Chapter-2

Banana bread, long a staple of bakery counters. Blueberry muffins, a classic breakfast treat. Baking powder biscuits, the perfect partner for a bowl of soup. Scones, highlighting the late afternoon tea break. What do all of these wonderful recipes have in common? They fall under the mantle of quick breads: breads leavened with baking powder, baking soda, or eggs (rather than yeast), and put immediately into the oven, rather than rising on the counter first.

They’re the answer when you want baked goods in a hurry. Quick breads fall into two basic categories: batter breads and free-form shaped doughs. Batter breads, whose initial dough texture ranges from pourable to thick, are baked in a shaped pan of some kind; breads in this category include muffins, batter loaves, steamed breads and puddings, and some updated soda breads.

Quick breads made from a stiff dough—including biscuits, scones, and traditional soda breads—are usually baked on a baking sheet, after being formed by hand or cutter, or simply “dropped” from the bowl onto the pan. Drop biscuits or scones are characterized by their craggy shape and slightly moister texture.

Muffins

There’s nothing quite so comfortingly familiar as a warm muffin, spread with butter or preserves, enjoyed with a cup of coffee or tea.

Muffins are versatile. You can add nuts, fruit, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, or ginger. Chopped chocolate or chocolate chips are nice, too. Savory muffins might include cheese, dried or fresh herbs, or even meat (like crumbled bacon). Just remember not to be too heavy-handed with the additions: One cup of fruit, nuts, or other addition per cup of flour is just about the outer limit of what you can add and still expect the muffin to hold together and rise. We highly recommend a muffin scoop (see Tools, page 546) to deliver your batter to the pans with minimal mess.

Sifting Dry Ingredients in “Stir” Recipes

There are good reasons for the dry ingredients to be sifted or whisked together before you add them to the wet ingredients. First, there’s nothing quite so unappetizing as biting into a muffin or cookie and tasting a big lump of either baking powder or baking soda. Second, sifting or whisking aerates the flour, and when you add it to the wet ingredients in its aerated state, you’re more likely to have a light, finished product.

Beaten vs. Stirred

There are two basic ways to prepare a muffin: the easy formula that barely marries the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, and can be completed with a few simple swipes of a spoon; and a more complicated, cake-like technique that makes a more tender, finer-grained muffin.

When using the simple method of muffin preparation, the key phrase to remember is “fast and gentle.” Whisk together the flour and other dry ingredients until you’ve created a veritable kitchen dust storm; beat the wet ingredients together until they’re absolutely smooth. But once liquid meets dry—tread softly. When the protein in the flour meets liquid it forms gluten, a tough, elastic matrix of proteins whose structure traps carbon dioxide and allows bread to rise. Gluten also allows muffins to rise, but muffins don’t need to rise nearly as far as bread, and their structure sets much more quickly. Thus we want to keep gluten development to a minimum when making muffins, which means mixing muffin ingredients gently and quickly once they’ve combined to form a batter—just barely enough to moisten the flour is sufficient. Don’t worry about any small lumps as they’ll disappear during baking.

The second muffin preparation method, creaming, relies on thorough beating of the butter and sugar in the recipe, which fills it with tiny air bubbles. The resulting batter makes a fine-grained, tender product, because each of those tiny air bubbles expands as it’s heated during the baking process, creating a fine rather than coarse texture in the muffin. You’ll find this preparation method no different than that used for cake-making.

All-Star Muffins

This all-purpose, basic muffin can easily be customized (see variations below). Once mixed, the batter will keep up to a week in the refrigerator. It’s nice to wake up, turn on the oven, make your morning coffee, scoop two muffins, pop them in to bake, and by the time you’ve fetched the paper and let the dog back in, you’re ready to settle down for a wonderful, warm, freshly baked breakfast.

Preheat the oven to 400°F and lightly grease 16 muffin cups or use paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together with a handheld or stand mixer until light and fluffy and almost white in color. Scrape down the bowl to make sure all the butter is incorporated, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and sour cream and mix until incorporated. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until the batter is smooth. Fill muffin cups and bake for 18 to 24 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove them from the oven, cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove the muffins from the pan to finish cooling on a rack. (Muffins left in the pan to cool will become tough from steaming.)

Scoop muffin batter into greased tin, filling three-quarters full.

Apple Cinnamon: Peel and grate 3 to 4 tart apples, such as Granny Smiths or Jonathans. Fold into muffin batter with ¼ cup (50g) cinnamon sugar. Top muffins with more cinnamon sugar before baking, if desired.

Apricot Almond: Add ½ teaspoon almond extract, 1½ cups (192g) diced apricots, and 1 cup (86g) sliced almonds to batter before baking.

Apricot, Cherry, Cranberry, Date, Raisin: Soak 2 cups (380g) of any of these dried fruits in 1/3 cup (75g) orange juice, water, rum, or bourbon, then fold into the muffin batter. Garnish muffin tops with chopped nuts if you like.

Apple, Banana, Nectarine, Peach, Plum: Dice 3 cups (525g) of any of these fruits and fold into batter before baking. Garnish muffin tops with granulated sugar.

Banana Coconut: Add 2 diced bananas and 1½ cups (127g) shredded sweetened coconut to batter before baking.

Blueberry, Raspberry, Blackberry: Fold 3 cups (510g) berries into batter before baking; sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar or streusel (see Apple Streusel Muffin Tops, page 48, for streusel) before baking.

Carrot Ginger Raisin: Add 2 cups (198g) shredded carrots, ½ cup (92g) crystallized or minced fresh ginger, and 1½ cups (225g) raisins to batter before baking.

Cherry Chocolate Chip: Add 1¼ cups (213g) dried sweet cherries (soaked in ¾ cup (170g) liquid for 20 minutes, if they’re very hard) and 1¼ cups (213g) chocolate chips to batter before baking.

Date Nut: Add 1½ cups (225g) dates and 1½ cups (171g) pecans to the batter before baking.

Maple Walnut: Add ½ cup (78g) maple sugar and 1½ to 2 cups (170g to 226g) chopped walnuts to batter before baking.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip: Add 1½ cups (405g) creamy peanut butter (it helps to soften the peanut butter in the microwave before combining it with the batter) and 1½ cups (255g) chocolate chips to batter before baking.

Toffee Chocolate Chip: Add a 10-ounce bag of Heath bar bits or 1½ cups (234g) of your favorite buttercrunch, chopped, and 1½ cups (255g) chocolate chips to batter before baking.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

This muffin treats you to the ever-popular banana and chocolate combination, with just enough whole wheat to tip it away from cake territory and firmly into breakfast.

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until they’re smooth. Scrape down the bowl, then beat in the egg, spices, banana, and milk. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, then gently stir them into the butter / sugar mixture.

Spoon the batter into 12 lightly greased muffin cups. Bake the muffins for 20 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven, and after 10 minutes, turn them out of the pan to cool.

