It's the Yeast I Can Do

Lemon poppyseed bread, 03.27.13

My in-town mom gave me some leftover lemon curd that she made (in the microwave!), so I found a bread recipe that called for some and made this. I didn’t have the zest, which was a bummer, but I also had no interest in venturing to H-E-B after the month I’d had, so I blew it off. It wasn’t quite as sweet as I expected, but all in all, definitely an experiment worth repeating.

Via Williams-Sonoma

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4 eggs 
1 1/2 c milk (I used almond out of desperation)
1 c canola oil  
1 1/2 c sugar 
2 t grated lemon zest (didn’t have this, wish I did)
2 t vanilla extract 
3 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 T baking powder 
1 t salt 
1/4 c poppy seeds  
1 c lemon curd
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans and line the bottoms with buttered parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk until blended. Whisk in the oil, granulated sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla. In another bowl, using a large wooden spoon, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the poppy seeds. Combine wet and dry mixtures and stir just until blended. 

Spread about three-fourths of the batter in the prepared pans. Drizzle half of the lemon curd over the batter. Spread the remaining batter over the curd, and then top with the remaining lemon curd. Gently swirl the curd around with the tip of a knife.

Bake until the bread is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Cool on a wire rack in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn the loaf out onto the rack and peel off the parchment paper. Turn the loaf top side up and let cool completely on the rack. Dust the top lightly with confectioners’ sugar.

Makes 2 loaves, so you can eat one immediately and no one will be any the wiser.

Pretzel rolls, 03.17.13

I’ve spent something like 25 of the last 26 days in the office. (All you SXSWgoers, I hope you’re happy.) But on my day off last weekend, I wanted to feel human again, so I slept in, worked out, got my taxes done, went bowling, and baked. Success.

I picked this recipe to bake because I knew I had everything on hand (or thought I did, anyway – came up short when it came for the egg white glaze, but I think they did perfectly fine without, honestly) and I hadn’t worked up the motivation to brave the grocery store yet.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

King Cake, 02.10.13

When I sent Ozz looking for king cake ice cream in Shreveport a few weekends ago, I had no idea that he hadn’t ever had the real thing. But the truth will out, so this year we decided we’d trade Mardi Gras traditions: I’d bake king cake, and he’d make paczki. We’ll report back.

For a more thorough and baking-based look at this endeavor, check out this Chronicle food blog post.

Via All Recipes

Albino cornbread, 09.05.12

I’ve been wanting to make this cornbread again for two and a half months now. I started once before, but realized quickly that my corn meal didn’t make it through the move. Even now, I wound up using white instead of yellow simply because that’s what I had on hand and I was sick of putting it off.

It’s amazing that something that takes less than half an hour to put together can be such a pain.

(In the background: camera bag, Baby Blues comic about bowling shoes, Mario Kart evidence, Shutterfly prints, aforementioned cinnamon rolls book, notes from Breaking Bad blog post. I’m all over the place these days.)

Pretzel rolls, 07.08.12

Paired with a delicate nacho cheese, these were Marcus and Shannon’s dinner last night. They taste exactly like a soft pretzel, but without all the tedious rolling and twisting.

From Smitten Kitchen

Cheddar, beer, and mustard pull-apart bread, 02.26.12

Lesson: Avoid me long enough and I’ll begin bribe-baking for you.

From Smitten Kitchen

King cake, 02.20.12

When I was at Central Market the other night, I impulse-bought some yeast packets (who says that?), so I had everything on hand to throw together a king cake in time for Mardi Gras. Have you noticed how often “because I had everything already” is my reason for baking? Can someone please just start doing my grocery shopping for me? Scratch-off-lotto-ticket-bribery is doing more for a gambling addiction than incentivizing H-E-B trips.

Anyway, I partially learned my lesson from last year and decided not to roll the dough into a long strip after the first rise, instead punching a hole through the middle to make a flat ring. That was smart. Swapping the cream cheese filling for cinnamon sugar? Also smart. Doubling the filling to better balance out the bread ratio? Genius. Getting impatient and using melted butter instead of softened in that filling? Totally fine. But combine those decisions with my OCD about “oh well maybe I could just nudge that bit of dough to make that side more even” and you find yourself with a tsunami of brown sugar and cinnamon all over my stovetop. And that was before flipping the whole mess onto a cookie sheet. Someday I’ll learn, guys.

Adapted somewhat generously from All Recipes

Poppy seed lemon cake, 01.28.12

I may have … overestimated … my need for eggs and butter during my last grocery trip. Cue searching for recipes that call for things like, oh, say, eight egg yolks and half a pound of butter. 

From Smitten Kitchen

Pumpkin cheddar muffins, 01.01.12

“You’ve almost insulted me with how good those muffins are.” The photo doesn’t do them justice.

From Baked Explorations