Classic Lemon Pound Cake

BBs, I won’t bury the lede: this Classic Lemon Pound Cake is some kinda special. It’s my ever-so-sentimental tribute to my Mommy, Gloria. Because she was positively famous for her lemon pound cakes.

I spent a very long time debating (internally…and it was a fight, I tell you) whether to even release this recipe, since I had so many great childhood memories of watching my mother make her famous cakes, and because I didn’t want my version to tarnish my memories of that time. I also didn’t want to tarnish people’s “favorite” pound cake recipe, and have my name be mud at every Thanksgiving hereafter. So there was that. 😂

The “rough draft” of this cake was also the first recipe I ever developed, and I felt very protective of it.

But I decided, after two and a half years, that it was time to release the recipe. And the result was this:

this is an overhead photo of a lemon pound cake

About this Lemon Pound Cake

This Lemon Pound Cake is specifically for those who love love love lemon. It is not for the faint of lemon heart. If you’re sometime-y with lemon, then I assure you that this cake is not for you.

But those who love lemon? Who crave lemon? Whose one true pound cake love is lemon pound cake? I’ve got you. This cake has lemon at every level. In the cake. In the simple syrup. And in the glaze. And it’s not half-hearted lemon either. You will use every part of the lemon, from the zest to the juice (and the pulp if you’re really feeling frisky). You will achieve peak lemon-sugar-vanilla balance without opening your lemon extract.

This cake is that girl. When you open that cake box at your Christmas gathering this year, be prepared for a waft of lemon scent that arrests the entire room.

Lemon Pound Cake Ingredients

Lemon Juice: The cake calls for 63 grams (1/4 c) of freshly squeezed lemon juice. The simple syrup calls for 2 tbsp. The glaze? Another 2 tbsp. The lemon juice and lemon zest combo means that you will never need to use lemon extract in this cake. Please don’t use the lemon juice in a bottle. Call those kids into the kitchen. They love using a juicer and their little arms don’t get tired. 😂

Lemon Zest: You’ll use the lemon zest to make lemon sugar for your cake. The technique of rubbing the lemon zest into the sugar releases the oils from the zest even better, which gives a big boost of lemon flavor. You’ll also use the zest in the lemon glaze atop your cake.

Granulated Sugar: It goes without saying that the tartness of that lemon needs something sweet to create the perfect lemony balance. However, did you know that granulated sugar is also responsible for caramelization? That beautiful crust on the outside of your pound cake? It is largely because of the sugar in your recipe!

All-Purpose Flour: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love the pleasantly plump texture of a good pound cake, and the lemon pound cake is the reason for that. In my experience (and with my cakes), that beautiful texture comes from all-purpose flour. That particular flour is absolutely perfect for this cake.

Baking Soda: Lemons are an extremely acidic ingredient. Because of that, baking soda was the proper leavening for this pound cake.

Kosher Salt: Salt is very important in any dessert; it balances the sugar and keeps the dessert from becoming cloyingly sweet. If using table salt for this recipe, cut the amount in half. In this dessert, the sugar/lemon/salt balance teeters on a sword’s edge, but it works!

Unsalted Butter: This particular cake has an amazing balance of sweet and tart, and it really needs salt to balance the whole thing. That being said, it’s important to really control the amount of salt in this recipe, so I’m recommending unsalted butter for this recipe. Also, butter helps this cake become lighter! Specifically, the process of creaming butter and sugar creates air pockets that assist with cake rise.

Cream Cheese: There’s a very luxurious quality to this cake that makes it different from typical lemon pound cake. It’s because of the cream cheese! That additional fat element helps give your taste that melt-in-your-mouth quality without sacrificing wonderful flavor.

Eggs: The protein in the eggs adds structure to the cake, while the fatty yolk adds delicious flavor. This recipe calls for six eggs, which might seem like a lot. Trust me, it’s perfection.

Vanilla Bean or Vanilla Extract: You can use either; this is a matter of personal preference. If you want to “tame” the lemon flavor a bit more and give a touch more complexity to your cake, feel free to use 1/2 of a vanilla bean. If you’d prefer to have the lemon flavor come through more boldly, use the vanilla extract.

Whole Milk: Yes, whole milk. NOT buttermilk. You’ll add the lemon juice to the milk, which will cause it to curdle and give it a great buttermilk tang.

Beginners Start Here

If you’re new to baking, or if you want to learn how to do some of the more tricky baking techniques, here are a couple of super helpful articles from the BwB site that will help you get set up for success with this Classic Lemon Pound Cake.

These resources are super helpful to help you build consistency and confidence on your baking journey. Happy Reading!

This is a photo of a slice of classic lemon pound cake

Important Tools Used in this Classic Lemon Pound Cake

So happy to announce that Begin with Butter has its own Amazon Storefront, where you can find all of the amazing equipment that I used in this special cake! Want even more specific links? Check out the links, below.

I do get paid a commission when you purchase, but these are the tools that I use all the time in my own kitchen.

If you have these tools already, great! Think of this as a checklist to help you build the confidence that you’ll need to execute this recipe!

Enjoy the recipe BBs! Happy baking, and may all of your pound cakes have perfect caremelization!

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Classic Lemon Pound Cake

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 9 reviews

This classic lemon pound cake is that girl.  It’s the one that brings it all together: the perfect balance of bright lemon flavor, incredible pound cake texture, and blissful nostalgia!

  • Total Time: 5-7 hours
  • Yield: 18 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale

For the Cake:

384 g (3 c) all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp kosher salt

173 g (.75 c) unsalted butter, room temp

58 g (.25 c) cream cheese, room temp

500 g (2.5 c) granulated sugar

1.5 tbsp lemon zest

6 eggs

1/2 vanilla bean (or 2 tsp pure vanilla extract)

250 g  (1 c) whole milk

63 g (.25 c) freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the Lemon Simple Syrup:

67 g (1/3 c) granulated sugar

84 g (1/3 c) water

1/8 tsp fine sea salt

1 tsp pure vanilla extract 

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 

For the Lemon Glaze:

360 g (3 c) confectioner’s sugar

34 tbsp lemon juice

1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1/2 tbsp lemon zest (optional)

Instructions

To Make the Batter:

  1. Set your oven to a true 325°F.  An oven thermometer is extremely useful here, since most ovens will not reach 325°F when set to 325°F.  
  2. Zest and juice three medium lemons (or four small lemons).  Separate the zest from the juice in two small bowls.
  3. Combine 250 grams (1 c) of whole milk and 63 g (1/4 c) of lemon juice in a medium bowl.  Stir to combine.  Set aside and allow this mixture to “sour” for 5-10 minutes.
  4. In a medium bowl, combine the granulated sugar, 1.5 tbsp of the lemon zest, and vanilla beans (if using). Scrunch the lemon zest into the granulated sugar to release the citrus oils and combine the vanilla beans. This process takes about 3-5 minutes, so don’t rush it!  Once done, set aside. 
  5. Sift together the all-purpose flour, kosher salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl.  Set aside.
  6. Add the room-temperature butter and cream cheese to the bowl of your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl.  Mix with your hand or stand mixer until the fats are completely smooth and combined. Add the infused granulated sugar and cream until the mixture is light and fluffy.
  7. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing each egg until completely incorporated into the mixture.  Scrape the sides and bowl as needed to ensure even mixing.
  8. If using vanilla extract, add the vanilla and mix thoroughly. (If using vanilla bean, you can skip this step.)
  9. Add half of the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
  10. Add all of the milk mixture and mix until just combined.
  11. Add the second half of the flour mixture and mix until just combined.  Using a rubber spatula, give the sides and bottom of the bowl a final scrape, and then fold the batter several times to ensure that the batter is evenly mixed.
  12. Prep a 10- or 12-cup bundt pan as you normally would (I use butter and flour to prep pans for this cake)
  13. Bake for 60-70 minutes in a true 325°F oven, or until an instant-read thermometer reads 212°F-215°F.  

To Make the Lemon Simple Syrup:

  1. Add sugar, salt, and water to a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Remove from the heat as soon as the sugar is completely dissolved.  The simple syrup should have a watery consistency.
  2. Add pure vanilla extract and lemon juice and stir to combine.
  3. Allow the cake to cool in its pan for ten minutes, then invert and place on top of a cooling rack.  Brush simple syrup on the cake and allow to cool completely.  If you are using a bundt pan that has very intricate detail, it’s best to allow both the simple syrup and cake to cool completely before brushing the simple syrup.

To Make the Lemon Glaze:

  1. Slow and steady wins the race with glaze!
  2. Add the confectioner’s sugar, fine sea salt, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 1/2 tbsp of lemon zest (if using), and vanilla extract to the bowl.  Mix with a small whisk until the confectioner’s sugar is moistened.  The mixture will not be glaze at this point.
  3. After the confectioner’s sugar is moistened, add lemon juice, 1/2 tsp at a time, mixing thoroughly (but gently!) before adding another 1/2 tsp, until the glaze is smooth. The final glaze should have the consistency of thick honey. 
  4. Use a spouted measuring cup, spoon, or squeeze bottle to add the glaze to the completely cooled cake.
  5. Enjoy!