Chocolate Breakfast Muffins

Chocolate for breakfast: Why not? After all, if you were in Paris right now, you might be standing on the corner outside the local boulangerie, a steaming cup of café au lait in one hand and a fresh pain au chocolat in the other.

These muffins are rich and tender, high-rising, and deeply chocolate, both in color and flavor. They don’t need to be relegated to the breakfast table; frosted with fudge-y icing, they double nicely as cupcakes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips. Set aside.

In a large measuring cup or medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, and vinegar. Add the wet ingredients, along with the melted butter, to the dry ingredients, stirring to blend. There’s no need to beat these muffins; just make sure everything is well combined.

Scoop the batter into 12 lightly greased muffin cups. Bake the muffins for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean (watch them closely, as they’ll burn around the edges if they bake too long). Remove the muffins from the oven, and after 5 minutes remove them from the pan, allowing them to cool slightly on a rack before serving.

Doughnut Muffins

Our baking philosophy: simple and classic go hand in hand. These understated yet elegant muffins are high-rising with a lofty crown and delicate, cake-like texture, and a hint of nutmeg to perfume the batter. When combined with the cinnamon-sugar topping, it creates a flavor reminiscent of plain doughnuts.

To make the muffins: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs slightly, then add the milk and melted butter, stirring constantly. Add the wet mixture to the well in the flour mixture. Stir just until evenly moistened (the batter may be lumpy). Lightly grease muffin cups. Fill cups about three-quarters full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until muffins are golden.

To make the topping: While the muffins are baking, combine sugar and cinnamon in a small, shallow bowl until evenly blended. When muffins come out of the oven, let them cool just enough so that you can pick them up. Immediately dip the tops of the hot muffins into melted butter, then into the cinnamon-sugar mixture until coated. Serve warm.

Classic Blueberry Muffins

These muffins have a storied history: They’re a variation on the ones served in the cafeteria at the bygone Jordan Marsh department store, which was a Boston destination for years. Tired shoppers, footsore and in need of comfort, could trek to the top of the Jordan Marsh building, there to enjoy a cup of tea and a king-size blueberry muffin as they compared purchases.

This is a cake-type muffin, very tender, sweet, and fine-grained. We use it whenever we want a more-delicate-than-usual muffin; for that reason, it’s one of our favorite muffin recipes to make in miniature form. We prefer to use tiny Maine blueberries when they’re available, as we find them much less prone to “leaking” and breaking during the baking process.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the baking powder, then add the flour alternately with the milk, beating well after each addition. Mash ½ cup (85g) of the blueberries and add them to the batter. Stir in the vanilla at the end, along with the whole blueberries.

Mound the batter into 12 lightly greased or paper-lined muffin cups, filling each completely to the top (actually, over the top; the batter is thick enough that it’ll hold its shape). Sprinkle with sugar or cinnamon sugar, if desired.

Bake the muffins for 30 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the oven, and after 5 minutes remove them from the pan to cool completely on a rack, or gently flip them sideways in the pan. (Muffins left in the pan will steam, creating a tough crust.)

Hot Cross Muffins

These muffins offer the distinctive taste of hot cross buns in a quarter of the time it would take to make a sweetened yeast bread. Everybody wins!

In a small bowl, pour the rum or water over the raisins; set aside while you assemble all of the other ingredients.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and spices. Make a well in the center. Add the soaked raisins and candied peel or citron (if using). Beat together the eggs and milk, add the melted butter, and add, all at once, to the dry ingredients. Stir until everything is evenly combined. Scoop into greased muffin cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack while you combine the frosting ingredients. When the muffins are cool, frost with a cross over the tops.

Morning Glory Muffins

A cross between a granola bar and a carrot cake, these beloved muffins are full of all kinds of good things to get your day started. This is a sturdy muffin that reheats well. If you have kids who can’t be talked into sitting down to breakfast, send them out the door with one of these and you know they’ll have a decent start to their day.

Preheat the oven to 375°F and lightly grease 12 muffin cups. Put the raisins in a small bowl and cover them with hot water; set aside to soak while you assemble the rest of the recipe.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, spices, and salt. Add the carrots, apple, coconut, nuts, and sunflower seeds or wheat germ, if using. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, oil, and vanilla together. Add to the flour mixture and stir until evenly combined. Drain the raisins and stir into the batter. Divide the batter among the muffin cups and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes, then turn out of the pans to finish cooling.

Raisin Bran Muffins

Dark brown, moist, and sweet from the brown sugar and raisins, these muffins keep extremely well. They’re packed with fiber and incredibly flavorful: a lovely way to start the day. Use either flour, or a combination; muffins made with 100% unbleached all-purpose flour will be lighter both in color and texture, but for flavor we actually prefer those made with whole wheat.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk or buttermilk, oil, eggs, molasses, and brown sugar. Add the bran and oats. Set this mixture aside for 15 minutes to give the oats and bran a chance to absorb some of the liquid and become soft. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Whisk the remaining dry ingredients together thoroughly, making sure there are absolutely no stray lumps of baking powder remaining. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring just until blended.

Spoon the batter into 12 lightly greased or paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup almost to the top. Bake the muffins for 14 to 18 minutes, or until they spring back when pressed lightly in the middle, and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the oven, and after 5 minutes remove them from the pan (or gently flip them sideways) to cool completely on a rack. (Muffins left in the pan will steam, creating a tough crust.)

Spiced Peach Muffins

These are big, high-crowned muffins that seem to explode right out of the muffin cup. During the summer in Vermont, we make them with peaches, but they’re also delightful made with blueberries, blackberries, or raspberries. This is a big recipe, but once you taste one of these, you will be happy to have more than the usual dozen on hand.

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, brown sugar, allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Whisk until brown sugar is evenly distributed and there are no lumps. In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, beat eggs, vegetable oil, and milk together, then stir into dry ingredients. Gently stir in the fruit. Grease 16 muffin cups and heap the batter into the cups; they’ll be very full. Sprinkle the tops with granulated sugar. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes on a rack, then turn out of the pans to finish cooling.

Zucchini Lemon Muffins

These muffins are light and tender, with a clean lemon flavor shining through and just a little crunch from the walnuts. Once you’ve made them, you won’t be sorry about the over-abundance of zucchini in late summer.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Stir in the walnuts and raisins. In a smaller bowl (or a 2-cup liquid measure), combine the eggs, milk, and oil. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Stir just until barely combined and then gently fold in the zucchini.

Spoon the batter into a greased 12-cup muffin tin and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the muffins spring back when you press them with your fingertips. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes on a rack, then turn out of the pans to finish cooling.

Apple Streusel Muffin Tops

If you’re one of those people who wants the top of the muffin, the whole top and nothing but the top, you should probably own a specialty muffin top pan: one with large shallow wells that yields just the crackly, craggy top. Truthfully though, any muffin recipe will work to make muffin tops; all you need to do is measure out 1/3 cup of your favorite muffin recipe into the greased wells of your muffin top pan. If you want to use your quarter-cup measuring cup for a scoop, that will work fine, too. These deliciously light muffin tops pair tart apples with a touch of honey, all topped off with a crunchy brown sugar streusel.

