Noe Valley Bakery

Noe Valley Bakery is nothing short of amazing. I was first introduced to them sometime last year as we celebrated Nosheen's birthday with an 8" carrot cake. I have since have been hooked. This bakery carries a large selection of breads, pastries, cakes, cookies and pies all made in-house (just peer over the counter and you can see the busy bees at work for yourself). This place is homely in every sense of the word, which is hard to say for most places in Noe Valley. I am comforted by everything I have ever ordered and I have yet to try something that is overly sweet. Don't take my word for it, or the 310reviews on Yelp (4 out of 5 stars). Check them out for yourself. You won't be disappointed.

Local Favorites:
- Most-est cupcakes
- NoeOs
- Blueberry-Pecan scones ($2.35)
- Chocolate Chip Cookies ($1.00)
- Cloud 9 Cake
- Carrot Cake (This will be my downfall)

For all your non-bakers who want to impress your family and friends, they also carry a freezer full of bake-at-home cookies, pie shells and puff pastry.

Below is an excerpt on from by Tara Duggan's article SCRUMPTIOUS SCONES / Bakers share tips for creating a no-fail batch). Micheal Gassen was gracious enough to share his blueberry scone recipe and essential baking tips.

"Bakers at San Francisco's Noe Valley Bakery & Bread Co. add pieces of frozen butter to the dough so that the butter stays in chunks all the way to the oven. Then the dough is rolled into logs and cut into rounds to avoid being overworked.

"The least amount of stress you put on a product the better. If you think about pie dough or molding bread if you overwork it it becomes tough. We want the scone dough to be shaggy" says owner Michael Gassen peering into a 20-quart mixer bowl full of purplish dough studded with 1/2-inch chunks of butter blueberries and pecans."

INGREDIENTS:
7 ounces cold unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup chopped toasted
pecans
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 375°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or grease them with butter. Chop the butter into 1/4-inch pieces. (It is important to make the pieces no larger than 1/4 inch because they are difficult to make any smaller once frozen.) Spread on a plate and place in the freezer until hard about 30 minutes or overnight.

Combine the flour sugar baking powder salt and baking soda in a large bowl. Add the butter and chop with two butter knives or a pastry blender until it is well blended and some of the butter is crumbly. Mix in the pecans. Gradually add the buttermilk 1/3 cup at a time and mix gently until all ingredients are incorporated but not completely blended. You might not use up all of the liquid. The end result should be a shaggy mass.

Sprinkle the blueberries on top of the dough and only mix enough to evenly distribute the berries.

Gently form the dough into 1/3-cup balls and place them 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. (You may freeze the balls at this point and bake them later. Once frozen place scones in freezer storage bags.)

Bake 24-26 minutes or until cooked through and golden. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

Yields 16 scones.

PER SCONE: 200 calories 3 g protein 21 g carbohydrate 12 g fat (7 g saturated) 28 mg cholesterol 87 mg sodium 1 g fiber.

Michael mentions that it is ok to freeze the scones, just note that the cook time may be slightly longer.

Thank you Michael and Mary for sharing your love of baking.