Notes

  • Save yourself the headache and zest and juice your lemons before you do anything else.  😊 
  • To store, you can keep on the countertop for up to five days.
  • Author: Shani
  • Prep Time: 45 minutes
  • Cook Time: 60-70 minutes
  • Category: Dessert

Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake

Hi there! It’s Fall, which means that Pumpkin Season is officially upon us! That also means that the time for this Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake HAS ARRIVED!

Pull up with your pumpkin spice tea and your coziest cardigan, Beloved. This one’s quite a read. It also includes a picture tutorial so that we can make it together!

In this Post:

About Pound Cakes

The quintessential American pound cake got its name from its ingredients. A pound of flour, a pound of sugar, a pound of eggs, and a pound of butter. In theory, you should be able to take (roughly) a pound of each of those ingredients, with some milk, maybe a splash of leavening, salt and other accouterments added, and come up with a delightfully dense, rich cake with a tight crumb.

For many Black Americans in the United States, the words “pound cake” evoke powerful memories. To this day, pound cakes appear at weekly Sunday dinners and also at special holiday dinners. Pound cake travels neatly with the beloved family who’s leaving to go home after a wonderful visit. Pound cake can be a vehicle for ice cream, but also does just fine by itself. Pound cake still represents home to those who have moved far away from family.

My first memory of pound cake included me watching my mother use her Cuisinart hand mixer to mix her famous 7-Up cake, while telling me stories about what it was like to grow up in Demopolis, Alabama. She told me stories about her first crush, about growing up as the youngest of seven(!) children, and about how my grandmother was love personified while she mixed that batter. We also had some challenging conversations when she told me–over pound cake–what it was like for her as a young Black girl to come of age in the Deep South during the 1950s and 1960s. And every single one of those stories meant everything to me. They mean even more to me now that she’s not here and I’m raising my own children.

When she was done telling stories, that 7-Up cake would be in the oven and and a beater would be in my hand. I understood my assignment. That was the magic of pound cake for me; it was a connection between me and the family that was very far away. Pound cake, to me, meant connection. That connection endures to this day.

There are innumerable stories about Black people boarding buses and trains from Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and the entire Southeastern United States, heading north and west to Los Angeles, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, and New York during The Great Migration. Those migrants carried with them with bags of homemade rolls, fried chicken, and pound cake. It is a cake that endures even today, connecting generations of families in a special way that many foods cannot.

It is why, when I re-opened my custom bakery (The Gloria Bakery) in fall 2021, pound cakes were prominently and proudly featured on that menu.

About This Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake

This pound cake in particular was really fun to develop. First of all, it involves pumpkin spice, which I’m told is pretty popular in the fall. Also, because pumpkin is full of water (it is about 94% water), it presented an interesting challenge for me to get the texture just right.

I love the tight crumb of a well-executed pound cake. It’s just so…satisfying. Plus, I can walk around the house with a slab of pound cake and not have it crumble all over my clothes. #NoJudgmentZone

To maintain that tight crumb with this pound cake, I ended up using pumpkin puree (not canned pumpkin pie filling) for the bulk of the liquid in this amazing cake. While you can replace canned pumpkin puree with the fresh stuff, it’s difficult to know the water content of a particular pumpkin, and whether that means you’d have to add more butter, or reduce the buttermilk.

The Technique for this Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake

Mise en Place

The cake in this recipe has a lot of dry ingredients, which can make it seem like a much more complicated bake than it really is. But once those dry ingredients are tucked into their bowl and stirred together, the rest is easy peasy!

As usual, Beloveds, the secret is in the mise en place. Any recipe can look complicated before your ingredients are neatly prepared and ready to go.

For this recipe, my mise en place (before sifting my dry ingredients) looks something like this:

For you eagle-eyed readers out there, the final recipe calls for six eggs.

As you can see, my dry ingredients are together in their bowl, and all of my other ingredients are separated and measured as well. At this stage, I’m ready to mix!

In the Mix

Like many standard American pound cake recipes, this one uses the creaming method. The creaming method simply means that you mix room-temperature (70°F) butter and sugar together until the mixture has increased in volume, the the color is lighter, and the texture is much less grainy. You can click here to read more about it.

There’s video too! Click here to learn the stand mixer technique, or here to see how it’s done with a hand mixer.

Proper creaming is absolutely essential for this recipe to succeed. If you’re looking for help to figure out proper creaming technique, I hope that blog post and those videos help you achieve the pumpkin spice pound cake of your dreams!

Here’s what the creamed butter and sugar should look like:

Once the butter has reached this stage (~3-7 minutes on low/medium speed in a stand mixer, or ~5-12 minutes on medium speed with a hand mixer, as long as you’re using room temperature butter), you’re ready to add your eggs. For eggs, add them one at a time and mix each one on medium speed until thoroughly combined. For a recipe with six eggs, I usually scrape the bowl after the third and sixth eggs.

Once all of the eggs are incorporated, your batter should look dreamy and luscious.

Time for your two teaspoons of vanilla and another good mix until incorporated:

After the vanilla, give your bowl a good scraping with that silicone spatula. This is the last time during this mixing session that you’ll be able to mix mix mix to your heart’s content with a machine.

Because now it’s time for that flour mixture. First, add the first half of your flour and mix on lowest speed until just combined. You can even leave a few streaks of flour at this point:

Remember, Friend, that the introduction of flour means the start of gluten development. And too much gluten development will mean a tough cake!

Once you’ve gently mixed your first batch of flour, add all of your pumpkin at one time. Again, mix until just combined. With half of your flour already onboard, you’ll want to reduce the mixing time at this point.

From the “after” picture, above, you can see that the the pumpkin is mostly incorporated, but it’s not completely mixed into the batter. That’s okay! You can stop mixing at this point. Time for your second flour addition:

The mix on the right is where you should stop mixing with a machine. It’s at this point that my handy-dandy silicone spatula comes into play.

I use the silicone spatula to get a get a good final scraping in my mixing bowl. Going around the sides and bottom of the bowl, I collect all of the loose flour and then do 10-15 good turns around the bowl. The result is always a smooth batter that’s not over-mixed and is ready for the oven. This is a thicker batter, and that’s okay!

Into the Oven!

This next part is not a popular opinion.

But I’m going to tell you anyway.

I don’t prepare my cake pans before I start mixing my cake batter. I know this is not a normal recommendation, so feel free to disregard it.

If you’re still reading, hear me out!

In my experience, butter and flour left in a cake pan for too long can cause an unappetizing crust on the outside of my finished pound cake. And, since the outside of the cake is so prominently featured on a pound cake, who wants that?!

One day, purely by happenstance, I forgot to prep a pan before mixing my cake batter, so I just took four minutes after the batter was done and prepped the pan at that time. I’ve done it that way ever since, using the good old butter/flour combo to make sure that things don’t stick. Before I prep my pan, I also check my cheap-o oven thermometer to make sure that my oven is truly at 325°F. (For my top oven, this means setting it to 350°F.)

You have to work pretty quickly if you choose to prep your pan after your batter! That’s why it’s helpful to take out some extra butter for your pan at the same time that you take out the butter for your recipe.

With all bundt pans, you have to butter them to within an inch of their lives before moving on to the next step. Please, Family, do not fall for the “non-stick” cake pan claims. THEY ARE NOT TRUE. I’m also not a huge fan of cooking sprays, since I find they don’t help produce the caramelization that I like to see on the top of my bundt cakes.

This is what I mean by “butter them to within an inch of their lives”:

After you’ve reached this stage, add flour and maneuver the pan around until you’ve covered all of the buttered surfaces. It’s important to remove any remaining flour when you’re done with this step (I remove extra flour by banging the pan over a countertop or clean sink):

After this step, I gently pour my batter into my prepped pan and gently even out the top with my silicone spatula:

Then it’s onto a baking sheet and into my 325°F oven for 70-80 minutes. The cake is done when a cake tester comes out clean and the top springs back under your finger, OR when an instant-read thermometer reads somewhere between 210°F and 215°F.

At this point, you can place the cake on a cooling rack and place the cake and cooling rack on top of some parchment paper. Allow it to cool for about ten minutes.

After the ten-minute timer goes off, invert the cake on top of the cooling rack, gently put it down atop the parchment paper, and say a very quick prayer (if you pray).

Then, gently lift the pan and wait for release. While there will inevitably be a few tiny crumbs that are left on the pan, as you can see, the beautiful detail from the cake pan is clearly present in the finished cake.

The Game-Changer: Simple Syrup

::Friends, come close::

This next tip is the real difference between home bakers and pros.

Two words: simple syrup.

Simple syrup is equal parts water and sugar boiled together until they achieve a watery-syrup texture. There are innumerable variations on a “simple” simple syrup, but the most common one is the plain one. For bundt cakes, I find that 100 g (.4 c) of sugar and 100 g of water (.4 c) is the perfect amount.

I make the simple syrup by just adding those two ingredients together, bringing them to a boil, then reducing to a simmer just until all of the sugar is dissolved. I do not want simple syrup that has the consistency of corn syrup or maple syrup. I prefer that it be closer to a watery texture, so that it doesn’t grab crumbs from the warm cake when I’m brushing it onto my cake with a pastry brush.

For a great video tutorial on how I use simple syrup on my cakes, check out my YouTube video, entitled “Three Tips for Making Great Cakes”! Specifically, you can jump to 3:15 in the video for the simple syrup technique.