To make the streusel: In a small bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon (if using), walnuts, and butter until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

To make the muffin tops: In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt, then stir in the apples. In another bowl, beat together the eggs, honey, milk, brandy or milk, and vegetable oil. Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing just until blended. Spoon muffin batter into a greased muffin top pan. Sprinkle each muffin with topping, dividing it evenly among the cups. Bake the muffins until they’re golden brown, 21 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before taking the muffins out of the pan and cooling them completely on a rack.

Toaster Corncakes

These English muffin–size, sort-of-sweet cornbread rounds that can be split, toasted, and slathered with softened butter (they’ll crumble if confronted with ice-cold butter and a strong knife) and strawberry jam.

In order to make these corncakes in their traditional shape, you must have the proper baking pan. A hamburger bun pan is ideal, as are English muffin rings or 3¾^{̋ x}1^″ shallow paper baking cups. Alternatively, you may bake this in a parchment-lined 9^{̋ x}13^″ pan, then cut the resulting flat loaf into pieces.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and milk until thoroughly combined. (We like to use a hand blender for this type of chore.)

Pour the milk / egg mixture and the melted butter over the dry ingredients and stir just to combine; don’t beat this mixture or the cakes will be tough.

Using a spoon or muffin scoop, scoop a generous ¼ cup (or scant 1/3 cup) of batter into nine 3¾^″ lightly greased wells of a hamburger bun pan (or English muffin rings set on a parchment-lined baking sheet). The cups should be about half full, maybe a bit less. Wet your fingers and spread the batter to cover the bottom of the cups, smoothing the top at the same time. If you’re using a 9^{̋ x}13^″ pan, grease it lightly (or line it with parchment) and spread the batter into it, smoothing the top.

Bake the cakes for about 18 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden brown but the tops aren’t colored yet, or just barely beginning to color. (Since they’ll be going into the toaster, you don’t want them to brown too much in the oven.) Remove the cakes from the oven and let them cool for 15 to 20 minutes before removing them from the cups. If you’ve used a 9^{̋ x}13^″ pan, let the cake cool, then cut it into nine rectangles, each approximately 3^″ wide and 4¼^″ long. Split and eat warm, or cool to room temperature, split, and toast.

Gluten-Free Corn Muffins

Here’s our secret to creating moist, tender, gluten-free corn muffins: pre-soaking the cornmeal and gluten-free flour blend to soften them up before using. The difference between dry and “wet” meal or flour is dramatic: a moist, tender muffin with the tiniest hint of sweetness. They’ll freeze well, so you can make a batch and take out what you need as you need it.

Pour the buttermilk or cream into the bowl and stir to evenly moisten the flours. Cover and let sit for 2 to 3 hours, or in the refrigerator overnight.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease the wells of a 12-cup muffin tin, or line with papers and grease the insides of the papers.

Add the butter, honey, egg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the moistened flours and beat at high speed for 1 to 2 minutes. This isn’t like a wheat flour muffin, where you have to worry about them getting tough: the beating helps to develop the structure of these muffins.

Scoop the batter into the wells of the prepared pan and bake the muffins for 22 to 24 minutes, until they appear set; a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins in the middle of the pan should come out clean.

Remove the muffins from the oven and put the pan on a rack; transfer the muffins from the pan to a cooling rack after 5 minutes, so they don’t steam. Serve warm.

A Sticky Situation

Crumbled muffins are surely not one of life’s greatest tragedies, but aggravating nonetheless.

First, a nonstick muffin pan helps to prevent crumbling. Even if it’s nonstick, however, we recommend greasing it lightly with shortening or a nonstick vegetable oil spray. This both protects the pan’s finish and increases its effectiveness. If you’re using a muffin pan that’s not nonstick, grease it a bit more heavily and be thorough; cover every inch of the inside of the pan (and the top, too, in case muffins crown and mushroom over) with shortening or pan spray.

An alternative solution is to use paper muffin cups. If you can find cups labeled “parchment,” use those. Regular paper or foil muffin cups are also a fine choice.

To keep muffins from becoming soggy, as well as to help them out of the pan, wait a couple of minutes after you’ve taken them out of the oven, then gently tip them sideways in their cups. If you pull (gently!) and the muffin doesn’t budge, run a knife around the edge of the cup to help it along. If you pull, and the muffin starts to crumble, give it another 5 minutes before attempting to move it. Muffins taken out of the pan (at least partially) while they’re still hot, without having had a chance to cool and harden, have less chance of sticking to the pan.

If you’ve baked muffins in paper, don’t try to eat them right away, while they’re hot; they’ll probably stick to the paper. Give them a chance to cool to lukewarm, at least, before tearing into them.

So what if you’ve done everything right, and your muffins still stick? Muffins lower in fat, without the self-lubricating quality of their higher-fat siblings, do tend to stick; it’s a fact of life. Either accept it or add a bit more fat to your recipe. The flip side to this coin is that muffins very high in fat are so delicate that they have a tendency to crumble, no matter how careful you are. So experiment with the level of fat in your muffin batter until you’re pleased with the results.

Loaves

Stir it, spoon it into the pan, and bake—it’s not surprising that the term “quick bread” often refers specifically to a loaf of bread that can be mixed together and popped into the oven in a matter of minutes. Banana bread, the dowager queen of quick breads; pumpkin bread, zucchini bread, lemon poppy seed, cranberry orange, date-nut—these are all familiar examples of the genre.

In fact, this is such a popular type of baking that quick bread loaves have their own special pan: the 9^{̋ x}5^″ loaf pan. While often used interchangeably with its slightly smaller sibling, the 8½^{̋ x}4½^″ loaf pan, the 9^̋× 5^″ pan is perfect for most quick bread recipes (while the smaller pan is the ideal size for most yeast bread recipes). Quick loaves are also a good candidate for Bundt or tube pans; a 9^″ to 10^″ tube pan can take the place of a loaf pan when you want a more sophisticated presentation for your quick loaf. A 12^{̋ x}4^{̋ x}2½^″ pan is another choice; we like it because loaves take a bit less time to bake, assuring that your loaf doesn’t get too brown on the outside.

Chocolate Coconut Quick Bread

Needing no embellishment, this dense, moist, gluten-free quick bread is a perfect snack to serve with coffee. The texture is wonderfully tender and moist, and it’s a simple and reliably delicious option for a gluten-free dessert if you top it with a dollop of freshly whipped cream.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8½^{̋ x}4½^″ loaf pan or an 8^″ square cake pan.

Sift together the coconut flour and baking powder, mixing to combine; set aside.

In a large, microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter with the cocoa, stirring until well blended.

Whisk the sugar, salt, vanilla, and eggs into the butter / cocoa mixture. Add the coconut flour and baking powder, whisking until smooth.

