Sour Cream Coffee Cake

A delicious sour cream coffee cake, baked in a tube pan.

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour, sift before measuring
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 8 ounces sour cream (1 cup)

 Topping

• 1/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature

Preparation:

Into a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder. In another mixing bowl cream together butter with sugar until fluffy and light; add egg and vanilla and mix well. Add half of the dry ingredients, mixing just until flour is blended. Blend in sour cream then stir in remaining dry ingredients.
Spread half of batter lightly into a greased and floured 10" tube pan. Sprinkle half of Topping and spread with remaining batter. Sprinkle with remaining Topping. Bake at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes.
Sour Cream Coffee Cake Topping: Mix together flour, sugar, salt and chopped pecans. Add butter in small pieces. Work butter in with hands until mixture is crumbly.

Bread and what I've learned since Christmas

Just before Christmas I started baking bread daily for a church run restaurant in Egham.  I used the same recipe for each batch, and though I have used it in the past, I used fresh yeast for the first time in many years.  I also used a sponge to start off each batch.  I had never heard of the sponge method before reading a baking booklet from the Guardian.

This is some of what I learned.  Using a sponge improves the flavour of the bread.  The moister the dough, the better the bread.  You don't need sugar.  You don't need salt either but it does improve the flavour.  Make sure the salt doesn't come in direct contact with the yeast or it will kill it.  You should experiment!  Real bread rules!

Making bread using a sponge

Ingredients

5 to 10 g of fresh yeast (available from the bakeries at most supermarkets)
1 1/2 cups of warm water
1 1/2 cups of flour (whole wheat, white or rye)
1 t sugar

1. To make sure that your yeast is alive, disolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of the warm water with the teaspoon of sugar.  You will know that it is alright if after 10 to 15 minutes it is bubbling and making a sizzling noise.

2. Add the remaining water and all the flour, stir and cover with cling film.

3. Set aside in a warm area for 12 to 24 hours.

Part 2 in next post.