Or you can watch the whole thing because I kinda love it.

I brushed simple syrup on half of the cake and snapped a quick picture so that you can see the difference:

The Final Glaze

This, Friends, is the hardest part of the proceedings. This is the part where you wait.

Once that warm cake is brushed with warm simple syrup, it’s time to leave.

No, really. Go do something else. Because it’s going to be 3-5 hours before you can touch this cake again for the final glaze. It needs to be completely cooled before you do this last step.

To make the glaze, mix the confectioner’s sugar, fine sea salt, cinnamon, 1 tablespoon of whole milk, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, and maple extract (not mandatory, but it gives you even more maple flavor) in a medium bowl.

Whisk the mixture gently until combined. Don’t worry about lumps! Just keep stirring gently. You might need to add up to one more tablespoon of whole milk, one 1/2 teaspoon at a time. Be patient!

You’re done when the mixture has the texture of thick honey.

At this point, you can either use a spouted measuring cup or a plastic squeeze bottle to pour the glaze on your finished, cooled cake.

This is a photo of a spouted measuring cup.
This has been a go-to for glaze lately.

That’s it! You’re done! Time to enjoy this wonderful taste of fall that was inspired by the humble, amazing pound cake.

This is a photo of a pumpkin spice pound cake.

You’re ready! I hope you love this pumpkin spice pound cake as much as my family does. If you tried it and love it, tag me on Instagram @beginwithbutter so that I can see your masterpiece!

The Recipe

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Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 1 review

A delightful fall treat that incorporates classic Southern bundt cake techniques with a delicious pumpkin spice blend!

  • Total Time: ~5-7 hours
  • Yield: 14 servings 1x

Ingredients

Units Scale

For the cake:

  • 384 g (3 c) all-purpose flour, plus two tablespoons for dusting bundt pan
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 227 g (1 c) butter, room temperature, plus more for greasing bundt pan
  • 500 g (2.5 c) sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 425 g pumpkin puree, fresh or canned (not pumpkin pie filling)
  • 63 g (1/4 c) buttermilk

For the Simple Syrup:

  • 100 g (.5 c) granulated sugar
  • 100 g (.4 c) water

For the Maple Cinnamon Glaze:

  • 220 g (2 c) confectioner’s sugar
  • 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1/8 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 12 tbsp whole milk

Instructions

For the Cake Batter:

  1. Set your oven to 325°F.  It’s highly recommended to use an oven thermometer for baking, since ovens themselves are often inaccurate when it comes to temperature.
  2. Soft together the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.
  3. Combine the buttermilk and pumpkin puree in a medium bowl.  Set aside.
  4. Place room temperature butter into a large bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer) and mix by itself on medium speed until smooth.
  5. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add sugar to the smooth butter.
  6. Mix on medium speed for 3-10 minutes, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl every 1-2 minutes, until the butter/sugar mixture is light and fluffy.  For more on how to properly cream butter and sugar (one of the most important steps!), click here.
  7. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl after the third egg and the last egg.
  8. Add vanilla and mix until thoroughly combined.
  9. With the mixer on low speed, gently add half of the flour mixture.  Mix until almost combined, with a few streaks of flour remaining.
  10. With the mixer off, add all of the pumpkin puree/buttermilk mixture at one time.  Mix until just combined.
  11. Add the rest of the flour, again mixing until combined (or until you see no more streaks of butter in the mixture).  There may be just a few streaks of flour remaining.  (See photo above.)
  12. Remove the mixer from the bowl and finish mixing the recipe by hand by scraping the sides and bottom with a silicone spatula and doing a final mix (about 10-15 turns).  
  13. Prep your 10-cup bundt pan using the reserved, softened butter and flour.  
  14. Put batter into the prepare pan and bake at 325°F for 70-80 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out completely clean.  Alternatively, you can check with an instant-read thermometer.  The cake will be done when the internal temperature reaches 210°F to 215°F.
  15. After removing the cake from the oven, place on top of a cooling rack for ten minutes while you make the simple syrup.

For the Simple Syrup:

  1. Combine granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan.
  2. Heat on medium-high heat until mixture is boiling.  Reduce to medium-low heat and simmer until the sugar is completely dissolved.
  3. Remove from heat immediately once the sugar is completely dissolved.  Use a pastry brush to brush simple syrup on the whole cake.  Allow to cool completely (3-5 hours).

For the Final Glaze:

  1. Combine maple syrup, maple extract, confectioner’s sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.  
  2. Stir gently with a small whisk until smooth.
  3. Using a squeeze bottle or spouted measuring cup, pour the glaze over the inside and outside of the cake.  Some of the glaze will spill over the sides.  
  4. Allow the glaze to set up for 15-20 minutes and enjoy!

Notes

  • This is a big, flavorful cake.  You’ll need at least a 10-cup bundt pan to make sure that it doesn’t overspill.  The combination of leavening and the air pockets from your creamed butter and sugar will make it overspill a smaller bundt pan.
  • This can be halved and made into a pumpkin loaf as well!  A 9″x5″ loaf pan is best for this one.
  • It’s especially important to measure the confectioner’s sugar for the final glaze on this cake.  Too much (>100 g) will cause the glaze will develop small holes after setting.  It will still taste delicious, but it’s a disappointing way to end all of your hard work.  
  • To store: This cake needs to be refrigerated once it’s complete.  It can last for up to seven days in the refrigerator.
  • Author: Shani
  • Prep Time: 40 minutes (active)
  • Inactive Time: 3-5 hours
  • Cook Time: 70-80 minutes
  • Category: Dessert
  • Cuisine: American

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 slice
  • Calories: 477
  • Sugar: 55.1 g
  • Sodium: 175.9 mg
  • Fat: 16.1 g
  • Carbohydrates: 78.5 g
  • Protein: 6.2 g
  • Cholesterol: 116 mg

I hope you enjoy this little taste of fall from Begin with Butter! If you make it, don’t forget to tag @beginwithbutter on Instagram so I can cheer your success!

-S ??


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    How to Make Brown Butter

    0

    When you run a site called Begin with Butter, you get a lot of questions about what type of butter you prefer. Indeed, you write whole posts about butter, where you wax poetic about cultured butter, sweet cream butter, and even vegan butter. But what if I told you, dear BBs, that there is a kind of butter that has such an intensely rich, deep, and complex flavor. That that flavor profile elevates any baked good that it touches. That the process for making this magical ingredient was simple, involving only a pot, a wooden spoon and some patience. This ingredient is brown butter, and it is as versatile and perfect as any ingredient. Ever.

    About Brown Butter

    Brown butter is what happens when you slowly heat butter past its melting point. The butter actually separates into milk solids (which are the things that brown at the bottom of the pot) and liquefied fats. The solids sink to the bottom of your pan, coming into better contact with the heat, and they…toast. It’s truly a beautiful thing to see, but it’s a delicious and important ingredient to use, as it imparts a more complex, richer butter flavor into everything it touches!

    Why do you want to use brown butter? Well, brown butter adds a deep, irreplaceable flavor to anything it touches. It’s nutty and caramel-y and rich. And that only comes with this special ingredient. While using it can be a touch tricky at times, it is always worth the effort.

    How to Brown Butter: A Photo Tutorial

    The process of browning butter is actually quite simple. You just need to remember to go slowly and stir once the butter has melted.

    First, you’ll place the amount of butter that you need in a small saucepan or stainless steel skillet. It’s best to use a pan with a light-colored bottom; stainless steel is perfect for this task. Use the best butter that you can source for this adventure! (Note: many sources recommend that you don’t use more than two sticks/1 cup/227 grams of butter at a time. However, I’ve successfully used up to 3 sticks/1.5 cups/341 grams of butter for this task.)

    Place the butter in the pan on a stovetop over medium heat. Leave it alone for a few minutes while it melts. You don’t have to stir at this point; you’d only be stirring solid butter anyway. 😂

    Once the butter melts completely, you’ll need to start stirring. You do want to stir regularly, but you don’t have to stir constantly. The reason for stirring is this: the milk solids that are part of the butter will separate from the water and fat in the butter and those milk solids will go to the bottom of the pot and stay there (and burn!) if they’re not stirred on a regular basis. If that happens, the milk solids will burn before the rest of the butter gets to be a gorgeous amber color.

    As it cooks (and you’re stirring), the brown butter will change color; it will go from light yellow (melted) to golden, to an amber hue with the butter solids at the bottom. During this process, you’ll also notice that the top of the butter gets very bubbly!

    The bubbles can actually make it difficult to see what’s going on underneath. Pro tip: I look at the milk solids on the side of my pot, because those will loosely inform me when the milk solids underneath are done!

    You’ll know you’re done with this step when you smell a positively gorgeous nutty, caramel-y scent in your kitchen. Once you’re done, remove the brown butter from your heat immediately to a heat resistant container. Mason jars work perfectly for this task, as they’re meant to withstand high temperatures.

    And that’s it! You’ve made brown butter!