Bake the loaf or cake until set, and a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. This will take 35 to 45 minutes for the loaf pan, or 30 to 35 minutes for the square pan.

Cool the cake in the pan for 30 minutes before turning it out onto a rack to cool completely. The cake is easiest to slice when it’s completely cool.

Whole Grain Banana Bread

This one-bowl banana bread uses the simplest ingredients, but is incredibly moist and flavorful. While the recipe calls for a 50/50 mix of flours (all-purpose and white whole wheat), we often make it with 100% whole wheat, and honestly, no one can tell: it’s that good!

Preheat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the center position. Lightly grease a 9^{̋ x}5^″ loaf pan; if your pan is glass or stoneware, reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

In a large bowl, stir together the mashed banana, oil, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and chopped walnuts into the mixture until the batter is smooth, then scoop into the prepared pan.

To make the topping: In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the batter.

Bake the bread for 60 to 75 minutes, until the bread feels set on the top, and a paring knife (or other thin knife) inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs (but no wet batter). If the bread appears to be browning too quickly, tent it with aluminum foil for the final 15 to 20 minutes of baking. If baking in a glass or stoneware pan, increase the baking time by 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove the bread from the oven. Cool it in the pan for 15 minutes, then loosen the edges, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.

Cranberry Orange Nut Bread

Whoever decided that cranberries and oranges belonged together was so obviously right that we can only thank them and enjoy the results of their good judgment. The combination of the two flavors evokes brisk weather, a fire in the fireplace, and cozy mornings.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a medium bowl, combine the orange juice and zest, buttermilk, egg, and vegetable oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until evenly combined. Stir in the cranberries and nuts, then pour the batter into a greased 9^̋× 5^″ loaf pan. Bake the bread for 55 to 65 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean and the bread starts to pull away from the edges of the pan. Remove it from the oven and cool on a rack for 15 minutes, then turn it out of the pan to finish cooling.

Date-Nut Bread

You might think that we at King Arthur never stoop to buying store-bought bread. But there are some store-bought breads that we really, really like, and this is one. The Arnold Bakery used to offer a date-nut bread that was small (really a tea bread size), and so moist and gooey that it came in its own little paper cradle. It has been one of our quests to re-create this sumptuous bread, and we think we’ve finally succeeded.

In a medium bowl, pour water over the dates and butter. Stir and let the mixture sit until lukewarm. Purée one-third of the mixture in a food processor or blender to make a paste, then stir it back into the date mixture. (This step can be skipped, but it really adds to the gooey texture of the finished product.) Add the brown sugar, molasses, and eggs. Stir until everything is thoroughly combined.

In a separate large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the date mixture. Mix until all the ingredients are combined. Pour the batter into a greased 9 ^{̋ x}5^″ loaf pan. Bake for 60 to 65 minutes; the bread is done when the top has risen and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center will have some dates clinging to it but no batter. You’ll also see the loaf start to pull away, just slightly, from the sides of the pan. Don’t overbake or you’ll lose the gooey factor. Remove the bread from the oven and cool it on a rack for 10 minutes before turning it out of the pan to finish cooling.

Easy Pumpkin Bread

Whenever we bring it to gatherings, this pumpkin bread is one of the first things to disappear. Incredibly moist and packed with flavor, it can be kept as a simple pumpkin loaf, or enhanced with anything from chocolate chips to nuts to dried fruit.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two 8½^{̋ x}4½^″ loaf pans (if you’re making the plain version of the bread); two 9^″ × 5^″ loaf pans (if you’re adding chocolate chips and nuts); or one of each, if you’re making one plain loaf, and one loaf with chips and nuts.

Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and vanilla, stirring to combine.

Mix in the chips and nuts, if you’re using them. To make one loaf with chips and nuts and one loaf without, divide the batter in half. Leave one half plain, and add ¾ cup chips and ½ cup nuts to the other half.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pans. Sprinkle the tops of the loaves with coarse sugar, if desired.

Bake the bread for 60 to 80 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean; and that same tester inserted about ½^″ into the top of the loaf doesn’t encounter any totally unbaked batter.

Remove the bread from the oven and cool it on a rack. When it’s completely cool, wrap it well in plastic wrap, and store it overnight before serving.

Lemon Bread

This bread is moist, with a bright lemon flavor. If you can’t get enough of that sunny flavor, brush the top with the lemon glaze while the loaves are still warm and serve with lemon butter.

To make the bread: In a large bowl, combine the sugar, oil, lemon zest, and lemon juice, beating until thoroughly combined. In a separate small bowl or large mixing cup, beat together the buttermilk and eggs. Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk together to mix evenly. Add the dry ingredients to the sugar / oil mixture alternately with the buttermilk mixture, scraping the mixing bowl at least once. When everything is incorporated, pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven and place it on a rack.

To make the lemon glaze: Combine the lemon juice and sugar in a microwave-safe container and microwave on high for 30 seconds to dissolve the sugar. Brush half of this mixture on the bread as it cools, if desired.

To make the lemon butter: Take the other half of the lemon glaze and heat it in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Simmer the liquid until it has a syrupy consistency. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature. Mix the syrup with the softened butter and salt. Chill; spread on lemon bread.

Maple Cornbread

Years ago we received a message from a King Arthur customer named Carol Stevens, who sent us her favorite recipe for maple cornbread, thinking we Vermonters would love it. She was right! This dense, sturdy cornbread is just slightly sweet, with a bare hint of maple. For any Southerners who decry the use of sugar in cornbread, read no further; we confess, this is a north-of-the-Mason-Dixon-line aberration. But to those of you who don’t object to sweetened cornbread, read on: We think this is just the ticket with a bowl of chili or stew.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease an 8^″ square or 9^″ round baking pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt until thoroughly combined. In a small bowl or a large measuring cup, whisk together the milk, maple syrup, melted butter, and eggs. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake the cornbread for 20 to 25 minutes, until it’s lightly browned and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove it from the oven and serve it warm with butter and additional maple syrup, or with a main dish.

Herbed Beer Bread

Beer can’t exist without yeast, and the carbonation produced by both yeast and beer is a nice touch in a quick bread. This classic recipe, with its simple list of ingredients, requires very little in the way of tools or technique. Beloved by busy bakers everywhere, the bread is moist, nicely dense and chewy, and perfect for toast and sandwiches.

In a large bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add the beer and oil and stir until the batter is evenly moistened. Stir in the sunflower seeds and herbs, then pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake the bread for 45 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove it from the oven and cool it in the pan for 15 minutes on a rack. Run a dull knife around the edge of the bread and turn it out of the pan to finish cooling.

Simple Zucchini Bread

Every baker should have an excellent basic zucchini bread in their collection and this is ours. It’s moist, flavorful, and easy to slice, as well as being a good blank canvas for extra add-ins, such as chocolate chips, dried fruit, or toasted nuts.

