty loaf of my sourdough onion rye, but they didn't take hours and hours to make either.

Today for lunch I toasted up a slice of the rye version in the toaster oven and then topped it with a slather of cream cheese, a layer of thinly sliced homegrown lamb salami, and juicy slices of heirloom tomatoes from the garden. Tomorrow Joe is planning to top a couple of the un-rye slices with Swiss cheese and tomatoes and heat them in the toaster oven. Tonight we're having grilled burgers, and I'm thinking toasted slices of onion rye beer bread would probably make a very good stand-in for a bun.

These new beer breads have serious possibilities.

Susan's Beyond Easy Beer Bread
Makes one loaf

The optional egg glaze gives the top a beautiful, dark golden color. As always, I encourage you to use locally produced and organically grown ingredients whenever possible.
Basic Beer Bread Mix:
Ingredient | US volume | Metric volume | US weight | Metric weight
all-purpose flour 3 cups | 750 ml | 15 1/8 oz | 430 g
granulated sugar 1 tbsp | 15 ml | 5/8 oz | 16 g
salt 1 tsp | 5 ml | 1/4 oz | 6 g
baking powder 1 tbsp | 15 ml | 5/8 oz | 16 g

beer 1 1/2 cups | 355 ml | 12 oz | 338 g
Optional glaze 1 egg & 2 tsp (10 ml) water, beaten

Heat oven to 375F/190C degrees. Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Slowly stir in beer and mix just until combined. Batter will be thick. Spread in a greased 8-inch (20cm) loaf pan, brush with egg glaze if desired, and bake until golden brown and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool 10 more minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Will keep for 1 to 2 days stored in a plastic bag or airtight container. May be frozen.

Flavor Variations:
Onion Rye or Un-Rye: Heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet. Add 1 cup finely chopped onion and 1 Tablespoon caraway seeds. Cook at medium heat, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent and beginning to brown, about 5 to 8 minutes. (This step may be done ahead of time; let onion mixture sit at room temperature up to two hours or refrigerate.)

If desired, replace the 3 cups of all-purpose flour with 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup rye flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour. Stir onion mixture into batter along with 2 more Tablespoons of beer or water.

Cheddar & Dill: Add 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill and finely grated sharp cheddar cheese to the basic mix.

Garlic & Herb: Add 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, and 2 minced garlic cloves (or 1 teaspoon garlic flakes) to the basic mix. For fresh herbs, use 1 chopped Tablespoon of each.

Dill & Chive: Add 2 Tablespoons fresh dill (or 2 teaspoons dried dill) and 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives to the basic mix.

Italian: Add 1 teaspoon each dried basil and oregano (or 1 Tablespoon each chopped fresh basil and oregano), 2 minced cloves of garlic, and 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan or romano cheese to the basic mix.

Other Additions: Any dried or fresh herbs; 1/2 cup freshly grated asiago (or other hard cheese); 1/2 cup chopped scallions; 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, 1/2 cup oats in place of 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour; or practically anything else you can think of — use your imagination.

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Beth: Quick Breads - Blueberry Muffins

My oven is on the blink. More precisely, it's on the not-blink. As in the electronics are dead, the lights don't blink and the oven doesn't heat. The poor thing died about ten days ago and I am still doing research on its replacement — leaving me ovenless. Not to mention in baking withdrawal. As some people might say, I am in my dark place.

Note to readers: if you have suggestions for a reasonable replacement, please comment. If you happen to work for a place that makes awesome stoves and would like me to test one and report, drop me a note.

As luck would have it, however, my oven blinked yesterday. Briefly. Just long enough for me to bake a batch of muffins for this article.

Not knowing how much of a window I had before the touchpad decided to be untouchable again, I decided to try several variations on my usual muffin recipe all at once. I knew going in that this might not be such a great idea — heck, I am a geek and know to my bones that you only change one variable at a time because otherwise you don't know which change created a particular effect. Sort of blows the point of experimenting.

With this firmly out of mind, I decided to try a new take on my trusty blueberry muffin recipe. I have long wanted a blueberry muffin that is somehow more enticing than what you usually encounter. My favorite description of my food is 'complex' and most blueberry muffins are anything but. The idea was to create a muffin that was a step towards cake, but just a single step, while adding some depth to the flavor. Here are the individual changes and my thoughts on each of them:

• Beaten egg whites: Taking a suggestion from Bittman's How to Cook Everything, I hoped the additional loft of stiffly beaten egg whites would lighten the bread. Not so much. While the whites looked good going in to the batter, there was no discernable effect on the finished product. Conclusion — extra effort for no reason.


• Resting the batter after portioning: This old trick, often found in cornbread recipes, gives the leavening time to form itty-bitty bubbles in the batter. When the muffins are put in the oven, these holes expand from the hot air and result in a higher crown. Sadly, this also gives the berries time to sink to the bottom of the muffin tins. Conclusion — save this for quick breads without such extra ingredients.


