Baking with Joanna

Joanna and I met through Lake Jane and quickly bonded over our love of Montreal restaurants and our insatiable need to have creative projects on the go. She is a woman of many talents and one of those is baking. Since launching her catering business, Zoe Ford, Jo has garnered a lot of attention for her delectable desserts. I am thrilled to announce that Jo will be contributing some very simple baking recipes to Lake Jane! Take it away Jo:

Hello Lake Jane readers! Let me briefly introduce myself as the former designer and founder of looolo textiles and the new cook and baker behind Zoe Ford Catering and Confections in Montreal! To make a long (a very long!) story short, looolo basically closed itself and gave way to my secret passion for cooking, baking and entertaining. Though I do cook for private clients and corporate clients, I absolutely love to bake and make pastries (We bake all dessert for Griffintown in Montreal!). I always say that my mother taught me how to cook but my grandmother taught me how to entertain!! So…. I named the company after her. Enough about all the minutia and onto some exciting baking! Get your measuring cups and spoons out people because we’re about to bake our socks off!

I wanted to start off this baking segment with something uber-seasonal and though we have SO many Fall fruits to chose from here in Montreal, I am choosing the great pumpkin!! These pumpkin spice scones are an adaptation from a Julia Child recipe which is tried and true. These can really be whipped up in no time and so have become a favorite around my house. I find that you can even make them the night before, lay them on a cookie sheet and wrap with plastic and then in the morning just whip them into the oven… how easy is that??

What you’ll need for this recipe:

3 cups all purpose flour
½ cup of sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp ginger
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter ( the best quality you can afford, cut into small chunks- about 16 small chunks per stick)
¾ cup pumpkin puree ( if buying this then always look for a quality brand and use puree and not pie filling)
¾ cup buttermilk (or if you can’t find any simply take 1 tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar and put it into you ¾ cup measure. Then add plain milk on top and allow to sit for 5 minutes until it thickens slightly)
½ cup melted butter or buttemilk for brushing tops of scones
1/3 cup sugar plus 1 tbsp cinnamon ( mix together to form scrumptious topping for scones)

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees ( let it warm up for at least 20 minutes otherwise the temperature can vary and not allow the scones to rise evenly.

Sift all the dry ingredients together- this can be done with a strainer or can be done with a wisk right in the bowl. If you’re desperate then you can also just use a fork! In a separate bowl using a wisk or a fork, blend together the buttermilk and the pumpkin puree until smooth. Now comes the slightly tricky part- If you have a pastry blender ( best tool ever!) then add butter chunks to the bowl and begin blending. You can also do this in a food processor, blending until the mixture looks like tiny peas. If you’re really stuck then you can use two butter knives and run them against each other in opposing directions though the mixture until you achieve the desire consistency. The whole key here is to keep the butter COLD! That’s what makes pastry dough rise nicely and not make a blobby mess. So do this part quickly and efficiently. Once the butter and dry ingredients are blended I like to make a little well in the center of the dry mixture and then add in the wet ingredients. I stir these in with a large spoon- It can get a bit sticky and messy at first but the resulting dough should be easy to handle.

I also like to use my hand to collect the dough once it starts coming together but remember that handling the dough too much warms it up- That’s a no no! Form the dough into 2 balls- you should be able to press it on the counter to form 2 rounds, about 1 inch thick although you can go thicker, which you can cut into nice slices… You can also just use all the dough, press it out and cut into squares, circles, or oblongs.

Transfer the cut scones onto a line baking sheet ( I like to line with parchment paper - never wax paper!!!) or you can also use a Silpat if you have one. I like to brush the scones with melted butter but you can also use buttermilk, and sprinkle generously with either coarse sugar or a cinnamon sugar mix. Then right into the oven they go for about 12-15 minutes depending on the thickness and heat in your oven. You know they’re done when they don’t feel squishy to the touch and when the bottoms are starting to brown and get crusty.

*ZF TIPS:
- Remember not to crowd the tray when baking
- If you need to you can bake in two batches.
- Spices are not to everyone’s liking so feel free to add or omit spices that you like or do not like.
- The scones keep well, once cooled, in a sealed bag for up to 3 days. These are awesome when toasted and spread with butter!!!