    How to Use Brown Butter

    Once you allow the brown butter to cool to room temperature, you can use it in a number of preparations. If your recipe calls for cooled brown butter that hasn’t re-solidified, you’re ready to go! If, however, there’s a recipe where you need to have brown butter re-solidified so that you can cream the butter with granulated sugar, then you’ll need to refrigerate the brown butter so that it can re-solidify fully. Trying to cream liquid brown butter with sugar will not lead to the same result.

    In order to re-solidify brown butter, allow the brown butter to cool to room temperature, then place it in the refrigerator until it’s fully solidified. Once it’s solidified, you’ll remove it from the refrigerator about an hour before baking, or when you take out the rest of your cold ingredients. 😊

    Congratulations! You’ve made brown butter! Now you can use it in literally everything, because it is truly the most amazing butter ever.

    Enjoy BBs!

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    How to Make Brown Butter

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    Brown butter adds depth and complexity to any dish it touches. It’s especially wonderful in baking, where it delivers a luxurious mouthfeel and taste to every kind of baked good!

    Ingredients

    Units Scale
    • 227 g (1 c) unsalted butter

    Instructions

    1. Place the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
    2. Allow the butter to melt fully, then begin gently stirring. Continue stirring constantly.
    3. The butter will go through stages. At first, it will simply look like melted butter. Continue stirring.
    4. The next step of browned butter is the foamy step. This is the longest part of the browned butter process. Continue stirring.
    5. The foamy brown butter will lessen (but not eliminate entirely), and you’ll start to notice browned bits on the bottom of your saucepan. These are browned milk solids, and this is the objective!
    6. Once you see the browned bits on the bottom of your saucepan, remove the browned butter to a heat-proof container (like a Mason jar) to cool completely. If you allow the browned butter to remain in the saucepan, it will burn.
    7. Once the browned butter has come to room temperature, you can either use it right away, or you can allow it to chill in the refrigerator until about an hour before your baking time. You can cream this butter if it’s been re-solidified.
    8. Use as directed in your chosen recipe.

    Notes

    • Author: Shani

    Sweet Potato Spice Cake

    There is a dominant flavor profile among us every fall. It is pumpkin spice and it is everywhere. I am guilty as well (see Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake and Pumpkin Spice Cinnies, for example), but what if I told you that there was something…even better? And if I told you that that something better was a Sweet Potato Spice Cake?

    Well, I am saying it. Sweet Potato Spice Cake has entered the fall chat and she is the spicy, dense, rich personality that we’ve been missing. 🤩

    About this Sweet Potato Spice Cake

    For those among us who love the spice-forwardness of this season, this Sweet Potato Spice Cake delivers in a huge way. 

    First, of all, the sweet potatoes call for roasting instead of boiling, which helps pull out their incredible natural sweetness and enhances their delectable maple notes. 

    Those roasted sweet potatoes are then processed until smooth (you can use either a potato ricer or a food processor for this job), and they get a beautiful lift from some pure maple syrup. This combination creates an unbelievable base for the perfectly balanced and prominently featured spices that help this cake pull way ahead of pumpkin spice in the overall standings. 🥇

    (Don’t get me wrong. My Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake is the it girl of the season for my pumpkin spice fanatics.)

    The sweet potatoes create an impossibly, deliciously moist (🙉) texture that helps this cake become the most impressive of the season.

    So, for the “I’m not into pumpkin spice” crowd, I’ve got you. This one is…luxe.

    Sweet Potato Spice Cake Ingredients

    All-Purpose Flour: A pound cake has to have a pleasantly plump texture. In my experience (and with my cakes), that beautiful texture comes from all-purpose flour. That particular flour is absolutely perfect for this cake.

    Baking Soda: Sweet potatoes are ever-so-slightly acidic. Because of that, baking soda was the proper leavening to add to this cake.

    Kosher Salt: Salt is very important in any dessert; it balances the sugar and keeps the dessert from becoming cloyingly sweet. If using table salt for this recipe, cut the amount in half.

    Sweet Potato Spice (Cloves, Nutmeg and Cinnamon): The “sweet potato spice” featured in this cake recipe gives this cake absolutely huge spice flavor. The cloves have a deep, spicy, earthy flavor. The nutmeg gives this cake deep warmth, like a hug for your insides. Finally, the cinnamon gives that well-known smoky/spicy kick that make it a star in so many recipes.

    Unsalted Butter: This cake has huge flavor, and butter plays a delicious part in that. Additionally, properly creaming butter and sugar creates air pockets that assist with cake rise.

    Full-Fat Cream Cheese: The full-fat cream cheese adds additional delicious fat to this recipe, while also giving the cake an almost creamy mouth feel. 

    Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar gives our cake the sweetness that it needs, but did you know that granulated sugar is also responsible for caramelization too? As the sugar caramelizes, it develops a golden-brown color and a nutty, toasted flavor that perfectly complements the rich sweet potato flavor in the finished cake.

    Eggs: The protein in the eggs adds structure to the cake, while the fatty yolk adds delicious flavor. This recipe calls for four eggs, which is perfection. While many pound cakes have five or six eggs, that is too many for this particular cake, considering the amount of sweet potato here.

    Pure Vanilla Extract: The pure vanilla extract in this cake provides the perfect assist for the sweet potato spice mixture. 

    Roasted Sweet Potatoes: The roasting process brings out the natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes, and it also gives the cake a much deeper sweet potato flavor!

    Real Maple Syrup: Real maple syrup helps to bring out the sweet potato flavor even more! It provides a beautiful balance to the heavily spiced cake. 

    Beginners Start Here

    If you’re new to baking, or if you want to learn how to do some of the more tricky baking techniques, here are a couple of super helpful articles from the BwB site that will help you get set up for success with this Sweet Potato Spice Cake.

    These resources are super helpful to help you build consistency and confidence on your baking journey. Happy Reading!

    Important Tools Used in this Sweet Potato Spice Cake

    Guess what? Begin with Butter has its own Amazon Storefront, where you can find all of the amazing equipment that I used in this Sweet Potato Spice Cake! Want even more specific product recommendations? Check out the product links, below.

    I do get paid a commission when you purchase, but these are the tools that I use all the time in my own kitchen.

    If you have these tools already, great! Think of this as a checklist to help you build the confidence that you’ll need to execute this recipe!

    Enjoy the recipe BBs! Happy baking, and may all of your pound cakes have perfect caramelization!

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    Sweet Potato Spice Cake

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    This Sweet Potato Spice Cake has rich, deep maple notes. Combined with the warmth of perfectly balanced spices, this autumn-inspired cake is the perfect pound cake for slower days.

    Ingredients

    Units Scale

    For the Cake Batter:

    • 384 g (3 c) all-purpose flour
    • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
    • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
    • 1/2 cinnamon
    • 1 tsp kosher salt
    • 1/2 tsp baking soda
    • 114 g (1/2 c) unsalted butter, room temperature
    • 114 g (1/2 c) cream cheese, room temperature
    • 500 g (2.5 c) granulated sugar
    • 4 large eggs
    • 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
    • 425 g (~1.75 c) roasted sweet potatoes (about 2 large sweet potatoes)
    • 3 tbsp real maple syrup

    For the Vanilla Simple Syrup:

    • 84 g (1/3 c) water
    • 67 g (1/3 c) granulated sugar
    • 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
    • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

    For the Maple Cream Cheese Glaze:

    • 154 g (2/3 c) cream cheese, room temperature
    • 240 g (2 c) confectioner’s sugar
    • 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
    • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
    • 1.5 tbsp pure maple syrup
    • 1/2 tbsp whole milk

    For the Optional Cinnamon Streusel Topping:

    • 50 g (1/4 c) brown sugar
    • 50 g (1/4 c) granulated sugar
    • 32 g (1/4 c) all-purpose flour
    • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
    • 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
    • 57 g (1/4 c) butter, cold

    Instructions

    To Make the Cake Batter:

    1. Heat your oven to 400°F. Poke holes in each of the sweet potatoes and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
    2. Roast the sweet potatoes for 45-60 minutes, or until a knife goes through without resistance. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool.
    3. Once cooled, scoop the insides from each sweet potato. Using either a potato ricer or food processor, process the sweet potatoes until smooth.
    4. Place the smooth sweet potatoes into a large bowl. Add maple syrup and stir until combined.
    5. Once the potato mixture is fully cooled, heat your oven to a true 325°F. Use an oven thermometer to determine when your oven is the true temperature.
    6. Sift together the all-purpose flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, kosher salt and baking soda in a medium bowl.  Set aside.
    7. Add the room-temperature butter and cream cheese to the bowl of your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl.  Mix just the butter and cream cheese with your mixer until completely smooth.  Add the granulated sugar and cream until the mixture is light and fluffy.
    8. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing each egg until it is completely incorporated into the mixture.  Scrape the sides and bowl as needed to ensure even mixing.
    9. Add the vanilla and mix thoroughly.
    10. Add half of the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
    11. Add all of the sweet potato/syrup mixture and mix until just combined.
    12. Add the second half of the flour mixture and mix until just combined.  Using a rubber spatula, give the sides and bottom of the bowl a final scrape to ensure that the batter is even mixed.
    13. Prep a 10- or 12-cup bundt pan as you normally would and add the batter to the pan.  Use a rubber spatula to even out the batter, then tap the pan on the countertop several times to remove air bubbles from the batter.
    14. Bake for 55-70 minutes in a true 325°F oven, or until an instant-read thermometer reads 212°F-215°F. 