• Silicone muffin pan: What a mess! Everything stuck to the bottom and they came apart in pieces when I tried to remove them after baking. Conclusion — What the heck was I thinking?


• Lavender: Blueberries and lavender go together like bread and butter, maybe better. Conclusion — this is the only keeper from my experimentation.

The oven? It's back on the blink. But at least I have fresh blueberry muffins to console myself with.

kitchenMage's everMorphing blueberryMuffins
Makes one dozen normal muffins (or 6 huge ones)

sugar 1/2 cup | 120 ml | 3 1/2 ounces | 100 grams
lavender buds (fresh) 1 teaspoon | 5 ml |1/8 ounce | 5 grams
egg 1
butter melted and cooled 3 tablespoons | 1 1/2 ounces | 42 grams
low-fat sour cream 1 1/4 cups | 295 ml | 10 3/4 ounces | 300 grams
all-purpose flour 1 3/4 cups | 415 ml | 7 7/8 ounces | 220 grams
baking powder 2 teaspoons | 10 ml | 1/8 ounce | 7 grams
baking soda 1 teaspoon | 5 ml | 1/16 ounce | 5 grams
salt 1/8 teaspoon | ~1 ml
blueberries 1 1/4 cups | 295 ml | 5 5/8 ounces | 160 grams (if fresh simply wash; if frozen leave them in the freezer until you are ready to use them)
optional butter and cinnamon sugar for topping after baking

Preheat oven to 375°. Have all ingredients, except frozen blueberries, at room temperature. Prepare muffin pan with paper cup liners.

Berries for Muffins

When selecting blueberries for muffins, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Smaller berries are better. There is a relationship between the proximity of berries to each other and how muffins bake. Large berries sink to the bottom of the batter more quickly resulting in a layer of berries touching each other with not much batter in between and thus a much wetter muffin bottom than is desirable.

Less is more. It is tempting to put 'just another handful' of berries in your batter but resist. Too many berries will also leave you with wet muffins that bake unevenly.

Stay cool. If the berries are frozen, keep them that way until you put them in the batter. They are less likely to disintegrate and leave you with blue muffins.

Don't eat them all while picking. While it is tempting to stuff one fistful after another in your mouth while standing in the berry patch, you really should leave a few for the muffins. Or is this just me?

1. Grind the sugar and lavender in a blender briefly to chop the buds up. (use a little less lavender if you have dried buds)

2. In a medium-sized bowl, beat the egg briefly with a wire whisk to lighten. Add the sugar and continue to whisk until you can no longer feel any resistance from undissolved sugar.

3. Add the butter to the bowl and mix briefly to combine, then add sour cream and whisk until mixture is smooth and homogenous. (You can whisk an additional minute or two at this point, if your wrist can take it, to aerate the batter, making the muffins a bit lighter.)

4. In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients and stir thoroughly to mix and eliminate lumps. (I use a 6" handheld sieve — the muffins come together more easily if the flour is well aerated.)

5. Add the blueberries to the dry mixture and toss them gently for a few seconds to coat the berries.

6. Add liquid mixture to the flour mixture and combine with a few quick folds.

7. Scoop batter into muffin pan (a 4 oz scoop is about the right size).

8. Bake for about 25-30 minutes until tops are golden brown. Turn out on wire rack to cool.

9. If desired, brush still warm muffins with melted butter and sprinkle on a bit of cinnamon sugar.

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Kevin: Quick Breads - Cheese Bread

This month we’re doing quick breads. A quick bread is one that uses something other than yeast for leavening, typically a chemical leavener. Biscuits are quickbreads — unless they’re sour-dough biscuits. Muffins are quick breads. Cornbread is a quick bread. Even popovers are quick breads, although they rely on eggs for leavening.

The chemical leaveners are baking soda and baking powder and they work by producing CO2 gas, which is the same way yeast works. Yeast, however, digests sugars and produces CO2 as part of its metabolism, while baking soda and baking powder work by combining an alkali ingredient (the baking soda) with an acid.to produce CO2. If your recipe contains an acid ingredient such as buttermilk, lemon juice, or sour cream then baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, an alkali) will react with that acid to create the gas.

Chemical leavening is a recent invention in the history of bread. Or, perhaps more accurately, their deliberate use is a recent invention with baking powder being the real breakthrough. Various combinations of chemicals were used in the early 19th century, but in 1856 a chemist named Eben Horsford developed a powder he named in honor of Count Rumford — yes, that Rumford Baking Powder. But it wasn’t until the end of the 19th century, when a German pharmacist named August Oetker started selling it to housewives, that chemical leavening entered the culinary mainstream.

