Day five: Friday
It’s mop up day in the kitchen and high time — as evidenced by my partner who keeps wandering through the kitchen wondering aloud when there might be some, any, any at all, counter space.
It’s coming, I promise.
I made my daughter an almond flour loaf of bread; something a little dense for my liking but a baked treat she can toast and enjoy with her morning coffee. It’s a quick bread, no yeast needed and comes together in a bowl easily which is the easy part. I’ve used both almond flour a various gluten free flours with equal success though I’ve never tried it with coconut flour which would require more ingredients and finesse than a quick loaf needs at the end of a marathon baking week. Baking gluten free is more of an exercise in chemistry than baking with regular flour so don’t stray too far from the recipe on this one.
At the end of this five day marathon bake I also found myself with an excessive number of egg yolks for whatever reason. Shrug. I used them up and made lemon curd which I tend to do free style, the recipe is a bit loose but the results are generally good and it goes with nearly any of the breads I baked in the last five days and can be placed in sterilized jars and canned in a hot water bath. We like lemon curd which is firmer than pudding and tarter to taste.
Blessedly Quick Almond Loaf
Ingredients:
2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup ground wheat germ (if you are not going for gluten free) flaxseed or hemp seed, any of these will work along with wheat bulgur (which is also not gluten free)
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs and 3 egg whites, all at room temperature
1 tablespoon vinegar, apple cider or other basic type o vinegar (just not herbal vinegar for this recipe)
1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350-F deg. Whisk the dry ingredients together until blended. Making a well in the center, add in all the wet ingredients and using a hand mixer or summoning the final dredges of your energy, mix together well. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for 35 minutes or until a thin knife inserted in the loaf comes out clean. Let cool completely before inverting and removing from the pan. Freezes well.
Free Style Lemon Curd
Ingredients:
6 to 9 egg yolks
1 and 1/2 to 2 cups sugar, depending on how sweet you like your curd
Zest of at least two large lemons along with the juice
Very generous pinch of Kosher salt
1 plus sticks of butter, cut into cubes, up to 1 and a 1/2 sticks as needed
Method:
On low heat whisk the egg yolks with the sugar, zest, lemon juice and salt and cook on low to medium low heat for about 12 to 15 minutes until thickened. Slowly whisk in the butter until the curd is thick, about the consistency of pudding. It will continue to thicken up a bit more once you remove it from the stove. Once it is thick enough, remove from the stove and strain through a fine sieve to remove any cooked egg. Cool and either can in sterilized jars or place in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap to prevent any film from forming.
thefrugallife 