    To Make the Simple Syrup:

    1. Add sugar, salt, and water to a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Remove from the heat as soon as the sugar and salt are completely dissolved.
    2. Add pure vanilla extract and stir to combine.
    3. Allow the cake to cool in its pan for ten minutes, then invert and place on top of a cooling rack. 
    4. When the cake and the simple syrup are cool, brush the simple syrup onto the cake onto the cake simple syrup on the cake and allow to cool completely.

    To Make the Cinnamon Streusel:

    1. Add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, and salt to a medium bowl.  Stir to combine.
    2. Cut the cold butter into tablespoon-sized pieces and add to the sugar mixture.  Use fingers or a pastry cutter, break up the butter pieces until they are the size of peas or larger. 
    3. Spread the mixture on parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet.
    4. Bake at 325°F for 2-3 minutes, or until the flour looks dissolved.  Freeze until cool.

    To Make the Maple Cream Cheese Glaze:

    1. Place the cream cheese in a medium sized mixing bowl.
    2. Use a hand mixer to mix the cream cheese until it is completely smooth.
    3. Place the confectioner’s sugar, fine sea salt, vanilla extract, 1.5 tbsp of pure maple syrup, and 1/2 tbsp of whole milk into the mixing bowl.
    4. Using a small whisk, stir gently to combine. Stir until the confectioner’s sugar no longer collects moisture from the liquids or cream cheese.
    5. If necessary, add up to 1 tbsp more of whole milk, but do it 1/2 tsp at a time.
    6. The final glaze should pour easily and be completely smooth.
    7. Drizzle the glaze over the cake, and finish with the streusel if desired. Enjoy!
    • Author: Shani

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    Simple, Classic Apple Pie

    0

    Hello, BBs, and welcome to fall at Begin with Butter! When fall rolls around, there is one pie that is arguably the queen of pies. She appears on many holiday tables throughout the year, and she is always the first to go (and potentially cause…ahem…”mayhem fights consternation” at the dessert table 😂). BBs, today I have for you: Classic Apple Pie.

    This is an overhead photo of an apple pie with a slice cut out of it.

    And now you can make it, because this recipe will walk you right through it. So let’s get to it!

    About this Simple, Classic Apple Pie

    Oftentimes, when we hear the words “make” and “pie” in the same sentence, our ears shut down entirely and we shake our heads “no” like toddlers being fed Brussels sprouts. Because we’ve convinced ourselves that pie is fickle and difficult, and that only people with “pie hands” can make delicious, flaky pie.

    This is a photo of an apple pie with a slice cut out of it..

    Here at Begin with Butter, we are all about dispelling baking myths. And that, dear reader, is a BIG MYTH. So, let me take you by the hand and show you the apple pie for which you will become famous at every gathering going forward. The beautifully-spiced apples maintain a crisp-tender texture (no baby food apples here!), the crust is my now-famous all-butter pie crust, and you’ll want to add this to your comfort food dessert table forevermore.

    It’s just the sweetest little piece of Americana. Really.

    Apple Pie Filling Ingredients

    Apples: You’ll need 9 cups of apples for this pie. But not just any apples. You need crisp apples. So, put those red delicious and Macintosh apples down. Any apple that is soft when it’s raw will turn to mush when it’s baked in a pie, and since the objective is to get apples that maintain an al dente texture, we have to start with crisp apples. My absolute favorite, commercially-available apples for baking are a combination of Fuji, Granny Smith (because of course), and Honeycrisp. However, this is a deeply personal decision, so I invite you to explore and find your favorite baking apple combination! (I also peel my apples for apple pie, because I don’t want the texture from the peel in the bite of pie, but by all means, you can eliminate that step if you want the fibrous texture!)

    Granulated Sugar: The standard amount of sugar that I call for in this recipe is 200 grams (1 cup). However, the amount of granulated sugar that I use for the filling mostly depends on the sweet-tart balance in the apples! For example, if I’m using all Honeycrisp apples, which are more sweet than tart, I will cut the sugar amount to 150 grams (3/4 cup). This decision is highly personal to you as the baker; the sugar adds sweetness to the pie filling and also helps with caramelization of the pie overall (because the filling will bubble up over the top crust 😋), but you will get the best of both worlds with either 150 grams or 200 grams. Want a more tart pie? Use less sugar! Go ahead!

    All-Purpose Flour: Remember how I said that you can personalize the amount of sugar in the filling? Yeah, you can’t do that with the flour. 😂 The flour has an important job; it literally holds everything together. Without it, the pie, even when cooled, will be very runny. So, don’t forget that little 32 grams (1/4 cup) of flour. It’s crucial to pie cutting success.

    Lemon Juice: The lemon juice in this recipe adds an important element: acid. You need that acid to balance the sweetness of the apples and the sugar. Yes, salt also balances the sugar, but the acid actually neutralizes the sugar to an extent, which actually creates that harmonious balance that we are looking for, whereas salt works in a different way.

    Fine Sea Salt: If acid neutralizes sugar, salt counteracts that sugar beautifully to help desserts avoid becoming overly sweet. Salt is also a flavor enhancer, meaning that it will help you better taste the more complex flavors presented in the sugar! Those caramel notes you taste in this pie? That’s not caramel! It’s the caramelization of the sugar, as enhanced by the salt.

    Ginger, Allspice, and Cinnamon: This is my holy trinity of apple pie spices. Used in proper amounts, they contribute to that warm, loving apple pie scent that will draw family, friends, acquaintances and neighbors to your kitchen on a random Sunday. (My advice: put them to work! Those dishes won’t wash themselves! 😂)

    This is a photo of a pie, an apple and a pumpkin.

    Butter: Ah, the famous “knob of butter”. Once your pie filling is in the bottom pie crust, you’ll cut that knob of butter into four pieces and add them to the top of your pie. This butter does two things well: it adds to the Maillard (caramelization) effect when your pie bakes, and it also adds an even more luxurious mouthfeel to your finished pie. Full disclosure: I forget this knob of butter about 40% of the time when making pies, and the pies are still unforgettable. 😂

    Turbinado Sugar: You can use turbinado sugar to finish your pie, after it’s baked for a while. I’ve gotten away from this habit, because: 1) for me, it allows the sugar too much of a starring role; and 2) I’m not crazy about the crunchy texture on top of the pie. But this is, again, a very personal choice!

    Beginners Start Here

    Pie really forces us to hone in and develop our baker’s feel: that intangible sense that lets you know when you have enough water, when your laminated dough is ready to put into your pie plate, when your pie filling has reached the proper consistency…I could go on. So, for this reason, pie is really daunting for many a baker. Don’t worry, though, I’ve got some tips that will help you!

    In this section, I’m going to walk you through the techniques that I use in this pie, to give you a FAQ tutorial to make this amazing pie (and all of the pies in your future). Remember, the absolute best apple pie will come with practice, practice, practice. So that leads to the first tip:

    Tip #1: Don’t expect to master pie crust the very first time.

    We hear it everywhere: “Mindset is key”. Nowhere in the baking world is that more true than when working with pastry. Because pastry is as much about feel as it is about skill. And the learning process can be incredibly frustrating. But it’s incredibly rewarding when it “clicks”, so the best advice I can give you? Indulge your curiosity, take your time, and go into your first pie crust attempts with a beginner’s mind.

    Tip #2: Chill your tools.

    One of the best ways to ensure great pie crust is to keep all of your crust ingredients very cold. But, did you know that if you keep your tools cold, you actually increase your chances of great, flaky crust?

    When preparing to make pie crust, I recommend chilling your (stainless steel) mixing bowl, your pastry cutter, your rolling pin, and even the little fork that you’ll use to stir ingredients together. This initial chilling helps make sure that your butter doesn’t melt as you work with it, and that’s vitally important to helping you achieve the flaky crust of your dreams.

    And if the butter starts to melt, don’t panic, refer back to Tip #1, and get it into a refrigerator as quickly as possible.

    Tip #3: Make your filling before the pie crust and allow it to “cook”.

    Remember that lemon juice? In addition to its sugar neutralizing super power, it helps to “cook” the apples, drawing out the liquid from those apples and allowing that liquid to combine with the sugar to create the most gorgeous syrup. But, in order to achieve maximum goodness, you have to allow the pie filling to sit for a time before adding it (and the syrupy goodness) to the pie crust. So, I actually make my filling first and allow it to stay in the refrigerator while I make my pie dough. Then, everything can go in the fridge until the next day!

    Tip #4: Your refrigerator is as important as your oven!

    I get it. When we think of “baking” we think of using our oven to heat things to a certain temperature. And while that is correct, it is also correct that another appliance is equally important for this apple pie: your refrigerator.

    First, you’ll need to refrigerate/freeze your ingredients and tools to help everything stay nice and cold. Some recipes even call for the use of frozen butter, and while this recipe does not require that, I have much respect for those who do use it.

    Second, you’ll need to halve the completed pie dough, create thick discs with each half, cover them in plastic wrap, and, you guessed it, refrigerate those discs for at least two hours before using.

    Third, you’ll need to make and refrigerate your apple filling. Like chill it to the center. So, once again, the refrigerator is the MVP.

