Shortcake Season

I got up early this morning so that I would have time to finish the baking for market this week. Not only did I need to make hickory oat scones for the bakery case, but I also wanted to try yet another new item: old-fashioned shortcakes.

Essentially a soft scone recipe, these shortcakes include freshly milled local wheat flour, maple sugar, local unsalted butter, and local eggs. The recipe also calls for yogurt, and I'm hoping that sometime in the next couple of months I will be able to get some delicious goat-milk yogurt from Lucky Penny Creamery in Kent. (Fingers crossed!)

The timing is perfect for these: strawberries are coming into market, and for the next few months there will be plenty of juicy local berries to satisfy any kind of shortcake craving. I think I will have to experiment with some myself.

Sold in packages of four shortcakes, there will be limited quantities at Local Roots this weekend, but if all goes well, I may try to have a plentiful supply for coming weeks.

How sweet it is!

At the Market 5/27 through 5/29

Starting this week, Local Roots Market will be open Thursdays noon to 7 PM in addition to the regular Friday (noon-7 PM) and Saturday (9 AM-3 PM) hours. I'll take the first round of inventory to the market around lunchtime today, but not everything will be available right away. It will take some time for me to adjust my baking schedule to adapt!

But -- I've got a few new items available this weekend, just in time for the holiday and for family picnics:


--Dried tomato flatbread with fresh rosemary from Adonai Acres: this artisan bread incorporates freshly ground local whole wheat flour, dried cherry tomatoes from last year's harvest, and fresh fragrant rosemary, with a light coating of extra virgin olive oil on top.


--Garlic-herb baguette: if you love the crackly crust and tender crumb of regular baguettes but want something a little more savory, this loaf is for you! It includes homemade garlic powder (from locally-grown garlic), dried oregano from the garden, and dried local basil. All you need to do is split it in half lengthwise, spread it with butter or olive oil, and either grill the halves or wrap them in foil for an easy and tasty garlic bread.

--Light rye bread: using a smaller amount of rye flour than the pumpernickel bread, this artisan loaf has a hearty flavor with a light texture -- the best of both worlds! (Next week's loaves may contain caraway seed; I didn't have any this week.)

In addition to these new items, you'll find the usual products on my shelves at the market:

--Cheese-herb artisan bread: four varieties -- dill-cheddar, chèvre-rosemary, feta-oregano or Ludlow with fresh sage and tarragon
--Cinnamon pecan bread: since I've been selling out of these by Friday afternoon, I've made more this week
--Maple oatmeal bread: this recipe has been tweaked slightly to make it a little less dense, but it has all the same quality ingredients -- and the same flavor! -- as before
--Pain aux noix
--Sesame thins
--Whole wheat pita (in bags of four)
--Zaatar flatbread

In addition, I will have hickory oat scones in the bakery case by Friday afternoon. Now that a producer at Local Roots offers shagbark hickory syrup, I'm looking forward to layering that lovely hickory flavor in these scones. Enjoy them with a cup of locally-roasted coffee!

Stop by this weekend and stock up for your holiday outings!

At the Market 5/21 and 5/22

The last item is in the oven as I type, and it's going to be another good week at Local Roots Market! I spent last evening at Lehman's Hardware in Kidron, offering a seasonal cooking demonstration with Karen Geiser (of Karen's Garden Delights) that included fresh pesto scones and Karen's excellent rhubarb crunch. To those of you who joined us, thanks for your company and thoughtful questions -- we enjoyed it!

Now on to the important business of what you'll find on my shelf at Local Roots this week:

--Sesame thins
--Cheese-herb artisan bread: four varieties -- dill-cheddar, chèvre-rosemary, feta-oregano or Ludlow with fresh sage and tarragon
--Cinnamon pecan bread: definitely turning into a customer favorite
--Maple oatmeal bread
--Pain aux noix
--Pumpernickel bread
--Whole wheat pita (in bags of four)
--Zaatar flatbread

I confess I'm not entirely happy with how the maple oatmeal bread has been turning out lately, so I think I may experiment with the recipe this weekend to find something a little less dense. You tell me -- which do you prefer, dense or lighter whole grain breads?

You'll find delicious treats in the pastry case, too:

--Espresso chip shortbread, with local buckwheat, butter, and a hit of Al's Beanery's Espresso Mix coffee
--Cheddar-scallion rolls, with freshly milled local wheat, Blue Jacket Dairy fresh cheddar curds, homegrown dill, and fresh scallions from my garden

Now that the demonstration schedule is over, I hope to find a little more time to test some new recipes and consider offering new items at the market. Of course, that may not happen as the growing season really takes off, but I will try.

Enjoy your daily bread!

Thanks for a Grand Opening!

What a terrific day at Local Roots yesterday! The Grand Opening turned out to be truly grand, indeed, with crowds streaming through the market throughout the day. I saw a lot of new people there and hope to see many of them coming back as regulars!

We had lots of things going on -- activities for kids, lots of tasting in the meeting room (milk, cheese, waffles, coffee, linzertorte, meats, and more), music, cooking demos (including my pita pizzas) -- and the whole place hummed with excitement and activity.

