Bread & Babka at GoldStone Farms

Mikah and Alex went berry picking! Strawberries are available from Maryland to New Jersey during May- June and if you have had homemade fruit pie you know it's worth the effort. For those ready to take the plunge, summertime is the best time to experiment with all sorts of berries and summer stone fruit.  Count yourself lucky if you can find New Jersey strawberries, blueberries or peaches.  @JerseyFresh! Pie crust directions from Williams-Sonoma are below. If making the crust is a bit more of a project than you want to undertake, buy a frozen deep-dish unbaked pie crust. The filling will make one deep dish pie.  The rhubarb was available at the farm they visited as well.  Ingredients:   3 1/2 cups chopped Rhubarb  2 1/2 cups sliced strawberries 2/3 - 1 cup of sugar 4 Tablespoons Cornstarch  1/2 teaspoon of salt  dash of cinnamon (optional)  zest of one lemon (amount optional)  Directions: Chop the rhubarb, measure out 3 1/2 cups and put it

These are, if not the easiest, then among the easiest biscuits to bake.  Chopped scallions and coconut oil create a delicious moist biscuit - you won't miss the butter.  The dough is hand-mixed, using either a pastry blender or an inexpensive flexible dough scraper, which can be purchased through King Arthur Flour.   The trick for making flaky light biscuits is to avoid working the dough too much. Mix as lightly and as little as possible in order to NOT build up long gluten strands.  The entire process, start to finish can be done in under an hour assuming 2 baking sheets, which will allow you to bake batches of biscuits one after another.  There is no baking powder or salt in the recipe because self-rising flour has salt and baking powder incorporated in it. This dough uses two leavening agents, baking powder in the self-rising flour and instant yeast, a leavening technique you'll also find in  Chinese Steamed Buns  The "shortening" is solid coconut o