    Fourth, as you build the pie, you’ll need to use your refrigerator to keep the bottom crust in place while you roll out the top crust.

    And finally, you’ll need your refrigerator to hold the completed pie while your oven does a long preheat. You don’t want to skip this final refrigeration, since this helps keep your pie from shrinking!

    So yes. Give the refrigerator its flowers because it is an extremely important participant in the all-butter pie crust world. 😊

    Tip #5: Slow and steady baking wins the race!

    There are two schools of thought when it comes to baking fruit pies: either start at a high temperature and reduce to a lower temperature, or bake at a steady temperature for the entire baking time.

    I have a strong preference for the latter. In my experience, starting at a higher temperature (425°F) and then reducing to a lower temperature (375°F) can lead to overbaked, dry external edges and inconsistently baked crust underneath. A steady-state bake brings this apple pie to its best deliciousness, with consistent crust all around.

    Tip #6: Allow the pie to cool COMPLETELY before cutting.

    This one is difficult, BB. You see, that all-purpose flour in your filling needs time after the baking process to finish its work. While the pie is cooling, the filling is completing its gelling process. If you are a patient baker and wait until the pie is completely cooled and chilled in the refrigerator (~2 hours after it’s finished baking, and then in the fridge again overnight, if possible), you’ll be able to cut it into beautiful, picture-perfect slices with filling that remains intact.

    Feeling confident and ready? Let’s make some apple pie! (And psst…if you’re feeling confident and ready and you want a photo tutorial of how to make the most perfect all-butter pie crust, check out this post!)

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    Simple, Classic Apple Pie

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    No reviews

    This delicious and classic apple pie will become your signature; only you have to know how easy it is to make!

    • Total Time: 0 hours
    • Yield: 8 slices 1x

    Ingredients

    Units Scale

    For the Crust:

    • 352 g (2.75 c) All-Purpose Flour (I like White Lily for this pie crust)
    • 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
    • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
    • 227 g (1 c) unsalted butter, cold, cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
    • 125 g (1/2 c) water, plus more if needed (up to two tablespoons)

    For the Filling:

    • 981 g (9 c) apples, peeled and sliced (between 6-8 apples; I use a combination of Honeycrisp, Fuji and Granny Smith Apples for my apple pies)
    • 200 g (1 c) granulated sugar
    • 32 g (1/4 c) all-purpose flour
    • 1.5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
    • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
    • 1 /4 tsp allspice
    • 1.5 tsp cinnamon
    • 1 tsp fine sea salt
    • 2 tbsp butter, cut into four pieces
    • Turbinado sugar, for finishing (optional)

    Instructions

    To Make the Filling:

    1. Add peeled and sliced apples, granulated sugar, lemon juice, flour, fine sea salt, ginger, allspice and cinnamon to a large bowl.  Stir to combine.
    2. Cover and place the bowl in the refrigerator to allow the flavors to fully combine. Liquid will begin to build in the bowl and you want that to happen!

    To Make the Crust:

    1. Add the 352 g (2.75 c) all-purpose flour, fine sea salt, and granulated sugar to a large mixing bowl.  Stir with a fork to combine.
    2. Add the butter to the flour mixture.  Stir gently to cover the butter with the flour.  Then use a pastry cutter to break the butter into smaller pieces. The pieces of butter should be between the size of a pea and the size of a walnut.  The pieces will not be uniform and this is ideal!
    3. Pour the 125 g (1/2 c) of water evenly over the flour/butter mixture and stir very gently to combine with a fork.  The mixture should be shaggy but combined. If necessary, add water a tablespoon at a time until you get the correct consistency.  You should not need more than about 2 additional tablespoons!
    4. Split the pie dough into two equal-ish parts in your mixing bowl. Shape each half into the size of a fat disc and cover each disc with plastic wrap. Place in a refrigerator for at least two hours before rolling out. An overnight rest period is even better!

    To Make the Pie:

    1. Place flour on a pastry mat.  Remove one of the thick discs from the refrigerator and place it atop the well-floured pastry mat.  Flour the top of the dough disc and also your rolling pin. Test to see if the dough is ready by gently tapping your rolling pin on top of the disc; if the rolling pin makes small indentations, you’re ready to roll. Gently roll to 1/4” thickness. If the dough breaks when rolling, allow the dough to sit for 2-3 minutes and then try again. Dough often breaks when the fats are still too cold from the refrigerator.
    2. Once you’ve reached 1/4” thickness, fold the dough in half two times. Add flour as necessary and turn over the pie dough occasionally; don’t worry about over-flouring at this point.
    3. After folding the dough, roll the dough again to 1/4” thickness.  Repeat this step one more time, for a total of three times.
    4. Brush excess flour from the top of the pie dough. Use your rolling pin to place the dough into a 9” or 10” pie plate. Add the apple filling to the pie plate. Cut your knob of butter into four parts and dot the top of the filling.
    5. Place the pie plate in the refrigerator while you roll out the second half of the dough.
    6. Roll out the second half of the pie dough, using the same technique as above.
    7. Using a pastry brush, brush the rim of the bottom dough with a small amount of water. Add the top crust and press gently to seal. Trim the pie crust to 1” outside of the pie plate, and fold over the crust to seal. If desired, crimp or flute the crust.
    8. Place the completed pie in the refrigerator while you warm your oven to a true 375°F, and place an oven rack on the bottom third of the oven. Allow your oven a significant amount of time to reach the proper temperature. I allow my oven at least 45 minutes to come to temperature. (Alternatively, you can place your built pie in the refrigerator overnight! This will help ensure that the pie holds its shape and reduce shrinkage of the dough.)
    9. Make an egg wash by adding a whole egg and 1 tsp of water to a small bowl, then whisking thoroughly to combine.
    10. Before baking, cut small vents into the top pie crust with a sharp knife, then brush with egg wash.  Bake for 35 minutes, then remove briefly from the oven to check the outer crust (to see if it’s browning too quickly) and top with sparkling sugar or turbinado sugar (if desired). Allow to bake for another 25-35 minutes, or until the pie crust is cooked through.
    11. Remove the pie from the oven and allow to cool completely before cutting and serving. For the most beautiful slices, allow to cool and then refrigerate overnight!
    12. Serving idea: my No-Churn Vanilla Ice Cream and Salted Caramel No-Churn Ice Cream are perfect accompaniments for this pie!

    Notes

    • The longer you refrigerate the completed pie, the less shrinkage you will experience in the oven. That is because the butter will have more time to become more firm and melt more slowly during the baking process. 
    • Author: Shani
    • Prep Time: 2 hours (active)
    • Refrigeration Time: 4-24 hours
    • Cook Time: 1 hour
    • Category: dessert

    Sweet Potato Pie

    Friends, the postseason is upon us. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and it’s our Super Bowl. There are staples that absolutely must be on our Thanksgiving tables, and today I’m sharing the one classic dessert that you nearly unanimously said has to be present at your feast. This is the Sweet Potato Pie holiday episode and I hope you’re tuned in. 😊It’s time to have a lot of fun in the kitchen. 

    About this Sweet Potato Pie

    This sweet potato pie features roasted sweet potatoes instead of boiled. The roasting process brings out the natural sweetness of the potatoes, helps those sweet potatoes maintain their structural integrity (making for a more creamy result), and also gives the pie a deeper sweet potato taste. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar provide the perfect accompaniment to the natural caramel notes of the sweet potatoes. The brown sugar and brown butter also enhance the caramel notes that make this pie so special.

    Then, if the filling wasn’t decadent enough, you have a laminated all-butter pie dough that just complements the filling perfectly. It’s perfectly flaky and caramelizes beautifully in the oven, coming to a deep brown color that is positively irresistible for consumers. 

    And finally, because this is Begin with Butter and over-the-top is our template, there is a cinnamon vanilla meringue that makes your eyes roll back when it hits your tongue at the same time as that delicious filling. 

    This pie is one to perfect before it hits the scene on the big day. The good news is that you get to eat pie early, and the better news is that you have enough time to get proficient with the ingredients, timing and presentation if you start now!

    Sweet Potato Pie Ingredients

    The Crust Ingredients:

    All-Purpose Flour: Okay BBs, here’s the thing. The type of flour that you use for this pie crust depends entirely on your comfort level with making pie. While I recommend all-purpose flour because of the higher protein content (leading to a lessened likelihood that the pie crust will fall apart in your hands when you’re working with it), I actually use White Lily All-Purpose Flour for my pie crust. It leads to positively crust shattering results. White Lily All-Purpose has a lower protein content (9%) than Gold Medal All-Purpose (10.5%), King Arthur All-Purpose (11.7%), and Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose (10-12%) flours. So, White Lily flour, combined with the laminating technique that I use, leads to incredible pie crust results.

    Fine Sea Salt: A small touch of fine sea salt in the crust gives this pie crust delicious flavor.

    Granulated Sugar: A couple of tablespoons of granulated sugar give this pie crust a nice sweetness, and also helps with caramelization. Additionally, the granulated sugar in this pie crust slightly enhances the sweetness of the sweet filling.

    Cold Butter: This pie crust uses the grandaddy of all pie crust fats: BUTTER. Butter, in my humble opinion, gives pie crust the absolute best taste. The laminating process also helps ensure that this crust shatters all over your clothes like the best croissant. You’re welcome. 😊

    This is a photo of an unbaked pie crust.

