Simple breads are not low quality breads. When it comes to bread, simple means easy, not cheap or less tasty. On the contrary, using just one or maximum 2 flour types specialize the taste of the bread. The mixture of spelt with white wheat flour is for sure an old good match that makes your mind travel back through time to the country side.

Cooked in a pan simplifies the bakers process, although without, would look much more interesting.
No matter the shape, the taste is the same, so let's try it.

My weakness for lemon tarts is well known. This combination of sour and sweet of the lemon custard simply drives me crazy. If I add another great weakness that I have for meringues it is very hard for me to resist in front of such a tart.

Although this tartelettes requires 3 steps to do them, eating them is like in an instant. It takes a bit of time and work to prepare them but every bite is well deserved.

I often enter in fresh fast food restaurants to grab a quick lunch. While queuing to pay my food I watch the deserts exposed strategically just in front of me. They look fantastic, like fresh harvested mushrooms. Many times I wonder how do they make them to look so perfect and so beautiful? Regardless the impressive look and the first impuls to put one on my tray, I pay my food without picking any of them. The reason is evident ... I can do better myself while knowing exactly what's inside.

Mines, they may not look like a "star" but they look pleasantly and decent. Above all, they are homemade with great passion and pleasure. They are exactly the kind of deserts I would give to my children without having second thoughts. I also have the great satisfaction of controlling the amount of sugar inside.

Doing them is another story. Making deserts with my daughter is one of the things I really enjoy. She is so actively involved in measuring correctly the ingredients and mix them all (or one after another) and I do not want to lose these great moments spent together with my daughter. For her is a game, but for me, as an adult, sharing all the tricks and experiences with her is like creating history. I, myself, do remember such moments from my childhood when I was doing cakes with my mother and those moments are kept very dear to me. Now it's my time to create sweet memories for my own daughter.

Therefore, is there a reason for me to buy muffins from a shop?

It is not the first time that I make this recipe. I made a variation with chocolate here. However, I think that this time I enjoy them the most. Without the addition of chocolate you get the chance to taste the pure basic dough. Surprisingly, they really made an outstanding impression.
To give them a specific note, I added some pearl sugar that I found lost in my pantry on a bottom of a paper box. The crunchy and caramelized spots created by the pearl sugar after baking where the cherries of this cake.
I have not appreciated them that much in the beginning but when my kids asked for a 3rd portion I ate a full one myself so I can distinguish what makes them like them so much. They are soft, they almost melt into your mouth and the aroma of almond combined with vanilla makes them special.

You may try and taste different recipes of breads but going back to the simplest one gives an incredible feeling of satisfaction. In the end, the basic ingredients: flour, water and salt is all you need. Sourdough is made only from flour and water. The gluten addition is optional just to improve the proteins of the flour. To the limit, if you prefer not to use salt for the bread, you end up having a bread that is made of only 2 ingredients. Isn't it amazing that you could achieve to do a bread with with only 2 ingredients?
But for my taste, salt is a must be inside bread. You can put up to 2% of salt inside. I usually chose to put less, somewhere around 1%.
By choosing different types of flours you enrich the taste. But this doesn't mean that going to one single, basic wheat flour won't lead you to a great result. And here is the proof.

The recipes you like leave a strong footprint in your mind. For me, the Vermont sourdough bread is a reference recipe. Its taste and its texture left deep pleasant memories and from time to time I like to try different versions of it. For this time, I needed a sandwich bread to be able to easily fit it in the toaster. But basically, the recipe is almost the same. The addition of sesame seeds distinguish this bread form other versions I made and always the taste and texture do not disappoint me.

I have tried this recipe in many different ways. Every time I've got an excellent result and it is difficult to say which one was the best. I've tried to bake it in a conventional oven, I've tried to replace the seeds with sesame or chia but all the times I chose the sandwich shape just for practical reasons. With the wood fired oven you do not have to much control over the temperature once the loaves are inside. I tend to get the breads a bit overcooked when using the natural fire, as it was the case for this one.
When changing the seeds I do not find a big striking difference between the versions related to taste. So, feel free to use your preferred kind of seeds.

Manitoba four is well known for its high protein content. This means more gluten, so a higher chance to have a beautifully risen bread. When using this type of flour in your bread no extra addition of gluten is necessary. When baked, the crumb I find it whiter than classical wheat flour.
Here it is a simple recipe where the Manitoba flour is used exclusively. If you decide to stay on an evening late, you can follow the timing that I used. Or, you can simply put the dough overnight in a cooler place.

Putting herbs into my bread is not a new experience for me. I have tried different types of aromatic herbs to see how they fit with the taste of bread. In all cases, these breads bring something specific. They are not just simple breads, they are specialized breads with a specific aroma. The aroma is super strong. Each time I try to do a herbal bread it makes me remember that it does not fit with all kind of food. For example, spreading just some butter on a a slice works great, and sprinkling some salt over it makes it perfect. However, if on top of the butter you add some jam, things starts to taste weirdly. You might like it but for me, this is not a perfect match.
More, Herbes de Provence contains strongly aromatic herbs. Savory foods are simply complemented by this bread.
In particular, for this recipe, I made a visit to an organic shop and I have filled my pantry with some organic flours. Special flours, special aroma... the direction was clear for me to pick this incredible combination of herbs. As again I targeted the sandwich shape of the bread, using bread pans was the chosen option.
This bread is really special, you love it or you hate it. On top of the taste, this bread in particular brings me back amazing memories from Provence, so you can imagine that I appreciated a lot this bread.
Now lets see how to do it...

I have this biscuit stamp with the text "C'est MOI qui l'ai fait" for years. My daughter used to play with it for play-doh when she was small. My son loves to dismantle it while playing with it. But one day, my daughter told me: "Mommy, we have never made biscuits with this".  It was clear to me then that its time has arrived.

One of the reason I cook at home is that I can control what I put inside. For biscuits (and generally sweets) the ingredient I take care the most is sugar. And yes, I usually cut it in half at least. For this recipe, the original one requested 300g. Oh no... far from me the idea that I would put this amount of sugar in biscuits that I offer to my kids. 75g was more than enough. And believe me, after tasting them I would not put not even one single gram more. The are perfect as they are. But if you prefer it sweeter, feel free to put more. The cost of eating too much sugar is too high for me to pay it with my family's health.

I have to make a confession:"C'est MOI qui l'ai fait" is not true. This is the first recipe on my blog that I didn't do it myself. My daughter did it. You can understand that I am so proud of her. I only helped in cleaning the dishes and giving some guidelines. I was not expecting this moment to arrive so soon but it was her desire to do them by herself. Would it be something genetic? Hmmm... we'll see in time.

Let's talk a bit about the results. These biscuits are simply melting in your mouth. They do not make so many crumbs as others, so I am happy to not run to clean after my kids when they steal one piece from the box. This is the kind of biscuits that I would definitely enjoy near an unsweetened cup of tea.  It is the bite that make you close your eyes, focus on the bite and say with your lips closed "Mhmhmhmmmmm". Now I dream on ... they are not meant for me... but for my kids :)
Do you want to taste them as well? Sorry guys, I do not sell. But here is the recipe... go to the kitchen and you can try it yourself.