Baking powder is a mixture of baking soda and an acid such as monosodium phosphate, thus providing both ingredients in a single ingredient. Baking powder usually includes cornstarch to absorb water vapor and keep the acid and alkali from interacting in the box. Adding a liquid when making something like biscuits or muffins overwhelms the cornstarch and the active ingredients combine and produce CO2. But, over time, even the ambient humidity (the water vapor in the air) will saturate the corn starch and the active chemicals will begin interacting. This is why baking powder has a limited shelf life.

Bacon/Onion/Gruyere
Another option is to fry five strips of bacon cut into 1/2" pieces. Drain the bacon and add 1/2 of an onion, minced and sauté it for about three minutes. Make the bread according to the directions at left but leaving out the butter, substituting gruyere for the cheddar. Fold in the bacon and onion, then cook according to the recipe.

Double-acting baking soda includes an additional acid ingredient (usually sodium aluminum sulphate) that kicks in when heated. Without the heat it’s inert and so double-acting baking powder works the first time by combining the bicarbonate of soda and monosodium phosphate in the presence of water, and then, when heated up by the interaction between the soda and aluminum sulphate.

The following is a recipe I’ve been meaning to try since 2004 when Cooks Illustrated published it. This seemed like a perfect opportunity and I decided to match it up with a stuffed tomato for a late summer supper.

Cheese Bread
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated, May/June 2004.

Ingredient | US Volume | Metric Volume | US Weight | Metric weight
parmesan — coarsely shredded ~ 1 c | ~ 235 ml | 3 oz | 85 g
all-purpose flour 3 c | 710 ml | 15 1/2 oz | 440 g
baking powder 1 tbsp | 15 ml | 5/8 oz | 18 g
cayenne 1/4 tsp | 1.2 ml | -- | --
salt 1 tsp | 5 ml | 1/4 oz | 7 g
black pepper 1/8 tsp | .6 ml | -- | --
sharp cheddar -- | -- | 4 oz | 113 g
whole milk 1 1/4 c | 296 ml | 10 oz | 283 g
butter — melted 3 tbsp | 45 ml | 1 1/2 oz | 43 g
large egg — lightly beaten 1 ea
sour cream 3/4 c | 177 ml | 6 oz | 170 g

Heat oven to 350F (177C). Spray a 9" x 5" (20cm x 12cm) loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Spread half of parmesan on the bottom of the pan.

Cut cheddar into 1/2" (1.25cm) dice.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cayenne, salt, and black pepper. Add cheddar and toss to coat.

In a medium bowl, mix together milk, butter, egg, and sour cream. Combine liquid and dry ingredients folding together with a spatula until just mixed.

Pour into the loaf pan and top with remaining parmesan. Bake in center of oven 45 to 50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Note, because you may hit a pocket of cheese, use the toothpick test in two or three spots.

Cool in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then turn bread out and continue cooling for 45 minutes.

It's hrad to beat cheese bread, and this version, with the chunks of melted cheese in it is fun to eat. The sour cream keeps it pleasantly moist and the cayenne adds a great touch of spiciness. I've just been sticking it in the toaster oven to warm up and then eating it plain.

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Breads for Breakfast and Brunch

I've never been a breakfast person. Or, perhaps more accurately, I never been big on eating breakfast. A cup of coffee and a newspaper is all I want when I get up. But give me an hour or so for my belly and taste buds to wake up and I can match a lumberjack sausage for sausage, flapjack for flapjack, and biscuit for bagel. Consequently, I'm a huge fan of brunch.

Early summer is the perfect season for brunch, morning temperatures are perfect for sitting outside on the patio or by a pool eating strata, noshing on sausages, and drinking Mimosas or Bloody Mary's. The combination is hard to beat. But you've got to have some sort of bread, so we've come up with a trio of quick breads for that lazy summer morning with a few good friends.

Susan's Savory Cheese & Scallion Scones
Makes 8 large scones

I came up with this recipe back in 1993 during a severe scone craving when there was no butter in the house. They're a snap to prepare and are really versatile. Serve them warm from the oven with dinner instead of rolls or bread--plain, buttered, or with cream cheese. Or split and toast in the toaster, spread with cream cheese and thinly sliced ham or turkey for a satisfying breakfast on the run, light lunch, or terrific after-school snack. They also freeze beautifully if you happen to have any left over (hint: the recipe can easily be doubled). Defrost at room temperature and heat at 375 degrees in an oven or toaster oven for about 5 to 8 minutes. If you're in a hurry, you can defrost them in the microwave before reheating.

