red wine honey cake.

"it's been way too long since my last post" would be a severe understatement. rather than starting off by making excuses about my unannounced five month blogging sabbatical, i'll jump right to the chase (and save the excuses for my next post, which hopefully won't take another five months to publish).

the chase: make this cake!

red wine honey cake

from melissa clark

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons grams baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon grams salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon grams ground ginger

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

3 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups olive oil

1 cup of your best honey

3/4 cup dry red wine

place a rack in the middle of the oven; heat to 350 degrees. grease a 10-inch bundt pan, including center tube, if you have one. i just used a deep 9-inch square baking dish.

in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.

in another large bowl, whisk eggs well. whisk in the sugar, oil, honey, and wine until well combined. whisk in your dry ingredients until smooth. pour the batter into pan and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. transfer pan to a wire rack to cool for about 20 minutes. remove from the dish and allow to finish cooling. slice and serve!

strawberry coconut cake.

in case it wasn't already obvious, operation "update the blog more often" has taken a hit the past month. i divide the blame equally between 1) my computer crashing and 2) my laziness skyrocketing. 

excuses aside, i'm excited to share this simple loaf/muffin recipe with you guys. back in may, i took a group of grad students strawberry picking. it was delightful. i did, however, return home with about two pounds of strawberries and a slight tinge of panic: how does one person use up two pounds of strawberries up before they go bad?! the answer: cake. well, more accurately, cakes. lots of cakes. this recipe was one of the best, if only because it can handle a ton of strawberries without falling apart. it's also delicious. substitute the egg out for some chia seeds and it's vegan. 

strawberry coconut cake.

adapted from smitten kitchen

3/4 cup turbinado sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil


1 egg


1 teaspoon vanilla extract


1 tablespoon rum


1 cup all purpose flour


1/4 cup whole wheat flour


1/2 teaspoon salt


1 teaspoon baking soda


1/4 cup soy vanilla yogurt

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1-2 cups sliced strawberries


preheat an oven to 350 degrees F.

in a large bowl, beat together the brown sugar, vegetable oil, egg, vanilla and rum.

combine the flours, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl and give a stir. add the dry ingredients to the wet with the yogurt. stir with a spatula until just combined.

add in strawberries and coconut.

grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan. spoon in the batter. bake in preheated oven for about 55 to 65 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

hooked on bread baking.

increasing evidence suggests that there's a directly positive relationship between how busy i am and the amount of bread i bake. take the last 2 weeks for example. It was finals season, and I had 50 pages to write, 3 presentations to give, and a final exam to study for. I also, apparently, had 4 different loaves of bread to bake. 

baking bread is the perfect low-cost, high-reward activity. first, it's cheap. cheap like "why would i ever pay 4 dollars for a loaf again?!" cheap. it's also quick. especially if you're following my lead and sticking with no-knead recipes. throw some stuff in a bowl, let it rise, dump it in a dutch oven, and let 'er bake. finally, it makes so much that no person alone can eat it all by themselves. the solutions: freeze some, give the rest away. the latter is a great way to make people like you - i mean, a great way to be a good person.

this honey raisin cinnamon bread makes a wonderful - or as my mom says, "the absolute yummiest!" - breakfast loaf. it's hearty without being too dense, and you can enjoy it plain, toasted, with some honey, almond butter, cream cheese, or whatever else you like in the morning. i only threw in raisins this first time around, but the dried fruit options are endless. i plan to include some dried apricots and dates in the next batch.

no-knead honey raisin bread

from the professional palate

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon yeast

1/3 cup honey

1 cup water

combine flours, raisins, cinnamon, salt and yeast in a large bowl.

combine water and honey. add to the flour mixture and stir until dough forms. cover tightly and let stand at room temperature overnight.

preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. place the dutch oven in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

remove dutch oven and spray the inside with grill spray. dump the dough into the dutch oven, cover, and bake for 30 minutes. uncover and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

let cool before slicing and enjoying with a generous shmear of honey or almond butter.

my new go-to banana bread.

somehow, i seem to have at least 3 über-ripe-slash-on-the-verge-of-going-bad bananas lying around my kitchen at any given moment. 

it works like this: i buy a bunch of bananas at the beginning of the week. i eat one every few days. 5 days in, only a couple are gone and the rest are on their way to the compost bin... unless someone intervenes.

obviously, that someone is me. but perhaps not quite as obvious is that my solution is pretty much always banana bread. lots and lots of banana bread.

i have a couple of go to recipes, one of which i posted about last summer. i tend to like banana breads you can't mess up. if i'm making a quickbread, i'm not in any mood to worry about that thing known as precision.

which is why today's recipe is a new favorite. it's vegan, ingredient-minimal, moist, and very banana-y. I like to throw poppy seeds into most of my baked goods, but i'm betting 1/4 cup shredded coconut or chopped walnuts would be delightful too. in fact, i'm pretty sure this recipe can handle most add-ins and spontaneous ingredient decisions. 

go-to banana bread.
adapted from bread and honey

3 small, very ripe bananas


1/2 cup applesauce


1/2 cup brown sugar


2 tablespoons runny honey


2 cups all-purpose flour


3/4 teaspoon baking soda


2 teaspoons ground cinnamon


1-2 tablespoon poppy seeds (depending on your love of crunch)

1/2 teaspoon salt



preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. lightly grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan.


in a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas well. add the sugar, applesauce, and honey. whisk briefly till just incorporated.

sift in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, poppy seeds, and salt. mix by hand until the wet and dry ingredients are just combined.
transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until lightly browned and a tester through the center comes out clean.

remove from oven. let sit for about 10 minutes before flipping the bread right side up and devouring.

