Happy Homemade Bread Day!

Can you believe it's Homemade Bread Day again already? I swear I was just baking a loaf for this last week! Seriously - I don’t know where they come up with some of these "holidays", but the food related ones at least give me a built in topic for my posts. I couldn’t find any information on Homemade Bread Day, so I don’t know if its creators had a specific kind of bread in mind. While I love homemade yeast bread, I never make it – I haven’t made any for at least 20 years anyway. I just don’t have the patience for all that kneading and rising. Lazy – I know.

Now I do enjoy making quick breads and biscuits, and since those are bread too, and I couldn’t find anything saying they didn’t count, here are a couple of my favorite drop biscuit recipes to celebrate Homemade Bread Day.

I’m also including some links to sites with bread recipes and info for those of you with more patience than me.

Bread Baking on About.com
Cookingbread.com
The Fresh Loaf
Best Bread Recipes
Better Bread Recipes

Cheddar Pecan Biscuits
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup buttermilk *
1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 400. Grease a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, mustard, baking soda and salt until well combined. Stir in cheese and pecans. Add buttermilk and melted butter and stir just until a soft dough forms.

Drop by 1/4 cupfuls onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes or until tops are lightly browned.

Garlic Herb Biscuits
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions
1 cup buttermilk*
3 tablepoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove minced garlic

Preheat oven to 425. Grease a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, thyme and black pepper. Add buttermilk, scallions and oil. Stir just until a soft dough forms.

Drop by 1/4 cupfuls onto baking sheet. Bake about 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic and cook about 1 minute or until garlic is fragrant, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Brush garlic butter over biscuits.

*If you don't happen to have buttermilk (which I never do) this easy substitute works just as well. To make 1 cup buttermilk, place 1 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice in an liquid measuring cup. Add regular milk to make 1 cup. Let stand 5 minutes before using.