Braided Lemon Bread

 Sponge

• 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) warm water
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) unbleached all-purpose flour 

  Dough

• Sponge (above)
• 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) sour cream or yogurt
• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons or 2 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 large eggs, 1 beaten for dough, 1 beaten with 1 teaspoon water for brushing bread
• 1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces) sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups (10 5/8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
• Pearl sugar* or sparkling white sugar for sprinkling 

  Lemon cream cheese filling

• 1/3 cup (2 1/2 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons (5/8 ounces) sugar
• 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) sour cream
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons (1/2 ounce) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup (2 ounces) homemade (recipe below) or prepared lemon curd 

Make sponge

In a small bowl, combine the sponge ingredients. Stir well to combine, loosely cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to proof for 10 to 15 minutes. 

Make dough in a stand mixer

Combine the sponge, sour cream, butter, egg, sugar, salt and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add flour and mix with the paddle attachment until the dough is a rough, shaggy mass. Switch to the dough hook and knead on until a soft, smooth dough forms, about 5 to 6 minutes. ??Place the kneaded dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for 60 to 90 minutes, until quite puffy and nearly doubled. 

Make dough by hand

Whisk together sour cream, butter, egg, sugar and vanilla in a large, wide bowl. Stir in sponge. Add the flour and mix with a wooden spoon as best as you can; you may need to get your hands in there to form it into a shaggy ball. Turn ball of dough and any incorporated scraps onto a counter and knead until a smooth, soft dough forms, about 5 to 10 minutes. Place the kneaded dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for 60 to 90 minutes, until quite puffy and nearly doubled. 

Make the filling (while dough rises)

Combine all the filling ingredients (except the lemon curd) in a small bowl, mixing until smooth and lump-free. Reserve the filling and lemon curd until ready to fill the braids. 

Prepare bread

Gently deflate the dough and roll it out on a very well floured counter to a 10″ x 15″ rectangle. Transfer rectangle to a large piece of parchment paper, please; I did not and it led to all sorts of trouble. With the side of your hand, lightly press two lines down the dough lengthwise, dividing it into three equal columns. Spread the cream cheese filling down the center section, leaving the top and bottom two inches free of filling. (Like so.) Spread the lemon curd over the cream cheese filling. To form the mock braid, cut crosswise strips one inch apart down the length of the outer columns of you dough (the parts without filling). Make sure you have an equal amount of 1-inch strips down the right and left sides. Be careful not to cut your parchment paper; if you have a bench scraper, this is a great time to use it. Remove the four corner segments. (Like so.) To “braid”, begin by folding top flap down and bottom flap up over the filling. Lift the top dough strip and gently bring it diagonally across the filling. Repeat on the right side, and continue down the entire braid, alternating strips (like so) until you are out. You can tuck the last couple that hand off decoratively under the end of the braid. Carefully transfer the dough and the parchment paper to a baking sheet. Cover loosely with plastic and set it aside to rise for 45 to 50 minutes, until quite puffy. 

Bake bread

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Brush the loaves with egg wash, and sprinkle with pearl or coarse sparkling sugar. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the loaves are golden brown and your apartment smells like a doughnut factory. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 to 20 minutes before serving. 

  
Do ahead:When working with bread dough, you can refrigerate it or freeze it at almost any point in the process (before the first rise, after you deflate it, etc.). When you’re ready to work with it again, you bring it back to room temperature and let it resume rising from where it left off. This can take a few hours since it is cold. For this braid, my favorite way to approach it is to assemble the whole thing, braided and filled, put it on its baking sheet, loosely cover it with plastic and either refrigerate it overnight or up to a day, or freeze it for up to a week (wrapped better once frozen, of course). When you’re ready to use it, take it out, bring it back to room temperature and let it complete its second rise before you brush and bake it. 

* Pearl Sugar:If you like to bake, pearl sugar is great stuff to have around. It looks gigantic but instead of each “pearl” being reminiscent of a large, tooth-breaking crystal, it has a soft crunch. It’s wonderful on baked goods and even in them, like classic Liege waffles. And it’s pretty. When it comes to baked goods, pretty always wins. 

Lemon Curd
Adapted fromGourmet Makes a little shy of 1/2 cup 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

• 3/4 teaspoon fresh lemon zest, finely grated
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces 

Whisk together juice, zest, sugar, and egg in a 1-quart heavy saucepan. Stir in butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubble appears on surface, about 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer lemon curd to a bowl and chill, its surface covered with plastic wrap, until cold, at least 1 hour.

http://smittenkitchen.com/

Lemony Olive Oil Banana Bread Recipe

• 1 cup / 4.5 oz / 125g all-purpose flour
• 1 cup / 5 oz / 140g whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup / 4.5 oz / 125 g dark muscovado or dark brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup / 4 oz / 115 g coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate
• 1/3 cup / 80 ml extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups / 12 oz / 340 g mashed, VERY ripe bananas (~3 bananas)
• 1/4 cup / 60 ml plain, whole milk yogurt
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the glaze

• 1/2 cup / 3 oz / 85 g sifted dark muscovado or dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup / 2 oz / 55g confectioners' sugar
• 4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350° F, and place a rack in the center. 

