Modified from a recipe at Joy of Cakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar, divided use
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 T lemon zest
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and place rack in the center of the oven. Grease six ramekins with butter.

Beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add the 2 tablespoons sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

Cream the remaining sugar and butter. Add the three egg yolks, one at a time, and beat until incorporated. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest. Add the flour and salt and beat until combined. With the mixer on low speed, gradually pour in the lemon juice and milk.

Gently fold the egg whites into the batter, in three additions, mixing only until incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared ramekins. (The batter does not rise much during baking so you can fill the ramekins almost to the rim.) Place the ramekins in a water bath so that the water is halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake about 40 – 45 minutes or until the sponge cakes are golden brown and a toothpick is inserted into the cake portion comes out clean. Be careful not to insert the toothpick into the lemon sauce at the bottom of the ramekins. Remove the ramekins from the water bath and cool slightly before serving.

Note: You can also make this dessert in a 2 quart souffle dish.

Yield: 6 servings.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup toasted walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (white optional) chocolate chips
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 3 ripe bananas (approximately 1 pound), mashed well (about 1-1/2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Turbinado sugar for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place oven rack to middle position. Butter and flour (or spray with a non stick vegetable/flour spray) the bottom and sides of a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Set aside.

Place the nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 – 10 minutes or until lightly toasted. Let cool and then chop coarsely.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients (banana mixture) into the dry ingredients until just combined and batter is thick and chunky. Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips. Scrape batter into prepared pan and sprinkle the top of the bread with coarse brown sugar (optional). Bake until bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 65 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool and then remove the bread from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 1 – 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf.

This is an interesting technique for breadmaking. It’s a very wet dough that doesn’t require kneading. I’m making a batch now…. I’ll update when it’s done.

Borrowed from The NY Times. (That link will die pretty quickly; the Times thinks that making people pay for their archives is good business. Whatever.)

Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
• ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
• 1¼ teaspoons salt
• Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours.
3. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.
4. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

Not a regular update, just my zucchini bread recipe:

Makes 2 normal loaves, or approximately 20 normal-sized muffins, or about 50 mini-muffins.

Preheat over to 350. Grease pans.

Dry ingredients:

1-1/2 c white flour
1-1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 t cinnamon
1 T baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 c raisins (optional, and you can also use other dried fruits if you’re adventurous)
1 c nuts (optional, but I usually use walnuts)

Wet ingredients:

3 eggs
3 c shredded unpeeled zucchini (carrots can be used for different effect)
2 t vanilla (optional, but it’s better with it)
1 c buttermilk
1 c sugar
1/4 t salt

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.

In a different (larger) bowl, beat eggs with sugar and salt. Add buttermilk and vanilla. Add shredded zucchini. Stir until mixed. Dump in pre-mixed dry ingredients and stir until dry ingredients are just moistened. Put into pans and bake, 15-20 minutes for muffins, up to an hour for loaves.