chef's adventures in bread making part one

blue ribbon french bread
from bernard clayton's new complete book of breads

adventures in baking from a cook's point of view

we caved in and bought a cuisinart mixer. and so far i've baked two different kinds of bread: something resembling a ciabatta and what for lack of better adjectives i will dub a "home-oven" baguette. both turned out pretty much like standard white bread, so i'm not going to share any tricks i've learned just yet, but i did start to perfect my irish scones. this dough is light and easy to work with, almost like a biscuit dough. recipe as follows:
3 cups white flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 large eggs, beaten, plus 1 egg, beaten for eggwash
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 T baking powder
3/4 stick of butter
1 C + 2 T buttermilk
1/2 C dried currants

mix all ingredients except eggwash in large mixing bowl until sticky dough forms, turn out onto a floured surface and roll with a floured pin until 2 inches thick. cut the dough into 2 inch rounds with cookie cutter or drinking glass. repeat with scraps. eggwash the tops of biscuits and let sit in refridgerator for 30 min. pre-heat oven to 425 F. brush biscuits again with eggwash and bake on top rack for 12-15 minutes or until tops and bottoms are browned.