    Water: This ingredient is the bane of the existence of many a pie maker. Too little and you get a positively dry pie crust. Too much and you get a pie crust that never reaches its flaky potential. Oh, and every pie crust has a magic amount of water that only it knows before you start. There are so many variables that impact how much water a specific pie crust needs, and BB, you can only figure this out with practice. That’s why I’m releasing this recipe early for you!

    The Filling Ingredients:

    Roasted Sweet Potatoes: Roasted sweet potatoes provide the foundation of this delightful pie, offering an irresistibly smooth texture and natural sweetness. By roasting them, the natural sugars are coaxed out, intensifying the flavor and creating a rich base.

    Brown Sugar: Brown sugar adds a deep, comforting warmth to this pie, with its caramel-like flavor. This warmth complements the sweetness of the sweet potatoes in a way that granulated sugar cannot. 

    Cinnamon: Cinnamon brings the most cozy warmth and aromatic spice to the pie, evoking feelings of comfort and nostalgia. This classic spice harmonizes beautifully with sweet potatoes, and creates a truly inviting flavor.

    Nutmeg: Nutmeg adds a subtle yet distinctive earthy warmth, which subtly enhances the pie’s complexity.

    Kosher Salt: Every dessert needs salt to balance the sweetness of all of the sugar. A little bit of kosher salt expertly balances the sweetness in this pie, allowing each ingredient to shine. By reducing cloying sweetness, salt brings out the best in the other flavors.

    Evaporated Milk: Evaporated milk enriches the filling with a luxurious creaminess and subtle sweetness. Its smooth texture ensures a silky, velvety pie that gives a joyful mouthfeel.

    Pure Vanilla Extract: Pure vanilla extract enhances the sweetness and adds delicate, creamy notes that perfectly round out the flavors. High-quality vanilla makes all the difference in this pie.

    Bourbon: A splash of bourbon adds a sophisticated depth and complexity to the pie, with hints of smoky oak and rich warmth. Used sparingly, bourbon elevates the flavors without overpowering them. This is an optional ingredient, but it makes for an even better pie. Don’t worry about the alcohol; it cooks out during the baking process. 

    Beginners Start Here

    If you’re new to baking, or if you want to learn how to do some of the more tricky baking techniques, here are a couple of super helpful articles from the BwB site that will help you get set up for success with this amazing Sweet Potato Pie.

    These resources are super helpful to help you build consistency and confidence on your baking journey, and specifically with this special pie. Happy Reading!

    This is a photo of a sweet potato pie.

    Important Tools Used in this Sweet Potato Pie

    I am so happy to announce that Begin with Butter has its own Amazon Storefront, where you can find all of the amazing equipment that I used in this special pie! Want even more specific links? Check out the recommendations, below.

    I do get paid a commission when you purchase, but these are the tools that I use all the time in my own kitchen.

    If you have these tools already, great! Think of this as a checklist to help you build the confidence that you’ll need to execute this pie recipe!

    This pie is something to behold, BBs and I hope you love it! If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to bakingbestie@beginwithbutter.com!

    Happy baking!

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    Sweet Potato Pie

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    This sweet potato pie deserves to be the centerpiece of any dessert table. Rich notes of caramel, cinnamon, and nutmeg, complimented by a cinnamon vanilla meringue, make this delightful treat utterly decadent!

    • Total Time: 0 hours
    • Yield: 8 slices 1x

    Ingredients

    Scale

    For the Pie Crust:

    • 256 g (2 c) all-purpose flour (I love White Lily Flour for this crust)
    • 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
    • 182 g (13 tbsp) butter, cold
    • 94 g (1/3 c) water, ice cold, plus up to two more tablespoons if needed
    • 1 large egg plus one teaspoon of water, for egg wash

    For the Pie Filling:

    • 996 g (6 3/4 c) sweet potatoes, whole
    • 2 Eggs
    • 250 g (1 c) evaporated milk
    • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
    • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
    • 227 g (1 c) butter, browned and cooled to room temperature
    • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
    • 200 g (1 c) dark brown sugar
    • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
    • 1 tsp maple extract or bourbon (optional)

    For the Cinnamon Vanilla Meringue (optional):

    • 300 g (1 1/2 c) granulated sugar
    • 5 large egg whites
    • 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
    • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
    • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

    Instructions

    To Make the Brown Butter:

    1. Place the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. 
    2. Allow the butter to melt fully, then begin gently stirring. Continue stirring constantly. 
    3. The butter will go through stages. At first, it will simply look like melted butter. Continue stirring.
    4. The next step of browned butter is the foamy step. This is the longest part of the browned butter process. Continue stirring.
    5. The foamy brown butter will lessen (but not eliminate entirely), and you’ll start to notice browned bits on the bottom of your saucepan. These are browned milk solids, and this is the objective!
    6. Once you see the browned bits on the bottom of your saucepan, remove the brown butter to a heat-proof bowl to cool completely. If you allow the brown butter to remain in the saucepan, it will burn.
    7. Once the brown butter has come to room temperature, allow it to come to room temperature before using it in your sweet potato pie filling. It will have the texture of an emulsion or a slurry and this is what we want.

    To Make the Filling:

    1. Heat your oven to 400°F. Poke holes in each of the sweet potatoes and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
    2. Roast the sweet potatoes for 45-60 minutes, or until a knife goes through without resistance. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool.
    3. Once cooled, scoop the insides from each sweet potato. Using either a handheld blender or food processor, process the sweet potatoes until smooth.
    4. Place the smooth sweet potatoes into a large bowl. Add eggs and evaporated milk and mix with a hand mixer or stand mixer on low speed until combined.
    5. Place the brown butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl. Combine with a fork to ensure even distribution.
    6. Add the brown sugar mixture to the sweet potato mixture. Combine with a mixer until smooth. 
    7. Add the pure vanilla extract and bourbon (if using) and combine until smooth. 
    8. Set aside until the pie shell completes blind baking, then add the filling to the pie shell.

    To Make the Pie:

    1. Add the 264 g all-purpose flour and fine sea salt to a large mixing bowl.  Stir with a fork to combine.
    2. Add the butter to the flour mixture.  Stir gently to cover the butter with the flour.  Then use a pastry cutter (also known as a pastry blender) to break the butter into smaller pieces. The butter pieces should be between the size of a pea and the size of a walnut.  The pieces will not be uniform and this is ideal!
    3. Pour the 94 g of water evenly over the flour/butter mixture and stir very gently to combine with a fork.  The mixture should be shaggy but combined. If necessary, add water a tablespoon at a time until you get the correct consistency.  You should not need more than 2 additional tablespoons!
    4. Shape the pie dough into a single fat disc and cover each disc with plastic wrap. Place in a refrigerator for at least two hours before rolling out.
    5. After the initial chill, place flour on a pastry mat.  Place the dough disc atop the well-floured pastry mat.  Flour the top of the dough disc and also your rolling pin. Test to see if the dough is ready by gently tapping your rolling pin on top of the disc; if the rolling pin makes small indentations, you’re ready to roll. Gently roll to 1/4” thickness. If the dough breaks when rolling, allow the dough to sit for 2-3 minutes and then try again. Dough often breaks when the butter is still too cold from the refrigerator.
    6. Once you’ve reached 1/4” thickness, fold the dough in half two times (for a photo tutorial, check out my Easy All-Butter Pie Crust post). Add flour as necessary and turn over the pie dough occasionally; don’t worry about over-flouring at this point. 
    7. After folding the dough, roll the dough again to 1/4” thickness.  Repeat this step one more time, for a total of three times.
    8. Brush excess flour from the top of the pie dough. Use your rolling pin to gently place the dough into a 9” pie plate. Trim the pie crust to 1” outside of the pie plate, and fold over the crust to seal. If desired, crimp or flute the crust. Place the pie plate in the refrigerator.
    9. Place the completed pie in the refrigerator while you warm your oven to a true 375°F, and place an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Allow your oven a significant amount of time to reach the proper temperature. I allow my oven at least 60 minutes to come to the right temperature. 
    10. Once the oven has fully preheated, remove the pie shell from the refrigerator. Crumple a piece of parchment paper and then carefully re-open the parchment. Place the piece of parchment on top of the entire pie crust. 
    11. Place pie weights or dried beans on top of the parchment paper and then place the pie crust in the 375°F oven for 20 minutes.
    12. Remove the pie crust from the oven and carefully remove the pie weights and parchment paper. Use a fork to poke holes into the bottom and sides of the pie crust (this is called “docking”). Place back into the 375°F oven for another ten minutes.
    13. Place remaining egg and 1 tsp of water into a small bowl. Scramble thoroughly. Set aside.
    14. Remove the pie crust from the oven and brush the egg wash over the entire pie crust.
    15. Add the filling to the pie crust and bake at 375°F for fifteen minutes. Check the pie crust to make sure that it’s not cooking too quickly. If so, remove the pie from the oven and cover the pie crust with either a pie shield or aluminum foil. Place the pie back into the oven and bake for another 40-50 minutes, or until there is just a little jiggle in the center.
    16. Remove the pie from the oven and allow it to cool completely at room temperature. For best results, chill overnight in the refrigerator.