GUEST POST: tim and denali's no-knead miracle bread!

the first time i met my friend tim, i started bugging him to guest post on the blog. while i've been known to casually mention to people that they should guest post, i'm pretty good about dropping the subject when i noticed a raised eyebrow or horrified expression. but not this time! mentioning the idea once turned into consistent pestering which may or may not have transformed into something potentially bordering on harassment. 

(sorry/thanks tim!). 

it's not that i enjoy being a pest. but after having the privilege of tasting his multiple renditions of his mom's no-knead bread, it was game over: i knew this recipe had to be shared with the world (aka all 12 of you faithful readers :)). 

this loaf is heavenly and conducive to bread-baking novices like myself. denali, tim's mom and this bread's ingenius inventor, has been so kind as to offer her contact information below the post. please direct all questions, comments, and endless praise to her! and now, take it away tim...

This recipe makes a terrific, rustic white bread. It involves a modicum of hands-on time a few times over a period of about 24 hours. You’ll need good quality white and whole-wheat flour (I use King Arthur brand), granulated yeast (often comes in packets. If you’re not sure if yours is still good, see proofing instructions below), salt, and a Dutch oven. This recipe is designed for a 3.5 quart capacity, but don’t try to make it in a saucepan; only a heavy cast-iron or thick ceramic pot will hold up to the sustained high temperatures. Le Creuset makes the nicest ones, Emile Henry’s are very good, but the one you buy from the thrift store/yard sale down the street for $5 is the best. You will also need some good oven mitts.

This recipe is timed for people with day jobs. Feel free to start it in the morning or mid-day and follow the steps in order. You can give or take a couple of hours between steps; the timing is not precise. On the other hand, do measure the ingredients carefully, as small differences in water or flour will yield a noticeably different loaf. Precision with oven temperature is also important.

Denali Delmar developed this recipe. She offers group lessons in New England; contact her (phone&email below) for more information.

Step one:  (evening) Mix stuff!
Whisk together the following ingredients in this order: 
2 cups lukewarm or cool water

1 & 1/3 cups white flour (bread or all-purpose flour)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 teaspoon yeast (granulated – NOT rapid rise)

It should look something like this after you whisk it. Cover tightly & set aside (at room temperature).

Step two:  (next morning) Add more! Your dough will look like this after working all night (while you were asleep!):

Add & mix thoroughly with spatula:

2 teaspoons of salt
2 cups white flour (whatever you used in Step 1) 

 It should like something like this after mixing:

Cover tightly & set aside at room temp. Use a large enough bowl so that dough does not rise to touch covering.

Step three:  (afternoon or evening) Bake it!

This is gonna be hot, kids, so be careful.

Remove all racks from oven except the lowest one, on which you’ll preheat your Dutch oven & bake the bread. Your dough should have risen to look like this:

Preheat oven to 450°F. Put in Dutch oven and cover, side-by-side. Preheat for 30 minutes.

Spray hot pan with weber grill spray (other spray grease won't do!). Carefully roll dough into pan using dampened rubber spatula. Cover pan with hot cover, and bake covered 30 minutes at 425°.

Uncover & continue baking at 425° for 15 minutes, till nicely browned. Remove from pan & cool on rack. Cool thoroughly before eating! Bread continues to bake for a while.

Once it’s cool, cut into it and check out the beautiful crumb.

Other notes:

·      Yeast – Pay attention to shelf-life.  To proof the yeast (prove it’s still alive) place 1 tsp yeast & 1 tsp sugar in ¼ cup warm (not real hot) water & mix thoroughly.  Place in sink.  In 10 minutes it should foam way up, proving it’s still alive.  If it doesn’t foam up, the yeast is dead, so throw it out and get some fresh yeast.  I’ve used yeast more than a year past the expired date and it’s been good, but do proof it if you have any doubts.  I always use a heaping ¼ teaspoon when measuring the yeast. 

·      Clean up – Fill dough bowl with cool or luke-warm water immediately after emptying it.  After it soaks for a while, use your hand to rub off the dough sticking to the sides.  This is the best way to clean the bowl, because if you use a brush, sponge or cloth, it will become gummed up by the gluten in the dough that is sticking to sides of the mixing bowl.

·      Storing bread – This bread has no preservatives and will not keep indefinitely, which is good reason to gobble it up (and share it with friends).  To store it more than a few hours, let it cool thoroughly, then it place in a paper bag.  If it will not be all used up within 24 hours, put the paper bag in a plastic bag.  If you can’t use the whole loaf within a few days, you can give half away, or freeze all or part of the loaf.  To do so, put thoroughly cooled bread directly in a plastic bag, expel as much air as possible (you can suck most of the air out with a straw), put on a twist tie, then repeat with another bag & freeze.  To defrost, leave in bags & place on rack.  

                                              

·      Contact this recipe’s owner – Denali Delmar, Westford, MA

denalixyz@gmail.com    978-692-7282

I love hearing from my bread baking students.  If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call me. Let me know about your experiments, successes, failures, discoveries, etc.; or hire me to teach a class to your friends, relatives, club or at your local library or church group; OR ask me to teach any teen group at a reduced rate.  (I’m such a proselytizer!  I think the whole world should be making bread.)