2 tablespoons (43g) boiled cider, or 2 tablespoons (28g) apple juice, orange juice, milk, water, or the liquid of your choice

In a medium bowl, beat together the brown sugar, boiled cider or other liquid, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.

Whisk the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon (if using) into the flour. Add the dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients in the bowl, stirring or beating gently until smooth.

Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it if necessary. Sprinkle with additional brown sugar, if desired.

Bake the bread for 55 to 65 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The top (just under the crust) may seem a bit sticky; but as long as the toothpick doesn’t reveal wet batter, it’s done.

Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely. For best results, don’t slice until it’s cool.

Rosemary Cheddar Cheese Bread

We love the combination of rosemary and cheddar cheese, so we combined them here in a marbled quick bread. Our recipe calls for making two batters, but the extra step is well worth the effort.

To make the rosemary batter: In a medium bowl, beat the egg and add the milk and softened butter. Stir well. In a large bowl, mix together the baking powder, rosemary, salt, and flour. Stir with a whisk to incorporate all the ingredients. Add the egg mixture and stir just until combined. Put half of the batter into each of the two prepared pans.

To make the cheese batter: In a medium bowl, beat the egg, then stir in the milk and melted butter. In a large bowl, whisk together the baking powder, salt, cayenne, black pepper, and flour. Stir in the cheese, then the milk mixture, until just combined.

Pour half of the cheddar batter into each pan on top of the rosemary batter. Use a table knife and stick it, point down, all the way through the batter to the bottom of the pan. Keep the tip touching the bottom of the pan and drag the knife through the batter in curving motions until the loaf is marbled. Repeat with the second loaf.

Bake the loaves for 50 to 60 minutes, or until nicely browned and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the middle of a loaf comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let them rest for 5 to 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.

Savory Christmas Bread

This loaf gets its name from showcasing the festive red, green, and gold colors of Christmas with sun-dried tomatoes and green pepper or chives. Though it bakes as a freestanding loaf, this easy-to-make baking powder bread handles surprisingly like a yeast bread and can even be braided if you’re feeling fancy.

¼ cup (35g) finely chopped green pepper (or 10g fresh chives or green part of scallions)

¼ cup (42g) finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes (or drained pimientos or red bell pepper)

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cheese. Add the beaten eggs, reserving 2 tablespoons for glazing the bread before baking. Mix in the half-and-half, garlic, and vegetables, stirring to make a soft dough.

Turn out the dough onto a well-floured surface and form it into a smooth ball. Roll the ball into a log shape about 10^″ long. Place it on a greased baking sheet. Brush with the reserved beaten egg.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the loaf is golden brown. Cool thoroughly before slicing and serving.

A SHARP TIP

Use a good-quality pair of shears to chop many kinds of herbs and vegetables. Snip parsley, chives, or other fresh herbs; use the part of the scissor blade closest to the handle to cut tougher items, such as scallions, celery stalks, or sun-dried tomatoes.

Turning Quick Bread Batter into Muffins
(and Vice Versa)

A typical quick bread recipe using 1½ to 2 cups of flour will fill about a dozen regular-size (about 2½^″ diameter) muffin cups. Prepare the quick bread batter, grease the muffin cups, fill them to nearly full, and bake in a preheated 425°F oven for 18 to 22 minutes, or until they’re puffed, set on the top, and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.

Or try the reverse: Take a favorite 12-muffin recipe and make it into a quick loaf. If the recipe calls for about 2 cups of flour, use a 9^{̋ x}5^″ loaf pan; for 1½ cups of flour (or less), use an 8½^{̋ x}4½^″ pan. For amounts in between, well, use your best judgment; the batter should fill the pan about two-thirds full. Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven for 50 to 70 minutes (although generally 55 to 60 minutes); times may vary depending on the exact amount of the batter, and the composition of any “add-ins”; juicy additions such as berries will make for a slightly longer bake.

Biscuits

Biscuits, like pie crust, seem enrobed in an aura of mystery to beginning or unconfident bakers. Both involve a few basic ingredients and a couple of key (but not difficult) steps. If you use the right ingredients and follow the directions carefully, either should be within anyone’s realm of expertise.

While you can use entirely all-purpose flour for biscuits, we like using pastry flour for a tender crumb. (See page 459 for more on pastry flour.) Your key to success, as with any biscuit recipe, is using a gentle hand and a sharp cutter. By just barely coaxing the fat and flour together, then patting the dough together as lovingly and gently as you’d towel-dry a baby, you’re keeping the flour’s gluten from toughening as you handle it. And by cutting the biscuits with a sharp blade, you’re leaving “side-walls” that will freely expand as the biscuit bakes, allowing them to rise to their full height. The edges of a biscuit, cut with a drinking glass, will be squashed down and the biscuit won’t rise as well.

Serve biscuits with butter or double Devon cream; serve them with jam or jelly; slather them with lemon curd or honey or golden or cane syrup or even maple syrup. But whatever you do, serve them hot from the oven. A cold biscuit, while still good, can’t hold a candle to one plucked hot from the oven, broken open to reveal a steaming interior, and topped with a pat of cold butter.

Never-Fail Biscuits

Dare we call these the easiest biscuits ever? With just two ingredients, we absolutely will.

Scoop 28g balls of dough onto an ungreased or parchment-lined baking sheet; a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here. Leave a couple of inches between them. Not into scooping? Pat the dough ¾^″ thick and cut biscuits with a cutter instead, if desired.

Brush the tops of the biscuits with cream, milk, or water; this will help them rise.

Bake the biscuits for 10 minutes, until they’re light golden brown on top, and baked all the way through; break one open to make sure.

What Makes Biscuits Flaky?

The technique for making biscuits is quite similar to pie crust, as is the goal: a tender, flaky final product. In both cases, fat is cut into the dry ingredients, then liquid is added to make the dough cohesive. The fat is there to create tenderness, which happens two ways. First, fat coats the proteins in the flour, preventing them from forming long gluten strands, and thus creating a fine-grained texture. Second, fat acts as a temporary buffer between layers of the flour-liquid matrix; as the biscuit bakes, the fat eventually melts. But it’s done its job, creating a structure in the biscuit that we perceive as flaky.

Baking Powder Biscuits

It never ceases to amaze us how just a few ingredients and a small slice of time (less than half an hour) can yield such miraculous results. These flaky biscuits are the ultimate version of the genre, and simple enough for any baker to master.

1 to 1 1/8 cups (227g to 255g) cold milk or buttermilk (use whole milk for the most tender biscuits)

Preheat your oven to 425°F with a rack in the upper portion. Get out a baking sheet; there’s no need to grease it. Line it with parchment if you like, for easy cleanup.

Work the butter into the flour mixture using your fingers, a fork or pastry blender, a stand mixer, or a food processor. Your goal is an evenly crumbly mixture (like bread crumbs).