(For more information on the whole day, you can read the article I posted at The Ethicurean.)


Thanks to my loyal customers -- and some new loyal customers, I hope! -- my very full shelf was completely empty by the end of the day (save for one package of pita). And though I had a few buckwheat cookies to take home from the bakery case, there was a highly amusing last-minute tussle over the last piece of my honey cake. Guess I'll be making that again sometime...

This week I'll get back into the regular baking groove, and I probably won't have quite so much on the shelf. But as always, if there's something you're looking for and can't find, let me know -- I make no promises, but I'm open to suggestions!

See you next week at the market!

Grand Opening at Local Roots Market and Cafe

This Saturday, May 15, we're having our Grand Opening celebration at Local Roots Market and Café. It promises to be an exciting day, packed with lots of good things, so you won't want to miss it!

In anticipation of the crowd, I've been busy baking yesterday and today -- and I'm not done yet! Here's what you'll find on my shelves at the market this weekend:

--Sesame thins
--Cheese-herb artisan bread: four varieties -- dill-cheddar, chèvre-rosemary, feta-oregano or Ludlow with sage and tarragon


--Cinnamon pecan bread: this proved popular last week, so I've made more!
--Maple oatmeal bread
--Pain aux noix
--Pumpernickel bread
--Whole wheat pita (in bags of four)
--Zaatar flatbread (another popular item last week)

In the bakery case, I plan to have:

--Buckwheat butter cookies: crumbly but oh so good!
--Honey cake with chèvre from Lucky Penny Creamery and sliced almonds

I plan to host a cooking demonstration in the afternoon, making a variety of ethnic-leaning pizzas from my whole wheat pita breads -- from pesto and tomato to sauteed greens on a spicy Thai peanut sauce.


And best of all, in honor of the Grand Opening, I've made a new bread -- a new original recipe -- to offer as a door prize. Meet the cappuccino chip bread, a tender dark loaf with the right hint of sweetness, it combines a wide variety of local ingredients:

--whole milk and butter from Hartzler Family Dairy
--freshly milled whole wheat flour from Stutzman Farm
--Espresso Blend locally roasted coffee from Al's Beanery
--egg from Autumn Harvest Farm
--maple sugar from Gortner's Maple Syrup

You can't win it if you're not there, so come to the market this Saturday!

At the Market 5/7 and 5/8

We're heading into a very full weekend: breakfast fundraiser at Local Roots (asparagus frittata and rhubarb coffee cake, don't miss it!) and another grain mill demonstration at Lehman's. And since there's a big tour group planning to stop by the market today, I baked even more this week. Here's what you'll find on my shelf:

--Sesame thins
--Cheese-herb artisan bread: four varieties -- dill-cheddar, chèvre-thyme, feta-oregano or Ludlow with fresh sage and tarragon
--Cinnamon pecan bread: an improved version of a cinnamon bread I tried a couple months ago, based on the pain aux noix recipe
--Maple oatmeal bread
--Pain aux noix (two loaves with pecans; I ran out of walnuts!)
--Pumpernickel bread
--Whole wheat pita (in bags of four)
--Zaatar flatbread (made with the same dough as the baguettes, only flattened, smeared with olive oil, and sprinkled with a savory mixture of thyme, sesame seeds, salt, and pepper)

You'll find two of my favorites in the pastry case, too:

--Espresso chip shortbread, with local buckwheat, butter, and a hit of Al's Beanery's Espresso Mix coffee
--Pesto scones, using local basil, butter, and shredded Burr Oak cheese from Canal Junction Farmstead Cheese

Stop in the market Friday noon to 7 PM or Saturday 9 AM to 3 PM and pick up something wholesome and delicious!

Someone's Cooking in the (Demo) Kitchen

Yesterday morning I showcased my whole wheat pita breads in a cooking demonstration at Local Roots, making breakfast pizzas to sample for customers. I used plenty of other Local Roots products in making them:

--eggs from Valley Grass Farm
--spinach, dried thyme, and dried parsley from Adonai Acres
--nettles and lambsquarters from Karen's Garden Delights
--chives from Por-Bar Farms
--dried dill from my own gardens
--Ludlow cheese from Blue Jacket Dairy
--chèvre and feta from Lucky Penny Creamery
--dandelion salsa from Pete's

Shoppers gave an enthusiastic response to the savory treats, and a few even tried a wedge from a couple of different batches, just to test the different flavor combinations. By the end of my two-hour slot, all the pizza "slices" had been eaten, and all of my pita breads had sold. Thank you!


I also set out a platter with chunks of my pumpernickel bread for samples, along with a yogurt-based dip with Lucky Penny feta, radishes from Banzhaf Garten Organic Farm, homegrown dill, a dash of black pepper, and olive oil. That, too, was greatly appreciated, and the end result was the sale of all of my pumpernickel bread. Thanks again!

I'll do another cooking demonstration at Local Roots -- more pita pizzas, this time with an ethnic and seasonal flair -- for our Grand Opening on Saturday, May 15. The whole event will cover 9 AM to 3 PM, but I won't be doing my demo until 1 PM, so save room for lunch!

And thanks to all the shoppers who stopped by and enjoyed my cooking!