Bake up Herbal Breads for the Smell of Home

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Stretch dough gently with your hands on a baking pan sprinkled lightly with cornmeal. Let dough rise in warm place, covered, for about 15 minutes, before topping or filling and baking.

Heat oven to 450°F, with a baking stone, if you have one, on bottom rack.

Once foccacia dough has risen on baking sheet, take your fingers, spreading them wide, and gently press down on dough to make indentations all over top of foccacia.

Topping:
2 cloves garlic, minced
About 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 generous tablespoon fresh minced rosemary
1 medium onion, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
Coarse sea salt
About 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, optional

Place garlic in shallow dish and add about 3 tablespoons olive oil. Brush dough with olive oil and garlic, letting some collect in depressions. Sprinkle rosemary over dough, and spread onion over top of foccacia.

Place baking sheet directly on baking stone or on middle rack of oven. Bake for about 25 minutes. When foccacia is done, it will be golden brown on edges and crisp on outside. Remove from oven and brush with remaining olive oil, especially on outer edges. Sprinkle generously with salt. Garnish with olives, if desired. Cut and serve warm.

Maple Scones
with Lemon Verbena and Candied Ginger

Makes about 1 dozen scones

You can use any lemon herb that you like in these scones; orange mint also is delicious. Of course, using fresh herbs will give you the most wonderful bouquet in addition to flavor. However, you may use dried herbs if need be – reduce the amount of dried herbs to about 2 tablespoons, stir into the milk and let stand for about 10 to 15 minutes. The scones can be prepared with all unbleached flour, which will make them a bit lighter; the whole-wheat flour makes them a bit more toothsome.

2 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
8 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup chopped candied ginger
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
About 4 tablespoons freshly chopped lemon verbena

Heat oven to 425°F. In a large bowl, combine flours, salt and baking powder and blend thoroughly. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in candied ginger.

Stir together milk, 1/4 cup syrup and lemon verbena. Add liquid to dry ingredients and stir to form soft dough.

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