Drizzle the smaller amount of milk evenly over the flour mixture. Mix quickly and gently for about 15 seconds, until you’ve made a cohesive dough. If the mixture seems dry and won’t come together, don’t keep working it; drizzle in enough milk—up to an additional 2 tablespoons (28g) to make it cohesive.

Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Pat it into a rough rectangle about ¾^″ thick. Fold it into thirds like a letter and roll gently with a floured rolling pin until the dough is ¾^″ thick again.

Cut the dough into circles with a biscuit cutter for traditional round biscuits; a 2 3/8^″ cutter makes nicely sized biscuits. Or, to avoid leftover dough scraps, cut the dough into squares or diamonds with a bench knife or sharp knife.

Place the biscuits bottom side up on your prepared baking sheet; turning them over like this yields biscuits with nice, smooth tops. Brush the biscuits with milk to enhance browning.

Bake the biscuits for 15 to 20 minutes, until they’re lightly browned. Remove them from the oven, and serve warm.

Freezing Biscuits and Scones Before Baking

Here’s one cool thing: For light and fluffy biscuits or scones, shape the biscuits (or scones), place them on a baking sheet, and freeze for 30 minutes or as long as a week (wrapped airtight). Baked goods that rely on the combination of flour, liquid, baking powder, and solid fat for their structure will rise slightly better when frozen. Why? Because the fat stays solid longer in the oven. Eventually the fat melts, but by that time the flour/liquid matrix has developed and set, and what you’ve got left is layers of bread interspersed with thin air pockets where once resided solid fat—a flaky, tender biscuit! Frozen biscuits can be put straight into the oven, but will likely need another 5 minutes baking time.

The Difference Between Biscuits and Scones

Biscuits contain little or no sugar, and usually no additions of any kind. The classic baking powder biscuit is best served hot, with butter or honey, along with a meal. Scones, on the other hand, are usually sweetened; very often contain fruit, nuts, or spices; and are not generally served hot with meals, but more often alone, or with tea or coffee. So, while the basic breads may be quite similar, they take different paths as they’re baked and served.

Cheddar and Black Pepper Biscuits

The tang of black pepper teams up with the rich flavor of cheddar cheese in these biscuits. We suggest you adjust the amount of black pepper to suit your taste—less gives you a nice warm touch; more is spicy but wonderful.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Cut in the butter and cheese. Stir in the black pepper. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 400°F.

Gently stir the buttermilk into the chilled dough. Gather the mixture into a ball with your hands, and on a well-floured surface, roll or pat the dough into a 12^″ × 8^″ rectangle approximately ¾^″ thick.

Grease a baking sheet. Using a large spatula, or a couple of spatulas, transfer the dough to the baking sheet. Use a dough scraper, bench knife, or a sharp knife to cut dough into 1½^″ squares. Separate the squares slightly on the baking sheet. Brush each square with a little buttermilk or yogurt.

Bake the biscuits for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they’re very lightly browned.

Herbed Cream Cheese Biscuits

When it’s finally warm enough in the morning to eat breakfast on the porch or deck, why not celebrate the occasion? Our R&D director Sue Gray says a favorite brunch dish of hers is these herbed biscuits with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. “Chives are one of the first plants I harvest from my herb garden,” she says. “And even though this recipe is one I can make year-round, it’s one of those things that tells me summer’s almost here. Just the colors on the plate—the green chives in the golden biscuits set next to the orange salmon and bright yellow eggs—are wonderful.”

Preheat the oven to 425°F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, including the grated cheese, until everything is evenly distributed. Using a pastry fork or blender, your fingers or an electric mixer, cut in the butter and cream cheese, mixing until crumbly; some larger chunks of cheese and butter can remain. Pour in the milk while tossing with a fork; the dough should remain a bit crumbly but hold together when squeezed. Add an additional 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk, if needed.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and fold it over a few times so that you can be sure it’s totally cohesive. Pat it into an 8^″ square, ¾^″ thick. Cut it into 2^″ squares, or use a 2^″ round cutter. Place the biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake the biscuits for 16 to 18 minutes, until they’re lightly browned. Serve them warm or at room temperature.

Sour Cream Rye Biscuits

These pair well with any kind of hearty soup or stew. In the unlikely event you have some, reheat any leftover biscuits briefly, and use them to make ham and cheese biscuit sandwiches. We love the crunch of whole caraway seeds, but if you’d prefer less texture, pulse them in a spice grinder first.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, including the caraway seeds. Using a pastry blender or fork, your fingers, or a mixer, cut in the butter.

Measure the sour cream into a 2-cup liquid measure and add the milk, stirring to combine. Add these liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring until everything is evenly moistened. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and fold it over a few times to make sure it’s cohesive. Pat it into an 8^″ square about ½^″ thick.

Use a 2^″ cutter to make round biscuits, or cut the dough into 2^″ squares. Place the biscuits on a lightly greased baking sheet, brushing the top of each with milk (or an egg mixed with milk) to make them shiny and a deeper brown, if you like.

Bake the biscuits for 12 to 14 minutes, until lightly browned. Serve them hot or warm.

Scones

Sweeter and more varied in their incarnations than biscuits, scones as we see them most often in bakeries nowadays bear little resemblance to the original, but they surely are good. Just like biscuits and muffins, scones can be embellished with just about any flavor, from fruit to chocolate, cinnamon, coffee, coconut, or ginger, from nuts and seeds to savory cheese and vegetable versions.

Basic Scones and Variations

The following is a basic scone recipe that’s easily enhanced by the addition of different dried fruits and spices.

In a medium bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients, including the fruit. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and milk. (Milk will give you a richer scone than water; buttermilk, because of its acidic interaction with the baking powder, will give you a tender, slightly higher-rising scone with a touch of tang.)

The next step, cutting in the fat, is important because this largely determines the texture of the scones. Use cold butter. (Liquid vegetable oil isn’t a good choice because scones get their flaky texture from small bits of fat that separate thin layers of a flour / water matrix.) As the biscuit or scone bakes, the fat holds these dough layers apart. Finally the fat reaches its melting point and disappears into the dough—but by that time, the biscuit’s structure has set into many thin layers of dough, which, in the finished product, create tenderness and flakiness. (And, in the case of butter, wonderful flavor.)

Begin with cold fat, as cold fat retains its integrity in the dough better than warm. It helps to have the fat cut into marble-size pieces before adding it to the flour. One of our favorite methods is to freeze a half-stick of butter, then grate it coarsely into the dry ingredients. Be sure there are pieces of fat that remain the size of small peas.

Next, add the liquid ingredients to the flour / fat mixture. Be careful: Too much mixing or kneading at this point will result in tough, heavy scones. Gently fold everything together until the mixture is mostly moistened; a bit of the flour may remain dry.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and fold and gather it together until it’s cohesive. Divide the dough in half and place both halves on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Pat each half into a 7^″ circle approximately ½^″ thick, then cut each circle into 8 wedges. Separate the wedges slightly, leaving about a ½^″ between each at the outer edge; at the center, they’ll be about ¼^″ apart. Alternatively, you can pat the entire piece of dough into a rectangle and cut it into 1½^″ to 2^″ rounds, using a biscuit cutter, or into 1½^″ to 2^″ squares.

