a tea cake, a miche

I adapted this from Jamie Oliver's Torta Della Giovane Sara -- adding a little water to help the yeast give it more rise and substituting blood oranges for the lemon. It makes for a wonderful tea cake sort of thing.

½ oz. yeast in 3 T water / ½c. butter, melted / 1³⁄₄c. flour. / 2 eggs. / 1c. sugar. / 2 small blood oranges (zest & juice). / pine nuts.

Add butter to water/yeast mixture. Mix it all until smooth and pour into a buttered-and-floured 7 or 8-inch springform. Let rest ten minutes. (This -- as well at the water -- help it rise just a bit more. It's still firm like a poundcake.) Bake at 325ºF for 40-45 minutes.




And I made a whole wheat miche -- it's got a stiff levain starter and some rye and white flour. It's very good, and at four pounds it keeps for a week or so. (With the long, slow fermentation it had organic acids to help it keep and the size means moisture has farther to go to leave). It's from Hamelman's Bread.

heart-shaped potatoes

This made me think of Agnès Varda in her film Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse. It was from the last of a bag of fingerling potatoes from the now long-gone farmer's market. Varda made a shrine to her potaoes, I ate mine.