    To Make the Meringue:

    1. Bring 2” of water to a low boil in a large (3 qt.) saucepan.  
    2. Carefully separate eggs, placing them In a clean metal bowl (either a stand mixer or a large stainless steel bowl).  Add sugar and stir to combine.
    3. Place a metal bowl over the top of the saucepan while the water is still boiling.  Whisk the egg white mixture over the saucepan until all of the sugar is completely dissolved.  
    4. Remove the metal bowl from the stove. Add cinnamon, cream of tartar, and pure vanilla extract to the bowl.
    5. Using the whisk attachment on either your hand mixer or your stand mixer, whisk the mixture on the lowest speed until it is nearly opaque.  
    6. Increase the mixer to medium speed until the mixture begins to look light and fluffy.
    7. Increase the mixer to the highest speed until the meringue is done.  To check the meringue, remove the whisk attachment from the mixture and invert it.  If the meringue slowly folds down over the whisk attachment, it’s complete.
    8. Using an offset spatula, quickly spread the meringue over the cooled pie.  If desired, use a butane torch to toast the meringue. 

    Notes

    • This pie is best the next day, after cooling to room temperature and further cooling overnight in the refrigerator!
    • I actually allow the pie to cool in the refrigerator without the meringue. I save that step for once the pie is completely chilled (the next day).
    • Author: Shani
    • Prep Time: 1 hour (active)
    • Rest Time: 4-24 hours
    • Cook Time: 45-60 minutes

    Simple Sunday Artisan Bread

    My family loves Sunday bread. Whether it’s my Perfect Sunday Dinner Rolls or a good crusty bread, when we do special Sunday dinners, those meals aren’t complete until the bread bowl makes its way to the table. This Simple Sunday Artisan Bread recipe is my favorite “Easy Like Sunday Morning” bread. It hits all the marks: a deliciously crusty exterior, a wonderfully soft and hole-y interior, and it also boasts a slight sourdough flavor. And it does all of that with very little input from the baker.

    This is a photo of Simple Sunday Artisan Bread.

    This one is incredibly easy. To make it even easier, I’m giving you the whole process in pictures!

    About this Simple Sunday Artisan Bread

    My Simple Sunday Artisan Bread is a traditionally crusty, no-knead Dutch oven bread. Dutch ovens hold heat beautifully, creating a deeply caramelized and beautifully thick exterior crust. This bread is decidedly un-fussy; you mix a whopping five ingredients together in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or Danish dough whisk, then let it rise for 3-4 hours. That’s right. You leave it all the way alone for 3-4 hours. So, you can start it on Sunday before breakfast and have warm crusty bread (that is ready for pats of butter or beef stew) in time for dinner.

    It’s still confusing to me that something this easy can be this incredible.

    How to Make this Simple Sunday Artisan Bread Recipe

    This lean bread recipe uses five ingredients: flour, water, salt, instant yeast, and sugar. It all goes in one bowl, and stays there for a while.

    Before you start, though, test your yeast by combining one teaspoon of yeast, 1/8 tsp of sugar, and 63 (1/4 c) grams of warm (110°F-115°F) water to a small bowl. Stir together and wait for 8-10 minutes. If the yeast blooms on top of the water, then you’re working with good yeast. You won’t use this yeast in your recipe, but this step will give you the confidence of knowing that you’re working with live yeast.

    Want to see what properly proofed yeast should look like? Check out this post, Yeast Basics for Beginning Bakers!

    To make the bread, check out these easy steps:

    Add bread flour, kosher salt, sugar, and instant yeast in a large bowl. Stir with a whisk to combine thoroughly. *Note: You can absolutely use all-purpose flour for this recipe, but you won’t get as much chew or as much variation in the size of the holes in the final bread. It will be delicious though!

    Next, pour water over the mixture. This dough has 70% hydration, so don’t be intimidated when you see a lot of water in the bowl.

    Stir with a wooden spoon or Danish dough whisk until the mixture looks shaggy and the flour is mostly moistened. I love my Danish dough whisk but my big wooden spoon is going to do the job every time.

    Cover with plastic wrap and go away for 3-4 hours. Seriously. Scram. 😆 The longer you allow the bread to rise, the more sourdough quality it will have.

    This is a photo of Simple Sunday Artisan Bread dough.

    After the first rise, spray cooking spray on your hands and then gently squeeze the dough to de-gas it slightly and remove any large lumps. Then, perform eight folds, pulling the sides of the dough into the middle of the dough.

    Turn the dough over and spray some non-stick cooking spray on the bottom and sides of your bowl. Place the dough into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow it to rise for another hour.

    This is a photo of Simple Sunday Artisan Bread dough.

    Shape the loaf into a circle by stretching the top and folding it underneath. This is necessary in order to create good surface tension on the top of the bread. Place the dough on a piece of parchment paper, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and allow to rise for another 45 minutes. While the bread is doing its final rise, heat the oven to a true 450°F. Place the Dutch oven in the oven while it’s preheating so that it will be hot when you place the loaf into the Dutch oven. During the last ten minutes of the preheating time, place a cup of water in a loaf pan and place the loaf pan on the rack underneath the Dutch oven will bake.

    This is a photo of Simple Sunday Artisan Bread dough.

    Gently move the loaf, still on the parchment paper, to the heated Dutch oven. Be careful not to burn yourself! Dust the top of the loaf with flour and then score (slice) the top of the loaf several times with a sharp knife or razor blade. Your scoring should cut DEEP. Like at least 3/4″ of an inch deep. The flour on top of the loaf will help the blade avoid sticking to the loaf during scoring, and will allow you to get clean cuts.

    This is a photo of a Simple Sunday Artisan Bread loaf before baking.

    Cover the Dutch oven with its lid and place in the oven on the middle rack. Bake, covered, for 45 minutes. Remove the lid and allow the loaf to bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until the loaf is deeply caramelized (golden brown). At the end of the bake time, you’ll have this:

    Carefully remove the loaf from the Dutch oven and place on a cooling rack. Allow it to cool for at least thirty minutes before cutting. When you cut it, you’ll be treated to an incredible sight:

    You’ve done it. You’ve made an incredible artisan bread in one day that is beautiful and appropriate for any dinner table. And you’ve spent a grand total of forty minutes of active time to do so.

    Beginners Start Here

    If you’re new to baking, or if you want to become more consistent with bread in general, here are a couple of super helpful articles from the BwB site that will help you get set up for success with this Simple Sunday Artisan Bread.

    These resources are super helpful to help you build consistency and confidence on your baking journey. Happy Reading!

    This is a photo of a Simple Sunday Artisan Bread loaf after baking.

    Important Tools Used in this Simple Sunday Artisan Bread

    Below, you’ll find some tools that I used for this Simple Sunday Artisan Bread. These are the tools that I use all the time in my own kitchen.

    This is a photo of a Simple Sunday Artisan Bread loaf after baking.

    If you have them already, great! Think of this as a checklist to help you build the confidence that you’ll need to execute this recipe!

    This homemade artisan bread works with every kind of Sunday dinner, whether it’s a simple soup or a coq au vin. Serving multiple courses or having a dinner party? Slice and serve this bread some great olive oil and freshly cracked pepper and create a bread course that will knock everyone’s socks off and prepare them for the special meal that is to come!

    Enjoy the recipe, BBs! May this Simple Sunday Artisan Bread be loved by your family, as it has been loved by mine.

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    Simple Sunday Artisan Bread

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    This Simple Sunday Artisan Bread is absolutely perfect for simple weeknights or special Sunday dinners. It’s incredibly easy and spectacularly beautiful!

    Ingredients

    Units Scale
    • 576 g (4.5 c) AP or bread flour
    • 400 g (1.6 c) warm water
    • 1 tsp instant yeast
    • 1 tsp sugar
    • 3/4 tbsp kosher salt

    Instructions

    1. Add flour, yeast, sugar and salt to a large bowl. Stir to combine.
    2. Add water and stir with a heavy wooden spoon or Danish dough whisk, only until the flour mixture is moistened. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 3-4 hours.
    3. After 3-4 hours, gently press the dough to remove any large lumps. Perform eight folds and turn over the dough in the bowl, so that the seam side is down.
    4. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow it to rise for another hour.
    5. Shape the dough into a round loaf and place atop a piece of parchment paper on your countertop. Allow to rise, covered with a clean tea towel, for another 45 minutes.
    6. While the dough is doing it final rise, turn on your oven to 450°F. Place the Dutch oven on the middle rack of the oven to preheat with the oven. During the last ten minutes of the preheat, add a pan with a cup of water on the rack underneath the Dutch oven.
    7. After the dough is done rising, dust the top of the loaf with flour.  Score the loaf with a very sharp knife or razor blade and then carefully place the loaf, on top of the the parchment paper, into the Dutch oven. Make sure scores (cuts) are deep enough to help release excess gas from the loaf during baking.
    8. Bake for 45 minutes with the top on, then take the top off and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Loaf should be deeply caramelized (golden brown).
    9. Allow loaf to cool for 30-45 minutes, then cut and enjoy!

    Notes

    • Want to learn more about the art of bread making? Check out Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast, my absolute favorite resource for incredible artisan bread!
    • Author: Shani