Midsummer Celebrations

 

 Here in Philly we've just passed the Midsummer Solstice, that date in the summer with the longest hours of daylight. To celebrate the coming bounty of summer crops I made us a wholesome, partially homegrown dinner last night. A salad of romaine, arugula, sauteed kale and asparagus, with a parsley lemon dressing. Hardboiled eggs with spicy mustard. And this beautiful nutty yogurt bread. 

I've been making this bread since we lived in England and recently it's fallen off my radar, but I am so happy to remember it exists! Unlike other breads, this one relies on a combination of baking powder, baking soda and cream of tartar to get a lift. Which means that it is no-knead and no-rise. All you need are two bowls to mix the dry and the wet ingredients, a loaf tin and an hour in the oven. What you will pull out is the most moist, nutty satisfying bread. I'm sure this loaf won't last long past the weekend.

Nutty Yogurt Bread

1 tbsp sunflower oil (I used grapeseed)

375g plain flour

125g wholemeal flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

90g mixed nuts, chopped (I used walnuts, pecans and almonds)

90g sunflower seeds

1 tsp runny honey

200 ml plain yogurt

300 ml milk

2 tbsp sunflower seeds, for sprinkling

1) Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Grease a 2 lb loaf tin with oil or butter. Sift the flours, salt, cream of tartar, baking soda and baking powder together in a large bowl. Stir in nuts and sunflower seeds.

2) Mix the honey, yogurt, milk and oil together. Stir into dry ingredients and mix to form a soft dough.

3) Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and smooth to level the top. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour until golden and risen. The bread is ready when its edges shrink from the sides of the tin.

Enjoy 15% off all items today with code midsummer14 at my shop!

december eats

Happy New Year! I've been busy the past few months filling holiday orders and baking like there's no tomorrow. Out of the many recipes I tried in December I though I'd share some of the best. As a side note - I'm almost totally dairy free these days due to an allergy developed later in life, so
I use butter substitutes, which don't always work well, but all these recipes came out a peach!

Cardamom Coffee Bread Wreath :: via Sweet Paul

a pillowy bready treat perfect with a hot drink on a cold morning, like a croissant/bread hybrid

Holiday Spiced Pecans :: via A Beautiful Bite

pecan pie without the pie, YUM

Swedish Pepparkakor :: via All Recipes (my mom has our family recipe)

better than gingerbread cookies, perfectly crunchy and satisfyingly spicy, and decorated to the nines

Stollen :: via Bon Appetit

my grandfather used to make a stollen to have every Christmas morning and now I have taken the challenge. this recipe creates a very moist, fruity stollen but my family enjoys it the best

Hope you all had a wonderful start to the year and that 2014 is exactly as you wish!

 

preserving summer II

As the beginning of autumn and cool nights trickle in, my garden is slowing down, but there are still squash, peppers, a few tomatoes and early fall raspberries. I usually end up with a few behemoth zucchinis that seem to grow from a few centimeters to baseball bat size overnight. My family's favorite uses for these are zucchini pancakes with mint and feta, or zucchini bread from the old Silver Palette Cookbook.

 

 

Zucchini Bread (Silver Palette recipe)

1 tablespoon sweet butter
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups oil
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups grated unpeeled raw zucchini
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup shelled walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 9 x 5 loaf pan. (*I usually divide the mixture into two 9x5 pans)

2. Beat eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla until light and thick. Fold grated zucchini into oil mixture.

3. Sift dry ingredients together. Stir into zucchini mixture until just blended. Fold in the walnuts.

4. Pour batter into the buttered loaf pan. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Cool slightly, remove from pan, and cool completely on a rack.

Note: For best flavor, wrap the breads when cool and let stand overnight before serving. With its sugar, spices, and nuts, this is a tea bread, almost cakelike.