Grandma McKinley’s Famous Griddle Scones

Recipe saved from an elderly woman’s mind

Makes 36 to 40 scones

My wife’s mother is of Italian descent and she is a spry 93 years young. However, back in the day, she married a Scotsman named McKinley. And Mr. McKinley’s mother made these wonderful griddle scones for my wife while she was growing up. Grandma McKinley taught her daughter-in-law how to make these griddle scones and she taught my wife.
Trouble is that the recipe was not written down. If you asked how they were made, you would just get something like: dump some flour in a big bowl, add a pinch of this and a handful of that followed by just enough buttermilk. Then bake on a griddle until done.
Well, that will never do for a recipe in this day and age.
So, we had my wife’s mother make these griddle scones while we measured everything as she was putting it into the bowl. And thus, this recipe has been saved for posterity.
And that’s a very good thing, because these are such a treat that everyone should know how to make them. They are especially good fresh off the griddle with a slice of cheese added and  run under the broiler to melt the cheese. Or, toast them.
Hummmmmmm good either way.
These griddle scones are easy to make and the recipe makes lots of scones. We bake them on an aluminum griddle that spans two burners, but, an electric griddle would work, too.

Recipe follows.

Vermont Sourdough with Whole Wheat

Based on a recipe from Jeffery Hamelman’s book Bread.

Yield: 2 Loaves

Awhile back I posted a way of making sourdough starter from the Oregon Trail which you can find here. And, I posted a way of feeding sourdough starter which you can find here.
I also promised to post my favorite sourdough bread recipe. Here it is. Jeffery Hamelman’s book Bread is amazing. Lots and lots of great bread recipes as well as more than most of us ever want to know about bread baking.
This is one of his most famous recipes for sourdough bread and it is great.
The simple change I made to the recipe is to feed my starter a couple days ahead of time and then make the final feed the night before I am going to bake the bread. Just take 10-3/4 ounces (304 gr) of starter out of the main feed, cover it with plastic wrap,  and allow it to sit on the counter over night. Then use the whole amount the next morning to make the bread.
This is delicious sourdough bread. It keeps well. It’s chewy and has just a slight tang of sourdough. It is absolutely great toasted.
And, like most bread baking, there is a lot of time involved, but not a great deal of work.

Recipe follows.

Multi-Multigrain Dinner Rolls

Adapted from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice
Makes 16 to 18 dinner rolls or two large loves of bread

For quite awhile now, I have been on the hunt for a multigrain roll that is  served at the Detroit Athletic Club (a very famous private club in Detroit, Michigan). It is delicious and I ask the chef for the recipe. He refused.  So, I am trying to duplicate that roll.
This recipe comes very close.
Earlier on this blog, I posted a recipe for Multigrain Struan Bread which is similar to this recipe from Peter Reinhart.  But, I have tinkered with it quite a bit.
Here’s what I did:
I have increased the grains and added flax seed.
I increased the oven temperature from 350 degrees F to 375 degrees F to get the rolls to brown a little better.
And to help the browning of the rolls, I added an egg/milk glaze.
These rolls have become a staple in my house and they seem to disappear whenever I make them.
Of course you can make loaves of bead out of this dough if yo wish. Your choice.
Again, while the instructions look long (gad, 39 steps?), this is not a hard recipe.  I have just broken the directions down into every step instead of paragraphs.
Making is bread is not hard. It just takes time and you have to be around when the timer goes off.

The recipe follows.

Cranberry-Banana-Walnut Quick Bread

Adapted from The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum
Makes an 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-by-3 1/2-inch-high loaf

This recipe is from the newest cookbook in my collection: The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.  I have one of her other books: The Pie and Pastry Bible.  Both are excellent.  Rose if very meticulous about how a recipe should be put together.  She does not leave out any details or leave anything to chance.  Some might say that she is too detailed.  Being an engineer who likes to cook, I am not sure that’s possible.

This is the first recipe I baked from the new book.  And, this is maybe the best quick bread I have ever tasted.  The tartness of the cranberries plays very well with the sweetness of the bananas and you get the crunch of the walnuts.  Outstanding combination!

I did make one change here.  I increased the bananas from one to two.  Many banana bread recipes I have baked call for a lot more bananas than one and I felt that just one banana would not be enough.  It worked out great.  The banana flavor came right through.

Try this bread.  You will not be disappointed.

Recipe follows.

Sourdough Starter

This is going to be the first of many posts on sourdough bread. I bake a lot of bread and some of it is sourdough.  Besides sourdough bread, I also use the sourdough starter to make sourdough pizzas and sourdough English muffins (recipes to follow).  But if you want to make sourdough bread, you need a starter.

Over the years, I have tried to make a sourdough starter from scratch at least five or six times. I failed every time.

Then I found Carl Griffith’s website and that all changed.  Carl’s family brought the starter to California over the Oregon Trail in 1847 and Carl’s family and his friends have kept it alive ever since.

Carl’s website is called Celebrating Carl Griffith’s 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough Starter and can be found here: Carl’s Website.

By sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the address on the site, Carl’s friends will send you a small amount of dried, sourdough starter for free.  So order up some of Carl’s dried started and get ready to enter the world of sourdough bread making.  Here are the directions to get your free starter:

USA Residents
Send a self-addressed, stamped (42¢) #10 envelope [SASE42] to:

Oregon Trail Sourdough
P. O. Box 321
Jefferson, MD 21755 USA

After you get the dried starter, regenerating the starter is easy.  Just follow the instructions below which come from Carl’s website:

Multigrain Struan Bread

Adapted from Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Bread
Makes one large loaf or two small loaves or about 16 small rolls

This is one of the best bread recipes I have ever tried.  It is easy to make, tastes superb and makes the best toast ever.  When I am making rolls, I usually aim for around 2 to 2-1/4 ounces per roll.

Recipe follows.

Naan Grilled Indian Flat Bread

Adapted from The Barbecue Bible (page 109) by Steven Raichler.

This is outstanding bread. Hot off the grill and slathered with butter, man it does not get better than this. Makes about 16 flatbeads.

Recipe follows.