Esalen Cookbook Read Online Free PDF Page A

chop it into small pieces. Drop them into the mixing bowl and, with a pastry cutter or your fingers, work the butter into the mix until it will hold together when you squeeze a bit of flour in your hand.
     
    Whisk the yogurt and buttermilk together and add to the mix. Mix until all the dry ingredients are absorbed and you have a biscuit-looking dough that is not sticky. If it is sticky, add a little more unbleached flour; if the dough is too dry and the flour is not being completely absorbed into the dough, add a small amount of water to pull it together.
     
    Oil and flour a sheet pan, bread pan, or pie pan. You can shape the bread to accommodate the shape of the pan you want to use. Shape the dough into a round loaf if you are using the sheet or pie pan. Cut two cross slits in the bread and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour, or until a knife inserted into the bread comes out clean. Place on a rack to cool.

VARIATIONS
     
    You can add nuts and dried fruit (such as raisins, apricots, or dried cranberries) to make a Fruit and Nut Soda Bread. Chocolate chips and coconut can also be added for a variation of this soda bread.

BANANA COCONUT BREAD
     
    This is one of the sweet breads that comes out of our bakery and never lasts long on our bread bar. It is full of banana flavor and has a chewy coconut crumb texture. What a delight for those lucky guests who are lingering in the dining lodge when a baker brings out a hot loaf of this bread, filling the room with a banana-coconut aroma! This recipe was brought to Esalen by a cook who had a unique trait of singing her own style of opera in our walk-in freezer. Her voice was so powerful that it penetrated the thick freezer walls and could be heard all over the kitchen and dining lodge.
     
    Makes 1 loaf
    5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1¼ cups Sucanat (dehydrated cane juice)
or brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe banana
⅓ cup buttermilk
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
½ cup unsweetened coconut
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
     

     
    In a food processor or a mixing bowl, cream the butter and Sucanat or brown sugar until it’s a smooth paste. Add the eggs and beat for 2 minutes more; then add the mashed banana and buttermilk, beating for 1 minute more.
     
    Sift the flours, coconut, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a mixing bowl. Add the wet ingredients to this mixture and gently stir with a wooden spoon until mixed. Pour into a greased and floured bread pan and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 1 hour or until a knife inserted into the bread comes out clean. Take out of pan and place on a wire rack to cool.

COMPANY’S COMING SCONES
     
    This is another recipe brought to the Esalen kitchen by Bill Herr. He wrote, “These delicately textured scones are made without butter. (That hardly makes them low-cal, however, since they’re made with cream instead!) Thirty scones may sound like a lot, but you can’t eat just one, and besides, company’s coming.”
     
    Makes 30 scones
    2 cups raisins (or other dried fruit such as
currants, dried cranberries, apricots, or figs)*
6 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons non-aluminum baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
4 cups whipping cream
Milk for brushing tops
Coarse sugar for sprinkling (optional)
     
    #If the dried fruit you’ve chosen is larger than raisins, cut to approximately that size.
     
    Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl and then add the fruit. Add cream and mix just until combined. Divide dough into three equal parts, and then with a rolling pin or by hand, shape each portion into an 8-inch circle. Cut each circle into 10 wedges, like a pie. Brush tops with milk. Sprinkle with coarse sugar if desired.
     
    Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet with about an inch of space between each scone. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes or until they are golden