Brush the scones with the beaten egg, then sprinkle with coarse sugar or cinnamon sugar, if desired. Bake them for 7 minutes, then turn the oven off and, without opening the door, let the scones remain in the oven for an additional 8 to 10 minutes, or until they’re golden brown. (It’s important to bake scones on your oven’s middle rack.) Remove the scones from the oven, and let them cool minimally on a rack.

Serve the scones immediately or within a few hours, for best flavor. Conveniently enough, scone dough lends itself to being made ahead, shaped, and either frozen or refrigerated overnight before baking. For scones refrigerated overnight, bake for the same amount of time; for frozen, add 2 minutes to the baking time before you turn the oven off.

Cranberry Orange: Use cranberries as the added fruit, add 2 tablespoons (12g) orange zest or ½ teaspoon orange oil to the dough, and use orange juice for the liquid.

Lemon Poppy Seed: Add 3 tablespoons (27g) poppy seeds and ¼ to ½ teaspoon lemon oil, or 2 tablespoons (12g) lemon zest, to the dough.

Ginger Chocolate Chip: Add ¼ cup (46g) finely diced crystallized ginger and 1 teaspoon ginger to the dough along with ½ cup (85g) chocolate chips.

Cinnamon Pecan: Add ¾ cup (86g) chopped, toasted pecans to the dough, and substitute 2 teaspoons cinnamon for the vanilla.

Apricot Cream Cheese Scones

We love the bright flavor and color of apricots in scones; cream cheese adds richness. Using unbleached pastry flour yields a final product that’s more tender and delicate than most scones.

3¼ cups (345g) unbleached pastry flour or 3 cups (360g) unbleached all-purpose flour plus ¼ cup (28g) cornstarch

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the cream cheese and butter, using your fingers, a pastry blender, fork, or a mixer, until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, then stir in the apricots. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, vanilla, and milk.

Combine the liquid and dry ingredients and stir until the dough becomes cohesive. Don’t mix and mix and mix; the more you work with the dough, the tougher it will get.

Turn out the dough onto a floured work surface and fold it over several times, until it holds together. Pat the dough into a ¾^″ thick rectangle.

Cut scones with a round cutter, gathering the scraps and re-rolling the dough. Or simply cut the dough into squares or diamonds. Brush the tops lightly with milk and sprinkle with coarse white or pearl sugar.

Place scones about 2^″ apart on an ungreased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake them for 8 minutes. Turn the oven off, leave the door closed, and continue to bake for 8 more minutes, until the scones are a light golden brown. Serve warm, with clotted cream and jam or raspberry curd.

Fresh Blueberry Scones

These tender, moist scones—studded with juicy blueberries—are wonderful when eaten hot, split in half, and slathered with butter. With a more delicate crumb, they’re less sturdy than other scones and best enjoyed right from the oven, although they do freeze well.

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Use your fingers to work the cold butter into the dry ingredients.

Stir the eggs, yogurt, vanilla, and lemon zest or oil together. Add to the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Stir in the blueberries. This dough is the consistency of a wet drop-cookie dough.

Liberally flour your counter and your hands. Take the dough out of the bowl and place it on the counter. Pat it into a 1^″ thick rectangle. Cut into 10 scones. Place on a well-greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.

Brush the scones with melted butter, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned and a cake tester or toothpick inserted into a scone comes out dry. Cool completely on a rack.

Cream Tea Scones

From its humble beginning as the Scottish griddle cake, the scone has traveled beyond Scottish borders and been taken to heart by the English. Here’s the prototypical cream tea scone that we’ve come to associate with that very British (and oh-so-civilized and restorative) of rites: afternoon tea. These scones couldn’t be more basic—or more delicious.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or not; it helps with cleanup, but isn’t necessary to prevent sticking).

Combine the vanilla with 11/3 cups cream. Drizzle the liquid mixture over the dry ingredients, tossing and stirring gently all the while. Add enough cream to make a cohesive dough, using up to 3 additional tablespoons if necessary. There shouldn’t be any dry flour in the bottom of the bowl, but the dough shouldn’t be particularly sticky, either.

Lightly flour a clean work surface. Divide the dough in half, and gently pat each half into a 5½^″ circle about ¾^″ thick. Brush each circle with heavy cream.

Place the two circles of dough on the baking sheet, and cut each into 6 wedges. Pull the wedges apart a bit, leaving them in a circular pattern with about 1^″ space between each wedge.

For best rising, place the pan of scones into the freezer for 15 minutes, while you preheat your oven to 425°F.

Bake the chilled scones for 14 to 15 minutes, until they’re starting to brown, and they’re baked all the way through, without any wet dough in the center.

Remove the scones from the oven. Serve warm, split and spread with a bit of sweet butter and jam or preserves.

Harvest Pumpkin Scones

Deeply golden, these scones taste even more wonderful than they look. Cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg spice the dough; diced crystallized ginger takes the flavor over the top.

1½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice or ¾ teaspoon cinnamon plus ¼ teaspoon each ginger, nutmeg, and allspice

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices.

Work in the butter just until the mixture is unevenly crumbly; it’s OK for some larger chunks of butter to remain unincorporated.

Add the pumpkin / egg to the dry ingredients and stir until all is moistened and holds together.

Line a baking sheet with parchment; if you don’t have parchment, just use it without greasing it. Sprinkle a bit of flour atop the parchment or pan.

Scrape the dough onto the floured parchment or pan, and divide it in half. Round each half into a 5^″ circle. The circles should be about ¾^″ thick.

Using a knife or bench knife that you’ve run under cold water, slice each circle into 6 wedges.

Carefully pull the wedges away from the center to separate them just a bit; there should be about ½^″ space between them, at their outer edges.

For best texture and highest rise, place the pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered. While the scones are chilling, preheat the oven to 425°F.

Bake the scones for 22 to 25 minutes, or until they’re golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean, with no wet crumbs. If you pull one of the scones away from the others, the edges should look baked through, not wet or doughy.

New Hampshire
Maple-Walnut Scones

New Hampshire maple syrup is every bit as good as Vermont maple syrup, although it’s never enjoyed the same fame (or acclaim). If you’re ever visiting northern New England in the early spring—late February through March—try to stop at a sugarhouse. The hot, rich maple steam billowing from the flat sugar pans, as the maple sap slowly boils down to golden syrup, is a smell you’ll never forget. This recipe comes to us courtesy of Barbara Lauterbach, cooking teacher, author, and a longtime friend of King Arthur.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the walnuts.

In a medium bowl, combine the milk, 1/3 cup of the maple syrup, and the maple flavoring. (You can leave out the maple flavoring if you wish, but it really adds a nice touch.) Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until you’ve formed a very soft dough.

