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🍞 Ciambella, my favorite cake?

Published about 2 months agoΒ β€’Β 2 min read

An ode to ciambella (and a few other things)

This past weekend, I made my sourdough discard Italian lemon cake: ciambella.

It's a fiercely lemon-y cake that's beautifully golden, a little thick like pound cake, and, with the added sourdough starter, just a very (very!) subtle hint of sourness that really plays nicely with the lemon.

Check out this incredibly not glitzy, fancy, or staged photo of the golden cake:

And that's kind of the point with this one. It's a back-pocket recipe you can pretty much whip up at any time on any random weekend (or heck, weekday).

It comes together in minutes, comes out of the pan effortlessly, and keeps for at least a week on the counter, covered.

(And by the way, if you don't have limoncello, just use lemon juice!)

Read on for my ciambella recipe, plus a few others I make this time of the year.

In this week's newsletter:

  • Recipes: Ciambella, Lemon Poppyseed Loaf, Banana Bread, Blueberry Muffins, Date and Banana Tea Cake
  • Reader's Baking Question: The bottom of my loaf keeps burning!
  • What I'm Watching and Reading: Jet Lag and Cherry Blossoms (baking in Japan); The Best Free Restaurant Bread in America (?)

πŸ‹ Ciambella (Italian lemon cake)

This might ver well be my favorite Italian cake out there, but I am biased. My grandmother used to make this one for us just about every month.

πŸ‹ Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf (Cake)

Still on the lemon kick, but this is a very different type of cake: moister, richer, and the poppy brings a different slant altogether.

🍞 Banana Bread

A staple in my kitchen anytime there are a few bananas just about to turn in my kitchen.

🍞 Blueberry Muffins

Super simple muffins, but once you make these, you might not go back to your non-discard muffins.

🍞 Bread Baker's Date and Banana Tea Cake

I love the walnuts, buttermilk, and molasses in this recipe.

πŸ’¬ Member Discussion of the Week

I've made several loaves using your beginner recipe, and they've been delicious, but the bottoms keep burning. I'm using a Dutch oven on the second rack from the bottom at 475Β°F. Any way to fix this?

This is one of the most common issues with Dutch oven baking β€” all that cast iron gets incredibly hot and holds onto that heat right where the dough sits. A few things that help: don't place the Dutch oven on a baking stone (just set it on the oven rack), shorten the preheat so the cast iron isn't quite as scorching when you load the dough, and sprinkle coarse cornmeal in the bottom of the pot right before loading to add a layer of insulation between the dough and the pan.

Any one of those should make a noticeable difference, and you can combine them if needed.

πŸ‘‹πŸΌ Come Talk Bread

Passionate bakers, this newsletter is just a taste of what's to come. Our membership unlocks my complete recipe vault, live troubleshooting sessions, a private community of fellow enthusiasts, and all my custom baking tools. This is where good bread becomes extraordinary. Join us and transform your sourdough from a daily staple to a conversation piece. Your best loaves are waiting.

πŸ›Ÿ 2 Ways I Can Help You Today

πŸ“Ί What I'm Reading and Watching

  • ​Jet Lag and Cherry Blossoms (Substack). A beautifully written article by my buddy Graison on his last baking class out in Japan. More often than not, you can bake incredible bread with what's localβ€”even if you don't realize it. (Also makes me want to go back to Japan!)
    ​
  • ​I Found It: The Best Free Restaurant Bread in America (The Atlantic). Wonderful opinion essay, but really impressed by the dizzying bread selection at JoΓ«l Robuchon in Las Vegas!

See you next week,

​Join me in the members' community, master sourdough, and get baker's perks.

Thank you for subscribing 🩢. Sent from Maurizio at The Perfect Loaf, 8100 Wyoming Blvd NE Ste M4, #343, Albuquerque, NM 87113.
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Maurizio Leo

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