Grease a 9- by 5- inch (23 x 13 cm) loaf pan, or equivalent. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add the chocolate pieces and combine well. In a separate bowl, mix together the olive oil, eggs, mashed banana, yogurt, zest, and vanilla. Pour the banana mixture into the flour mixture and fold with a spatula until just combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until golden brown, about 50 minutes. You want to get that beautiful color on the cake, but at the same time you don't want to bake all the moisture out of it. So the minute you're in that zone, pull it. Erring on the side of under-baking versus over.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn the loaf out of the pan to cool completely. While the cake is cooling, prepare the glaze. In a bowl, whisk together the sugars and the lemon juice until smooth. When the cake is completely cool, drizzle the glaze on top of the cake, spreading with a spatula to cover. Prep time: 10 min - Cook time: 50 min

http://www.101cookbooks.com/

Honey-sweetened Thumbprint Cookies Recipe

• 2/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup warm coconut oil or clarified butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• zest of one lemon
• your favorite jam or preserves (preferably fruit sweetened) - berry goes nicely

Preheat the oven to 350F, rack in the top 1/3. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl pour the warm, melted coconut oil over the honey and whisk in the vanilla extract. In a separate medium bowl combine the flour, oats, cornstarch/arrowroot, sea salt, baking soda, and lemon zest. Add the flour mixture to the honey and stir until just combined. Let the dough sit for 2-3 minutes. Stir once or twice again - the dough should be quite stiff.

Roll the dough into balls, one level teaspoonful at a time, and place an inch or so apart on the prepared baking sheets. These will spread. Use a (damp) pinky finger or the back of a very tiny spoon to make a well in the top of each ball of dough. Fill each "well" to the top with 1/8 teaspoon of jam. If you chill the dough at this point for an hour, the cookies won't spread as much, but I'm usually too impatient.

Bake for 7 - 9 minutes or until the bottom and edges of the cookies are just golden. Resist the urge to over-bake, these tiny guys dry right out.

Makes a few dozen cookies.

http://www.101cookbooks.com/

Erdbeer-Rhabarber-Grütze mit Grießpudding

Zutaten für 4 Portionen 

 

Für die Grütze:

 

500 g roter Rhabarber

350 ml roter Fruchtsaft

(z.B. Beeren-Trauben- Mix)

80-100 g Zucker

30 g Speisestärke

300 g Erdbeeren,

einige Spritzer Zitronensaft

 

Für den Grießpudding:

 

500 ml Milch

50 g Zucker

1 Päckchen Bourbon-Vanillezucker

1 Stück Bio-Zitronenschale (ca. 10 cm)

1 Prise Salz

70 g Weichweizengrieß

1 Ei (Größe L)

 

Zubereitung:

 

1. Für die Grütze den Rhabarber putzen, waschen, schälen und schräg in Stücke schneiden. 300 ml Saft aufkochen, Rhabarber zugeben, 2-3 Minuten zugedeckt köcheln lassen. Etwa die Hälfte des Rhabarbers herausnehmen. 80 g Zucker unterrühren. Stärke in restlichen 50 ml Saft anrühren, unterrühren und weitere 3-4 Minuten köcheln lassen.

 

2. Erdbeeren waschen, putzen und vierteln. Etwa ein Drittel davon pürieren, Püree, restliche Erdbeeren und den restlichen Rhabarber unter die Grütze heben. Mit Zitronensaft und eventuell noch etwas Zucker abschmecken. Abkühlen lassen und kalt stellen (am besten über Nacht).

 

3. Für den Grießpudding die Milch bis auf 2 EL mit Zucker, Vanillezucker, Zitronenschale und Salz aufkochen. Zitronenschale herausnehmen. Grieß unter Rühren einstreuen und ca. 5 Minuten bei sehr geringer Hitze ausquellen lassen. In eine Schüssel umfüllen und etwas abkühlen lassen. Ab und zu umrühren.

 

4. Ei trennen. Eigelb mit zurückbehaltener Milch verquirlen, unter den Grießbrei rühren. Eiweiß steif schlagen, unterheben. In 4 kalt ausgespülte Förmchen (à ca. 150 ml) füllen, kalt stellen und fest werden lassen. Zum Servieren stürzen und mit der Erdbeer- Rhabarber-Grütze anrichten.

http://www.krautundrueben.de/