Flour your work surface generously and scrape the dough out of the mixing bowl onto the floured surface. Divide the dough in half.

Working with one half at a time, gently pat the dough into a 7^″ circle about 7/8^″ thick. Transfer the circle to a parchment-lined or lightly greased baking sheet or other flat pan; it’ll be very soft; if you have a giant spatula, it’s the tool of choice here. Repeat with the remaining half of the dough, placing it on a separate pan.

Using a sharp bench knife or rolling pizza wheel, divide each dough circle into eight wedges. Gently separate the wedges so that they’re almost touching in the center, but are spaced about 1^″ apart at the edges. Pierce the tops of the scones with the tines of a fork and brush them with some of the remaining maple syrup.

Bake the scones for 15 to 18 minutes, or until they’re golden brown. Remove them from the oven and brush them with any remaining maple syrup. Wait a couple of minutes, then gently separate the scones with a knife (they’ll be very fragile), and carefully transfer them to a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature, with jam or maple butter.

Nutrition information per serving: 1 scone, made with half unsalted butter/half shortening, and 1 percent milk, 66g

Peach Nutmeg Scones

The flavors of almond and nutmeg are the perfect supporting cast for one of summer’s star ingredients: ripe peaches. Frozen sliced peaches will do in a pinch, if you’re looking for an antidote to winter blahs.

In a large bowl, sift the flour, salt, sugar, nutmeg, and baking powder together. Work the butter into the dry ingredients, using your fingertips or a fork or pastry blender.

In another bowl, mix the eggs, yogurt, and almond extract. Stir this into the dry ingredients. Add the peaches and stir just until mixed. This is a very sticky dough.

Liberally flour the counter and your hands. Put the dough on the counter and pat it into a 6^{̋ x}9^″ rectangle about 1^″ thick. Cut the rectangle into 6 pieces and cut each small rectangle in half, forming two triangles. You’ll have 12 triangles.

Place scones on a well-greased baking sheet. Brush with the melted butter and sprinkle with the sugar. Bake for 20 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Scallion Cheddar Scones

These savory wedges pair nicely with soup or salad. Cut smaller, they are a quick and easy way to serve a bite-size savory appetizer.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. Rub in the butter with your fingers.

Mix together the eggs, cream, and mustard. Add this to the dry ingredients. Stir in the grated cheese and the scallions. Mix just until combined.

Liberally flour the counter and your hands. Pat the dough into a 6^̋× 9^″ rectangle, about 1^″ thick. Cut the rectangle into 6 smaller rectangles, and cut each smaller rectangle into two triangles, forming 12 triangular scones. Place on a well-greased baking sheet.

Soda Breads and Steamed Breads

Here we come to a collection of breads with their own unique culinary history. Irish soda bread is a term that encompasses everything from the simplest flour-buttermilk-salt-baking soda bread to those featuring sugar, eggs, butter, raisins, and caraway seeds. The latter make a lighter, softer, sweeter bread—more cake than bread, actually. The original Irish soda bread, known as dairy bread, was nothing more than flour, salt and buttermilk, with just a bit of leavening, baked into a round loaf in a pot hung over a peat fire. What we now think of as Irish soda bread contains additional ingredients (such as caraway seeds and currants) that would have made a native Irishman scratch his head in puzzlement, but it is the additions that combine to give this bread the flavor that we recognize as “Irish.”

Steamed breads (and puddings) show up all around the world, from Chinese buns to British Christmas puddings. They’re incredibly moist and run the gamut from sweet to savory.

Irish Soda Bread

“Authentic” Irish soda bread consists simply of Irish wholemeal flour (equivalent to a coarse grind of American whole wheat flour), baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. At the other end of the spectrum is Americanized Irish soda bread, a more cake-like version made with all-purpose flour and filled with raisins or currants and caraway seeds. This version is much closer to the traditional recipe than to its American cousin; we did, however, lighten and tenderize it slightly.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda, salt, and currants or raisins.

Using a mixer, a pastry fork or blender, or your fingers, work in the butter until it’s evenly distributed and no large chunks remain.

In a small bowl (or in a measuring cup), whisk together the buttermilk and egg. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and mix to combine. The dough will be stiff; if it’s too crumbly to squeeze together, add another tablespoon or two of buttermilk.

Knead the dough a couple of times to make sure it’s holding together, then shape it into a ball. Flatten the ball slightly, and place the loaf in your pan. Use a sharp knife to cut a ½^″ deep cross in the loaf.

Bake the bread for about 45 to 55 minutes, until it’s golden brown and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the bread from the oven and brush the top with melted butter, if desired.

American-Style Irish Soda Bread

Although sweeter and more tender than traditional Irish soda bread, this Americanized version hits similar flavor notes, and is sure to please anyone who appreciates this genre.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda; set aside. In another large bowl, cream together the butter, eggs, and sugar until light and fluffy. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients alternately with the milk. Stir in the caraway seeds and raisins.

Spoon the batter into a greased, deep (9 ^{̋ x}4^″ round) cake pan or springform pan. Bake the bread for about 1½ hours, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the bread from the oven and cool on a rack.

Boston Brown Bread

This is a very classic New England recipe, often served alongside baked beans (small navy or pea beans sweetened with brown sugar or molasses, flavored with onion and mustard, and enriched with bacon or salt pork). This bread is a cylindrical, molasses-brown, raisin-studded loaf, moist and tender from its hours of steaming. Although arguably the most familiar of the steamed breads, brown bread isn’t the only one (think plum pudding).

Although less common nowadays, steamed breads are a wonderful treasure for a baker to discover. They’re moist and tender, usually sweet, and, when served hot from the steamer, a perfect vehicle for melting butter.

Mix the cornmeal, flours, baking soda, salt, and raisins together. Combine the buttermilk and molasses and stir them into the dry ingredients.

Place the mixture in a greased 2-quart pudding mold or other tall, cylindrical heatproof container, filling it about two-thirds full. Grease the inside lid of the pudding mold as well. Secure the lid.

Place the mold in a kettle or saucepan on top of something (crinkled aluminum foil or a stainless steel steamer insert will do nicely) to keep the mold off the bottom of the pan. The kettle should be deep enough so its lid can cover the pudding mold.

Fill the kettle with boiling water two-thirds of the way up the mold. Cover, bring the water back to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Steam for about 2 hours, adding water if necessary. Remove the mold and undo the lid. Give the bread a tap on the bottom to encourage it to slide out. Remove the bread while it is still warm and let it cool on a rack.

To bake the bread instead: Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 8½^″ × 4½^″ loaf pan and cover it with buttered aluminum foil. Leave room at the top of the foil for ballooning in the center, so the bread has room to expand without hitting the foil. Fasten the foil tightly to the edges of the pan so the bread will steam a bit.

Bake the bread in a 325°F oven for 1 hour. Remove the foil (the middle may be slightly sunken) and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

—CHAPTER TWO—