Half & half will give you richer scones with a slightly nicer texture, but milk works quite well, is lower in fat and calories, and is usually always in the fridge. Either way, these are very moist and are healthier for you than traditional scones made with butter and/or heavy cream. You can also substitute Neufchatel cheese for the cream cheese, but I don't recommend using fat-free cream cheese. Fresh baking powder is essential. And as always, I urge you to seek out locally grown and organic ingredients whenever possible.
The optional egg glaze will give your scones a beautiful shine and dark golden color. Look for locally produced, farm fresh eggs at your farmer's market or natural foods store. You won't believe the difference compared to commercial eggs. The yolks are sometimes so dark they are a gorgeous deep orange, and the eggs actually taste like eggs! Enjoy.

2-1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoons baking powder*
1 teaspoon salt
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (I use sheep/goat milk)
4 ounces cream cheese, softened in microwave 15-30 seconds (you want it very soft)
4 large scallions (green onions), green & white parts, chopped
1 cup half & half or whole milk
1 egg
Optional egg glaze:
Beat well with a fork:
1 egg & 2 Tablespoons milk

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine 2-1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

Add cheeses & toss gently with a fork until combined.

Add scallions & toss gently with a fork until combined.

Beat half & half (or milk) with egg and gently fold into dry ingredients, mixing lightly until a soft dough forms. Add up to 1/2 cup additional flour if the dough is too sticky.

On a floured surface, gently pat dough into a circle approximately 1-inch thick. The key to tender scones is to handle the dough with a light touch and as little as possible. With a sharp knife (I use a large serrated knife dipped in flour) cut the circle into 8 wedges and place them on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. (I can't imagine life without my commercial half-size sheet pans.)

Brush tops and sides of scones with egg glaze if desired, and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm, or cool completely and refrigerate or freeze in an airtight container.

*Make sure it's fresh! I prefer Rumford brand, as it does not contain aluminum and always gives me excellent results.

kitchenMage's Quick and Flaky Biscuits
Makes 12 - 15 biscuits.

Biscuits are a perennial favorite. You can eat a fresh biscuit about 30 minutes after you decide you want one. (I believe this is the landspeed record for homemade breadstuff.) Hot out of the oven, a biscuit is simply layers of delicate, steaming flaky near-pastry. Add a smear of butter and a dollop of jam and it could be dessert! Biscuits are also a perfect recipe for teaching small children to bake. They are that easy, plus, tiny child hands can be very gentle, which helps with the flakiness.

Ingredient | US volume | US weight | Metric
Flour | 2 1/4 cups | 10 1/8 ounces | 285 grams
Salt | 3/4 tsp | 1/8 ounce | 4-5 grams
Sugar | 1 tablespoon | 5/8 ounce | 18 grams
Baking powder | 4 teaspoons | 5/8 ounce | 19 grams
Butter, very cold | 1/3 cup | 2 5/8 ounces | 75 grams
Milk, very cold | 1 cup | 8 ounces | 225 gram

Preheat oven to 450°

Place flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and baking soda in food processor and pulse for a few seconds to combine.

Cut cold butter into small pieces and add to food processor. Pulse half a dozen times and check for the size of the butter pieces. Repeat if necessary until the butter is in pieces roughly the size of peas.

Put flour mixture in a mixing bowl and add the cold milk. Toss together gently until barely combined. I use the little white plastic tool in the picture to lift the dough from the side of the bowl and dump it on top of the rest of the dough.

As soon as the dough holds together, turn it out on a lightly floured counter. Gently "knead" the dough a few strokes until it is a mostly a cohesive ball.

Roll the dough into a rectangle 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick, depending on how tall you like your biscuits. Cut into 2 inch circles, you should get 12 - 15, and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake at 450° for 8 - 10 minutes. Butter and eat while still warm.

Kevin: Butter Popovers
Makes six large popovers or 12 small.

Actually, these are Rose Beranbaum's popovers, based on a recipe in The Bread Bible. These are the best popovers I've ever eaten, the butter adds richness and tones down the strong eggy flavor most popovers have. If you don't have a popover pan, use a muffin pan and be sure to only half-fill the cups.

1 c Wondra flour (must be Wondra)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 c whole milk — at room temperature
2 eggs — at room temperature
4 tbsp butter — melted

Heat oven to 425F 30 minutes in advance. Place one oven rack on the bottom level and the other on the second level (this avoids having the popover rising into the other rack).

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and sugar. Slowly add milk using an electric mixer on low. Add eggs one at a time, thoroughly mixing after each addition. Add two tablespoons of butter to batter. Transfer to pitcher for pouring.

Brush popover cups with butter then distribute remaining butter evenly among the cups.

Heat popover pan in oven for 3 minutes. Fill each cup halfway with batter.

Cook popovers on the second rack for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350F and continue cooking 20 - 35 minutes until well puffed and brown. Do not open oven for at least the first 20 minutes. Six - 10 minutes before popovers are done, use a small, sharp knife to poke a slit in the top of each popover and allow steam to escape.

When done, remove popovers from the pan and cool on a rack.

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